Krzysztof "Kris" Matyjaszewski (Polish: [ˈkʂɨʂtɔf matɨjaˈʂɛfskʲi]; born April 8, 1950) is a Polish-American chemist. He is the J.C. Warner Professor of the Natural Sciences at the Carnegie Mellon University Matyjaszewski is best known for the discovery of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), a novel method of polymer synthesis that has revolutionized the way macromolecules are made. Matyjaszewski was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 for expanding the capabilities of controlled/living polymerizations and developing ATRP, a robust catalytic process for the radical polymerization of monomers. He received the prestigious Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2011, the Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences in 2015, and the Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, France in 2020, and the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences in 2023.
Education and career Matyjaszewski began studying chemistry at Lodz University of Technology in late 1960s and later graduated from the Petrochemical University in Moscow. He received his doctorate from the Center of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1976 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida in 1977. From 1978 to 1984, he was a research associate of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 1984 to 1985, Matyjaszewski held appointments at the University of Paris, first as a research associate and then as a visiting professor. In 1985, he joined the chemistry department at Carnegie Mellon University. He founded and currently directs the university's Center for Macromolecular Engineering. This center is funded both by an active consortium and government agencies, including the National Science Foundation. In 1998, Matyjaszewski was appointed the J.C. Warner Professor of Natural Sciences. In 2004 he was named a university professor, the highest distinction faculty can achieve at Carnegie Mellon. Matyjaszewski is also an adjunct professor in Carnegie Mellon's department of materials science and chemical engineering. From 1994 to 1998, Matyjaszewski served as head of the department of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon and assisted in recruiting additional faculty with strengths in polymer chemistry. At the same time, he formed a research consortium with various industrial corporations to expand the understanding of controlled radical polymerization, including ATRP, and accelerate the transfer of this technology to different commercial applications. A second consortium, the CRP Consortium, formed under his leadership in 2001, continues and expands these efforts, training university and industrial scientists in procedures for responsive polymeric material development and has comprised 60 industrial members. The same year, Matyjaszewski became an adjunct professor at Polish Academy of Sciences and at the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering of the University of Pittsburgh. Matyjaszewski is a co-inventor on 72 issued U.S. patented technologies and holds over 150 international patents. One of the leading educators in the field of polymer chemistry, Matyjaszewski has mentored more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students since joining Carnegie Mellon. He has co-authored 25 books, 100 book chapters and more than 1,380 peer-reviewed scientific papers. According to Google Scholar, his work has been cited in the scientific literature more than 219,000 times, with an h-index of 221, making him one of the most cited chemists in the world. Matyjaszewski has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2023 National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences, 2020 Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, France, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, 2017 Medema Lecture Award, 2015 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, 2014 National Institute of Materials Science (Japan) Award, 2012 Dannie Heineman Prize from the Göttingen Academy of Sciences, 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. He has been honored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) with the 2002 Polymer Chemistry Award, 2011 Applied Polymer Science Award, 2011 Herman Mark Award, 2015 Charles G. Overberger Prize, 2019 Chemistry of Materials Award, 2020 Paul Flory Polymer Education Award, 2020 Nichols Medal and the 2026 Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry from the European Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Inventors, as well as a member of the Polish, Australian and European Academies of Sciences. He also is an honorary member of the Israeli and Chinese Chemical Societies. Matyjaszewski's work has been recognized in his native country of Poland. In 2004, he received the annual Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science, the most prestigious scientific award in Poland, referred to as the Polish Nobel Prize. In 2005 he became a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He received honorary degrees from Polish universities Jan Dlugosz University in 2026, Lodz University of Technology in 2007, Poznań University in 2016 and Rzeszow University of Technology in 2024. He has also received honorary degrees from the Technion, Israel, the University of Ghent, Belgium, Russian Academy of Sciences, University of Athens, Greece, Polytechnic Institute in Toulouse, France, Pusan National University in South Korea., Universite P. & M. Curie, Sorbonne in Paris, University of Padua, Italy, University of Coimbra, Portugal and University of Crete, Greece.
Awards and honors
Honorary degrees 2002 – University of Ghent, Belgium 2006 – Russian Academy of Sciences 2007 – Lodz University of Technology, Poland 2008 – University of Athens, Greece 2010 – l'Institut Polytechnique, Toulouse, France 2013 – Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea 2013 – Universite P. & M. Curie, Sorbonne, Paris, France 2015 – Technion, Haifa, Israel 2016 – Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland 2017 – University of Padua, Padua, Italy 2018 – University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 2023 – University of Crete, Greece 2024 – Rzeszow University of Technology in 2024 2026 – Jan Dlugosz University, Częstochowa, Poland
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