Ryo grew up in Tokyo, Japan. He received his Bachelor's degrees from Waseda University in 2012 and stayed there for his PhD. He received his PhD in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Hiroyuki Nishide and was appointed as an assistant professor to the Department of Applied Chemistry. He moved to the University of Chicago and joined Professor Rowan’s group as a postdoc in 2018. His research interests are synthesis and application of functional polymers (especially redox polymers), stimuli-responsive materials, nanocomposites, and energy storage devices.
Ryo's current research is focused on the application of stimuli-responsive polymers and functionalized cellulose nanocrystals to energy harvesting and storage devices.
Impact of dynamic bond strength on the training of liquid crystal elastomers
Ghimire, E.; Appen, I. S.; Lindberg, C. A.; Blagitz de Abreu e Silva, L.; Rowan, S. J. Impact of dynamic bond strength on the training of liquid crystal elastomers. Chemical Science 2026, 10.1039/D5SC07491F. DOI: 10.1039/D5SC07491F.
Manipulating dynamic covalent bonds through direct photoisomerization
Dolinski, N.D.; Crolais, A.E.; Boynton, N.R.; Chen, C.; de Pablo, J.J.; Snyder, S.A.; Rowan, S.J. Manipulating dynamic covalent bonds through direct photoisomerization Chem. Sci. 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D5SC06704A
Multipotent elastomers via tempering of phase-separated dynamic covalent networks
Nicholas R. Boynton, N.R.; Bennett, C.M.; Hagan, T.D.; Solymosy, G.R.; Lindberg, C.A.; Schaller, N.A.; Vivod, S.L.; Patel, S.N.; Rowan, S.J. Multipotent elastomers via tempering of phase-separated dynamic covalent networks ACS Macro Lett. 2025, 14, 1728–1734. DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00653
Depolymerization as a Design Strategy: Depolymerization Etching of Polymerization-Induced Microphase Separations
Kaden C. Stevens, K.C.; Lott, M.E.; Treaster, K.A.; O’Dea, R.M.; Adarsh Suresh, A.; Cabell B. Eades, C.B.; Thompson, V.L.; Bowman, J.I.; Young, J.B.; Evans, A.M.; Rowan, S.J.; Epps III, T.H.; Sumerlin, B.S. Depolymerization as a Design Strategy: Depolymerization Etching of Polymerization-Induced Microphase Separations ACS Cent. Sci. 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.5c01313
Balancing strength, toughness, and shrinkage in 3D porous carbon architectures through partial carbonization of template-coating pairs
Suresh, A.; Sengokmen-Ozsoz, N.; Ye, A.; Lovejoy, J.; Campos, M.; Makris, E.; Claeyssens, F.; Liu, C.; Rowan, S.J. Balancing strength, toughness, and shrinkage in 3D porous carbon architectures through partial carbonization of template-coating pairs Polymer 2025, in press. 10.1016/j.polymer.2025.129217
Designing Thermally Compatible Template-Coating Pairs Toward Dimensionally Stable 3D Porous Carbons with Tunable Density
Suresh, A.; Campos, M.; Xie, K.; Makris, E.; Lovejoy, J.; El Shamsy, M.; Liu, C.; Rowan, S.J. Designing Thermally Compatible Template-Coating Pairs Toward Dimensionally Stable 3D Porous Carbons with Tunable Density Adv. Func. Mater. 2025, Early View. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202515814
Structure–property relationships of responsive doubly-threaded slide-ring polycatenane networks
Liu, G.; Oh, J; Tian, Y.; Hertzog, J.E.; Liang, H.; Rawe, B.W.; Nitta, N.; Lindberg, C.A.; Kim, H.; de Pablo, J.J. and Rowan, S.J. Structure–property relationships of responsive doubly-threaded slide-ring polycatenane networks Chem. Sci. 2025, 16, 19192-19204. DOI: 10.1039/D5SC05459A
Real‐Time Phosphate Monitoring via Plant‐Derived Graphene Ink FET Sensors Integrated with Deep Learning
Ghosh, R.; Zhang, F.; Jang, H.-J.; Hui, J.; Vittore, K.; You, H.; Vepa, R.; Zhuang, W.; Huang, X.; Pu, H.; Elam, J. W.; Rowan, S.J.; Lee, D.; Ainsworth, E.A.; Hersam, M.C.; Chen, Y.; Chen, J. Real‐Time Phosphate Monitoring via Plant‐Derived Graphene Ink FET Sensors Integrated with Deep Learning Energy Environ. Mater. 2025, e70144. DOI: 10.1002/eem2.70144
Short-Time Relaxation and Anomalous Diffusion in Dynamic Covalent Networks
Kim, H.; Li, K.; Crolais, A.E., Rowan, S.J. Short-Time Relaxation and Anomalous Diffusion in Dynamic Covalent Networks ACS Macro Lett. 2025 14, 1375-1381. DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00456
Dense suspensions as trainable rheological metafluids
Kim, H.; Livermore, S.M.; Rowan, S.J.; Jaeger, H.M. Dense suspensions as trainable rheological metafluids Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2025 122, e2509525122. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2509525122