Marc Hillmyer received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1989 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1994. After completing a postdoctoral research position in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science he joined the Chemistry faculty at Minnesota in 1997. He is currently a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of chemistry and leads a research group focused on the synthesis and self-assembly of multifunctional polymers. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, Marc also serves as an Associate Editor for the ACS journal Macromolecules and is the director of the Center for Sustainable Polymers at the University of Minnesota.
Please follow the link for further information on Marc Hillmyer’s research group and his recent paper in Polymer Chemistry.
What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?
Since I’ve been young, I have always been attracted to math and science in school. I really enjoyed lab work in high school and trying to understanding how things worked. The turning point for me with respect to choosing the chemistry path was as a freshman in college. My first chemistry professor was an inspirational lecturer and really sparked my interest in pursing chemistry as a career.
What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/c1py00147g)
We had some success in related isomerization work with seed oils and were curious about application of the same catalytic isomerization chemistry applied to unsaturated polymers. Simple catalytic conversions of renewable polymers can be a powerful approach to new sustainable materials development, and we saw how the conjugation approach using polyisoprene could have some utility. The work was also motivated by recent research in the group on how to toughen polylactide using graft copolymers. Functionalized polyisoprene enabled the preparation of a new set of materials that we hoped had similar (or even better!) properties.
Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?
I am a strong proponent of society journals and feel that Polymer Chemistry is rapidly emerging as an important venue for advances in synthetic polymer chemistry.
In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?
I will be at the IUPAC 2011 World Chemistry Congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico this July/August.
How do you spend your spare time?
I do my best to spend most of my spare time with my family. Playing guitar, running, and golf take up the rest!
Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
I would be a (paid) musician.
