Submitted by Diana Knight
on
Congratulations to Matthew Elardo, who defended his Ph.D. work “Macromolecular Design Principles: Tailoring Emergent Polymer Properties through Microstructural Engineering” on August 13, 2026. Matt was a student in Professor Matthew R. Golder's research group, where he studied polymer chemistry at the interface of physical organic chemistry, organic synthesis, and materials science. He has accepted a position as a postdoc with Professor Abigail Knight at the University of North Carolina, where he will focus on using his skills in polymer synthesis for applications in rare earth element chelation.