Biosketch

Prof. LaShanda T. J. Korley is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). Previously, she held the Climo Associate Professorship of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she started her independent career in 2007. Taking inspiration from nature, her research program involves understanding the design rules employed by nature and applying these strategies to the development of mechanically-enhanced and tunable materials. Prof. Korley is the Director of the recently awarded Energy Frontier Research Center – Center for Plastics Innovation (CPI) funded by the Department of Energy and also the Co-Director of the recently announced Materials Research Science and Center – UD Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (UD CHARM). She is also the Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE): Bio-inspired Materials and Systems and the Associate Director of the Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers (CRiSP) at the University of Delaware.

Awards

• 2022 AIChE MAC William W. Grimes Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering
• 2022 APS Fellow
• 2022 ACS PMSE Fellow
• 2021 AIChE MAC Gerry Lessells Award

Research Interests

Functional polymeric material design

• Bio-inspired systems
• Hierarchical peptide polymer hybrids
• Sustainable materials
• Polymer recycling and upcycling strategies
• New fiber and composite manufacturing strategies
• Responsive composites
• Interplay of covalent and non-covalent interactions

Representative Publications

Mhatre, S.V.; Mahajan, J.; Epps, T.H., III; Korley, L.T.J.; Lignin-derivable alternatives to conventional non-isocyanate polyurethane thermosets with enhanced toughness, Materials Advances, Accepted 2022

Hinton, Z.R.; Kots, P.A.; Vlachos, D.G.; Soukaseum, M.; Epps, T.H., III; Korley, L.T.J.^; Antioxidant-Induced Catalyst Transformations in the Hydrocracking of Polyethylene Waste, Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 7332 – 7339; DOI: 10.1039/D2GC02503E, Invited Journal Cover

Epps, T.H., III; Korley, L.T.J.; Yan, T.; Beers, K.L.; Burt, T.M.; Sustainability of Synthetic Plastics: Considerations in Materials Life-Cycle Management, JACS Au 2022, 2, 1, 3-11, Invited Article; DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00191

Vance, B.C.; Kots, P.A.; Wang, C.; Hinton, Z.R.; Quinn, C.M.; Epps, T.H., III; Korley, L.T.J.; Vlachos, D.G.; Single Pot Catalyst Strategy to Branched Products via Adhesive Isomerization and Hydrocracking to Polyethylene over Platinum Tungstated Zirconia, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2021, 120483; DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2021.120483

Korley, L.T.J.; Epps, T.H., III; Helms, B.A.; Ryan, A.J.; Polymer Upcycling – Adding Value and Tackling Circularity, Science 2021, 373, 66–69, Invited Article; DOI: 10.1126/science.abg4503

Mahajan, J.; O’Dea, R.; Norris, J.; Korley, L.T.J.; Epps, III, T.H.; Aromatics from Lignocellulosic Biomass: A Platform for High-Performance Thermosets, Invited Perspective, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering 2020, 8(40), 15072–15096; DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c04817

Thompson, C.B.; Chatterjee, S.; Korley, L.T.J.; Invited Article, Special Issue – Biomimetic Polymers, Gradient Supramolecular Interactions and Tunable Mechanics in Polychaete Jaw Inspired Supramolecular Interpenetrating Networks, European Polymer Journal 2019, 116, 201-209; DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.04.015

Alexander, S.L.M; Korley, L.T.J.; Programming Shape and Tailoring Transport: Advancing Hygromorphic Bilayers with Aligned Nanofibers, Soft Matter 2017, 13, 5589 – 5596; DOI: 10.1039/C7SM00962C

Jordan, A.M; Kim, S.-E.; Van de Voorde, K.M.; Porkoski, J.; Korley, L.T.J.; In Situ Fabrication of Fiber Reinforced Three-Dimensional Hydrogel Tissue Engineering Scaffolds, ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng. 2017, 3 (8), 1869–1879; DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.7b00229

Matolyak, L.E.; Keum, J.K.; Korley, L.T.J.; Molecular design – network architecture and its impact on the organization and mechanics of peptide-polyurea hybrids, Biomacromolecules 2016, 17(12), 3931–3939; DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b013