Stuart Rowan is the Barry L. MacLean Professor of Molecular Engineering and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago.
Prof. Rowan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and grew up in Troon, Ayrshire, on Scotland’s west coast. He received his BSc (Hons.) in Chemistry in 1991 from the University of Glasgow and stayed there for graduate school in the laboratory of Dr. David D. MacNicol, receiving his PhD in 1995. In 1994 he moved to the chemistry department at the University of Cambridge to work with Prof. Jeremy K. M. Sanders FRS. He moved across the Atlantic, and the continental U.S., to continue his postdoctoral studies with Prof. Sir J. Fraser Stoddart FRS at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1998. In 1999 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor to the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2005, and became a Full Professor in 2008. In 2016, he joined the Institute for Molecular Engineering (now the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering) and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. He also has a staff appointment in the Chemical and Engineering Science (CSE) Division at Argonne National Laboratory.
He is a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee, received the Morley Medal (Cleveland ACS) in 2013, the CWRU Distinguished University Award in 2015, and the Herman Mark Scholar Award (ACS) in 2015. He is an ACS Fellow, an ACS POLY Fellow, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of ACS Macro Letters (https://pubs.acs.org/journal/amlccd ), and is on the editorial advisory board for a number of journals.
He has published over 170 scientific papers and reviews. His research interests focus on the use of dynamic chemistry (covalent and non-covalent) in the construction and properties of structurally dynamic and adaptive polymeric materials. The current interests of his group span responsive polymers, sustainable materials, polymers for energy, biomaterials, and new polymer synthesis. Specifically, his group works on supramolecular polymers, dynamic covalent polymers, self-healing materials, responsive adhesives, metal-containing polymers, gels, biomaterials, cellulose nanocrystal/nanocellulose, and interlocked polymeric architectures.
Rowan Group focuses on studying the chemistry of non-covalent interactions (supramolecular chemistry). This is embodied by studying the synthesis of metallosupramolecular and stimuli-resonsive polymers; isolation and utilization of cellulose nanocrystals in biomimetic and porous systems; and finally, reversible covalent chemistry.
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)
One-Component Nanocomposite Membranes from Polymer Grafted Cellulose Nanocrystals
Harrison R Paul, Matthew V Tirrell, Stuart J Rowan. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2024, 7, 4, 4210–4219
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
Quantitative Determination of Metal Ion Adsorption on Cellulose Nanocrystals Surfaces
Harrison R. Paul, Mrinal K. Bera, Nicholas Macke, Stuart J. Rowan*, and Matthew V. Tirrell* ACS Nano 2024, 18, 3, 1921–1930
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
Therapeutic synthetic and natural materials for immunoengineering
Anna Slezak, Kevin Chang, Samir Hossainy, Aslan Mansurov, Stuart J Rowan, Jeffrey A Hubbell, Mustafa O Guler. Therapeutic synthetic and natural materials for immunoengineering
Highly flexible PEG-LifeAct constructs act as tunable biomimetic actin crosslinkers
Tyler D Jorgenson, Kashmeera D Baboolall, Cristian Suarez, David R Kovar, Margaret L Gardel, Stuart J Rowan. Soft Matter, 2024, 20, 971
Bioinspired mechanical mineralization of organogels
J. Ayarza, J. Wang, H. Kim, P.-R. Huang, B. Cassaidy, G. Yan, C. Liu, H. M. Jaeger, S. J. Rowan & A. P. Esser-Kahn, Nature Communications 14, 8319 (2023)
Stress-activated friction in sheared suspensions probed with piezoelectric nanoparticles
Hojin Kim, Aaron P Esser-Kahn, Stuart J Rowan, Heinrich M Jaeger. PNAS 2023, 120, 49, e2310088120