BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ZContent.net//ZapCalLib 1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Structural, Topological and Morphological Diversities for Sustainab le, Digestible Polymers Derived from Carbohydrates as Natural Product-base d Polymers that Address Health-Food-Energy-Water Challenges: A story of pi vots to overcome adversities while pursuing ambitions LOCATION:Chemistry A101 TZID:America/Denver DTSTART:20230417T160000 UID:2026-04-27-18-45-25@natsci.colostate.edu DTSTAMP:20260427T184525 Description:About the Seminar\n\nA primary interest in the Wooley laborator y is the production of functional polymers from renewable sources that are capable of reverting to those natural products once their purpose has bee n served. A long-standing focus has been the development of synthetic meth odologies that transform sugars\, amino acids and other natural products i nto polymer materials. This approach allows for the production of function al polymers from renewable sources that are capable of reverting to those natural products once their purpose has been served. This holistic life cy cle approach is of importance from the perspectives of sustainable sourcin g of materials feedstocks\, while creating mechanisms for breakdown of the polymer materials after useful lifetime is complete\, and providing for b iological and environmental resorption of breakdown products. The overall process impacts the need to address the increasing accumulation and associ ated hazards of plastic pollution from the environmental persistence of no n-degradable\, petrochemically-sourced polymer systems. Moreover\, inheren t diversities of natural products provide opportunities to expand the scop es\, complexities and properties of polymers\, by utilizing fundamental or ganic chemistry approaches. This presentation will highlight the developme nt of synthetic methodologies for the preparation of sustainable polymers\ , block polymers and crosslinked network materials from carbohydrates\, ta king advantage of their stereochemical complexities and invoking in-situ s tructural metamorphoses to produce degradable polymers of diverse composit ions\, regio- and stereochemistries\, and that can be made to exhibit a ra nge of properties. Target materials are designed for potential application s in diverse areas\, from energy\, to medicine\, to the environment. Examp les will highlight contributions that polymer chemistry can make toward bu lk technological materials that are capable of impacting global needs\, su ch as water-food-energy-health\, and the grand challenges that must be sol ved in the coming decade\, while also emphasizing the need for flexibility to\nachieve ambitions while overcoming unintentional consequences.\n\n\n\ nAbout the Speaker\n\nKaren Wooley holds the W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry and is a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&\;M Un iversity.  She studied at Oregon State University (B.S.\, 1988) and Corne ll University (Ph.D.\, 1993).  The first sixteen years of her independent academic career were spent at Washington University in St. Louis\, Missou ri and she then relocated to Texas A&\;M University in July 2009.  In addition to her academic positions\, she is the co-founder and President o f Sugar Plastics\, LLC\, and Chief Technology Officer of Teysha Technologi es\, LTD.  Research interests include the synthesis and characterization of degradable polymers derived from natural products\, unique macromolecul ar architectures\, complex polymer assemblies\, and well-defined nanostruc tured materials.  She has designed synthetic strategies to harness the ri ch compositional\, regiochemical and stereochemical complexity of natural products for the construction of hydrolytically-degradable polymers\, whic h have impact toward sustainability\, reduction of reliance on petrochemic als\, and production of biologically-beneficial and environmentally-benign natural products upon degradation – these materials are expected to imp act the global issue of plastic pollution and address challenges resulting from climate change.  Recent awards include election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015)\, National Academy of Invento rs (2019)\, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2020)\, A merican Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2020)\, and Nati onal Academy of Sciences (2020)\; she was also named as the 2021 Southeast ern Conference (SEC) Professor of the Year. 4:00 pm END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR