Ben grew up in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in the United Kingdom. His research career started while earning his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Bristol, where he spent two summers and a final year master's project studying organometallic complexes. After graduating from Bristol with a first class honors degree in 2011, he moved to Vancouver, BC, Canada to do his PhD under the supervision of Professor Derek Gates. During this time, he studied main-group-containing polymers, and his thesis focused on the photophysical properties of various novel phosphorus-containing macromolecules. Having arrived in the Rowan lab, he is keen to learn more about polymer synthesis, structure-property relationships, and supramolecular chemistry.
Ben's research focuses on developing new interlocked polymers. He aims to develop synthetic routes to poly[n]catenanes with a view of learning about the material properties of these unique macromolecules.
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