Sam grew up in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He stayed in Western Massachusetts to attend UMass Amherst, where he graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a certificate in Material Science in the spring of 2021. At UMass he worked in the lab of Dr. Laura Bradley in the Polymer Science and Engineering department where his primary research was on the synthesis of active colloidal particles but with side projects on computation modeling of surface active particle interactions. Upon leaving UMass, Sam moved to Chicago to join the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Rowan research group in the fall of 2021.
Sam's research is focused on synthesizing new circular polyolefins with the intention of improving chemical recyclability in plastics.
Start Date: Fall 2021
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