Rate My Professor Marek Urban

Marek W. Urban holds the J.E. Sirrine Foundation Endowed Chair and serves as Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Chemistry (courtesy) at Clemson University since 2013. His academic journey began with a B.S./M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Poland (1979), followed by an M.S. in Chemistry from Marquette University (1981), and a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University (1984). Before joining Clemson, he was a professor of polymer science, department chair, and director of polymer science programs at North Dakota State University and the University of Southern Mississippi, where he led NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) and Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC).

Urban's research centers on polymer design, colloidal synthesis, self-healing polymers, stimuli-responsive materials, biopolymers, surface and interfacial reactions, and vibrational spectroscopy for molecular imaging. His group develops polymeric materials and interfaces exhibiting 'living-like' functions, including self-healing commodity polymers and stimuli-responsive systems with sensing and signaling capabilities. He has authored approximately 500 research publications, holds 12 patents, written four books, and edited seven books, including the Wiley Handbook on Stimuli-responsive Polymers. Key publications include 'Key-and-Lock Commodity Self-Healing Copolymers' (Science, 2018), 'Shape Memory Effects in Self-Healing Polymers' (Progress in Polymer Science, 2020), 'Self-Healing Polymers' (Nature Reviews Materials, 2020), and 'Entropy and Interfacial Energy Driven Self-Healable Polymers' (Nature Communications, 2020). Urban has secured over $40 million in funding from NSF, DOE, ONR, NIH, US Army Engineering Center, and industry partners. His work on self-healing and antimicrobial polymers has garnered media attention from The New York Times, BBC, NBC, USA Today, and others. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019), Royal Society of Chemistry (2018), American Chemical Society PMSE Division (2017), and American Institute of Chemists (2017), among numerous other honors including Clemson's University Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Award (2018) and Board of Trustees Award for Excellence (2019). Urban frequently delivers keynote speeches at international conferences and has chaired Gordon Research Conferences.