Assistant Professor Matthew Golder has been named a 2026 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program supports the research and teaching careers of talented early career faculty in the chemical sciences. The Award, which requires an institutional nomination, is based on an independent body of scholarship attained in the early years of their appointment, as well as a demonstrated commitment to education, and provides an unrestricted research grant of $100,000.
Assistant Professor Matthew Golder’s research program addresses the omnipresent "plastics problems" from two different vantage points. First, the team thinks about new ways to prolong the useful lifetime of commodity materials. The researchers use molecular engineering to keep plastics in use longer before discarding. The Golder group also develops new methods to make and repurpose plastics, with an emphasis on green chemistry and making plastics more recyclable.
"Plastics are paramount to daily life, so there are numerous opportunities to improve performance and mitigate waste. We operate at the interface of physical organic chemistry and materials science to enhance plastic integrity and sustainability. By doing so, my students really take this mission to heart and constantly dream up new ways to creatively (re)design plastic," Golder said.
For more information about Prof. Golder and his research, read A Second Life for Plastics recently published by the College of Arts & Sciences, and visit his faculty page or research group website.