Thomas H. Epps, III

Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Director, Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers (CRiSP), and Center for Hybrid, Active, & Responsive Materials (CHARM)

Joint Professor, Materials Science & Engineering,

Affiliated Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Education

About Thomas H. Epps, III

Thomas is the Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD) with a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering. He is Director of the Center for Research in Soft Matter & Polymers (CRiSP), Director of the new NSF MRSEC at UD called CHARM (Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials) and Deputy Director of the new DOE EFRC at UD called CPI (Center for Plastics Innovation). His research interests include nanostructured assemblies for targeted drug delivery and gene therapy, polymeric materials for bio-separation and ion-conduction membranes, nanostructured soft materials from biobased and plastics waste feedstocks, and polymer films for nanotemplating. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2018, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2021, Polymers Division of the American Chemical Society in 2021, the American Chemical Society in 2021, and the National Academy of Inventors in 2022. Thomas is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lignolix, Inc. – a start-up focused on valorization of biomass waste. He has received several honors and awards including: the William W. Grimes Award (AIChE, 2021), Percy L. Julian Award (NOBCChE, 2020); John H. Dillon Medal (APS, 2016); Owens-Corning Early Career Award (AIChE, 2015), among others. Thomas is an associate editor for Science Advances and a member of the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee.

Select Publications

For a complete listing of publications, please view the Full CV.

1. Hinton, Z. R.; Talley, M. R.; Kots, P. A.; Le, A. V.; Zhang, T.; Mackay, M. E.; Kunjapur, A. M.; Bai, P.; Vlachos, D. G.; Watson, M. P.; Berg, M. C.; Epps, T. H., III; Korley, L. T. J. Annual Review of Materials Research 2022 52, 249-280 [invited article] “Innovations Toward the Valorization of Waste Plastics” (co-corresponding author)
2. Epps, T. H., III; Korley, L. T. J.; Yan, T.; Beers, K. L.; Burt, T. M. JACS Au 2022 2(1), 3-11 [invited perspective] “Sustainability of Plastics: The Many Routes to Materials Life-Cycle Management” (corresponding author)
3. O’Dea, R. M.; Pranda, P. A.; Luo, Y.; Amitrano, A.; Ebikade, E. O.; Gottlieb, E. R.; Ajao, O.; Benali, M.; Vlachos, D. G.; Ierapetritou, M.; Epps, T. H., III Science Advances 8 (3), eabj7523 2022 “Ambient-pressure lignin valorization to high-performance polymers by intensified reductive catalytic deconstruction” (corresponding author)
4. Peterson, G. W.; Lee, D. T.; Barton, H. F.; Epps, T. H., III; Parsons, G. N. Nature Reviews Materials 2021 6, 605-621 [invited review] “Metal-Organic Framework – Polymer-Fiber Composites: Processing and Properties” (corresponding author)
5. Korley, L. T. J.; Epps, T. H., III; Helms, B. A.; Ryan, A. J. Science 2021 373(6550), 66-69 [invited perspective] “Toward Polymer Upcycling ­– Adding Value and Tackling Circularity” (co-corresponding author)
6. Roh, E. H.; Epps, T. H., III; Sullivan, M. O. ACS Nano 2021 15(10), 16055-16066 “Kinetic modeling to accelerate the development of nucleic acid formulations” (co-corresponding author)
7. Ketkar, P. M.; Epps, T. H., III Accounts of Chemical Research 2021 54(23), 4342-4353 [invited article] “Nanostructured polymer electrolytes: tailoring self-assembly to unlock the potential in lithium-ion batteries” (corresponding author)
8. Knauer, K.; Speros, J. C.; Kemp, L.; Savin, D. A.; Bao, Z.; Coates, G. W.; Epps, T. H., III; Hawker, C. J.; Roy, J. L.; Morse, M.; Yao, J.; Yu, O. ACS Macro Letters 2021 10, 864-872 “100th Anniversary of Polymer Science Viewpoint: Entrepreneurial Polymer Chemistry” *ACS Editors’ Choice
9. Mahajan, J. S.; O’Dea, R. M.; Norris, J. B.; Korley, L. T. J.; Epps, T. H., III ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering 2020 8(40), 15072-15096 [invited perspective] “Aromatics from Lignocellulosic Biomass: A Platform for High-Performance Thermosets” (co-corresponding author) *Front Cover Article*
10. Machado, C.; Hopkins, T.; Brown, G. O.; Epps, T. H., III ACS Energy Letters 2020 6, 158-176 [invited perspective] “Redox Flow Battery Membranes: Improving Battery Performance by Leveraging Structure-Property Relationships” (corresponding author)

Patents

Awards

Research Areas

Five main areas of interest include: (see Research Group website for more information.)

1. Biobased materials from waste feedstocks to create performance-advantaged materials
2. Valorization of plastics waste
3. Ion-conducting battery membranes
4. Nanostructured polymer thin films and coatings
5. Nanoscale templating of materials
6. Stimuli-responsive polymers systems for targeted drug delivery and gene therapy applications