Stefanie A. Sydlik, PhD

Dr. Stefanie Sydlik is an Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.  She received her BS, Chemistry and Polymer Science with a Minor in Engineering Studies, at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007.  Dr. Sydlik received her PhD in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the direction of Professor Timothy Swager, studying novel triptycene and nanocarbon based materials. She continued her training at MIT as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Robert Langer, developing a novel biomimetic block copolymer for cartilage repair and establishing the biocompatibility of graphene oxide. Through her training, she received fellowships from the Beckman Foundation, NSF, and NIH. She joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in August of 2015. The Sydlik group synthesizes novel polymers and materials via the principles of molecular design. Drawing on her diverse background in electronic, mechanical, and biological materials, the group is uniquely situated at the interface of chemistry, biomedical engineering, and materials science. Currently, they are designing and implementing strategies to transform graphene oxide into a biomimetic, biodegradable scaffold for bone regeneration and applying concepts from classic polymer theory to design smart conductive materials with tunable mechanical properties. Dr. Sydlik has received many honors, most notably the ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award (2018) and the National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2015). Currently since 2018, Dr. Sydlik has been on the editorial advisory board of Macromolecules.  She is also a reviewer for Macromolecules, Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Small, Carbon, Langmuir, Tetrahedron, and the National Science Foundation. View a list of Dr. Sydlik’s publications here.