Charlie was born and raised in Frederic, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire where she received her BS in Chemistry with a Materials Science Emphasis. During her time at UWEC, she was fortunate to work on several projects including the synthesis of stimuli-responsive diblock copolymers with Dr. Elizabeth Glogowski, the synthesis of hydrogen-bonded liquid crystal complexes with Dr. Kurt Wiegel, and the development of excited state chemistry simulations with Dr. Stephen Drucker. In the fall of 2017, she joined the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering where she is currently advised by Prof. Stuart Rowan.
Charlie’s current research involves the synthesis and characterization of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) containing dynamic covalent bonds. The multi-responsive nature of these materials, which includes properties like shape-memory and bulk reprocessability, lends them to a wide array of applications ranging from soft robotics to biomedical devices. By tailoring the chemical structure of a liquid crystal monomer before its polymerization into an LCE, it is possible to tune the specific stimuli-responsive character of a material toward a desired application while control over the nature of the dynamic bond allows for the modification of bulk network properties including modulus and stress relaxation.
Should I stay or should I flow? An exploration of phase‐separated metallosupramolecular liquid crystal polymers
Charlie A Lindberg, Alice E Roberson, Elina Ghimire, Jerald E Hertzog, Nicholas R Boynton, Guancen Liu, Deborah K Schneiderman, Shrayesh N Patel, Stuart J Rowan. Chemistry–A European Journal. 2025.
Vinylogous Urea—Urethane Vitrimers: Accelerating and Inhibiting Network Dynamics through Hydrogen Bonding
Stéphanie Engelen, Neil D Dolinski, Chuqiao Chen, Elina Ghimire, Charlie A Lindberg, Alex E Crolais, Natsumi Nitta, Johan M Winne, Stuart J Rowan, Filip E Du Prez. Angew. Chem. 2024, 136, e2023184
Accessing pluripotent materials through tempering of dynamic covalent polymer networks
Nicholas R Boynton, Joseph M Dennis, Neil D Dolinski, Charlie A Lindberg, Anthony P Kotula, Garrett L Grocke, Stephanie L Vivod, Joseph L Lenhart, Shrayesh N Patel, Stuart J Rowan. Science 383, 545-551 (2024)
Connecting Molecular Exchange Dynamics to Stress Relaxation in Phase-Separated Dynamic Covalent Networks
Neil D. Dolinski, Ran Tao, Nicholas R. Boynton, Anthony P. Kotula, Charlie A. Lindberg, Kyle J. Petersen, Aaron M. Forster, and Stuart J. Rowan* ACS Macro Lett. 2024, 13, 2, 174–180
Robust and Programmable Liquid Crystal Elastomers through Catalytic Control of Dynamic Aza-Michael Reactions
Elina Ghimire, Charlie A. Lindberg, Tyler D. Jorgenson, Chuqiao Chen, Juan J. de Pablo, Neil D. Dolinski*, and Stuart J. Rowan* Macromolecules 2024, 57, 2, 682–690
Exploring the effect of dynamic bond placement in liquid crystal elastomers
Charlie A. Lindberg, Elina Ghimire, Chuqiao Chen, Sean Lee, Neil D. Dolinski, Joseph M. Dennis, Sihong Wang, Juan J. de Pablo, Stuart J. Rowan. Journal of Polymer Science (2023) 1-9
Controlling the Morphology of Dynamic Thia-Michael Networks to Target Pressure-Sensitive and Hot Melt Adhesives
Katie M Herbert, Neil D Dolinski, Nicholas R Boynton, Julia G Murphy, Charlie A Lindberg, SJ Sibener, Stuart J Rowan. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 23, 27471–27480