PSSM2026 | Polymer Science Conference | Lisbon | Portugal | Top Conference in Polymer Science | Congress | Summit | Meeting

Prof. Dennis W. Smith

Mississippi State University, USA

Title: Extreme Materials via Carbon Precursor Polymers and Semi-Fluorinated Polyaryl Ethers. Synthesis, Performance, and Commercialization

Dr. Smith is Professor of Chemistry and Co-Founder & Director for Hand Technologies, LLC at Mississippi State University (MSU). He is immediate past Department Head, and immediate past Director of the Advanced Composites Institute at MSU. He received a B.S. in chemistry and mathematics from Missouri State University (1988) and a Ph.D. in chemistry / macromolecular science & engineering from the University of Florida under the direction of Prof. Ken Wagener (1992). Professional interests include science & technology leadership and entrepreneurship. Research interests include synthesis, properties, and commercialization of market-driven advanced materials for energy, communications, environmental, and aerospace applications. He was a Rhone-Poulenc Graduate Research Fellow in Lyon, France; Dow Chemical post-doctoral Fellow in Rheinmünster, Germany, Dow Sr. Research Chemist, Dow Project Leader (TX & MI); and elected Chair, Brazosport Local ACS Section before joining Clemson University as Assistant Professor in 1998. Dr. Smith was Professor of Chemistry and Material Science & Engineering, Center co-founder and Director, Clemson University; Co-Founder, Tetramer Technologies LLC; Visiting Professor, University of Heidelberg; Robert A. Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Material Science & Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas; Director, NSF-I/UCRCs; elected Chair, ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; elected Titular Officer, IUPAC Polymer Division, Founder, ACS Polymer Division conference series, FLUOROPOLYMER (2000-present); Editor, Polymer Bulletin, J. Nanosci. & Tech.; Assoc. Editor, Research (AAAS / Science Partner); and several other journal Editorial Boards. He is Fellow of the American Chemical Society, IUPAC Fellow, Cottrell Scholar of Research Corporation, and ACS Charles Stone Award winner. Prof. Smith has published 157 refereed journal articles (H=54), 28 US patents issued or pending, 300+ conference papers, 5 book editorships, and 200+ invited lectures in 23 countries. He has advised 25 Ph.D., 8 M.S. graduates, and mentored 20+ post-doctoral, and 80+ undergraduate, foreign exchange, and high school students and science teachers. Dr. Smith is a board director, active consultant for organic & materials chemistry, entrepreneurship, and expert opinion.

Prof. Jean-Francois Gerard

INSA Lyon

Title: Tailoring nanoscale to design smart polymer materials

Prof. Dr. J.F. GERARD is full professor at INSA Lyon Department of Materials Engineering (Université de Lyon). After being Head of the IMP (Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères) UMR CNRS 5223 in Lyon (2002-2011), France, Vice-President Research at INSA Lyon (2006-2011), and President of the European Polymer Federation (2015-2018), he is Deputy Director of the CNRS Institute of Chemistry (France). His works are dedicated to polymer synthesis, polymer nanomaterials, and polymer-based surfaces and interfaces. He is the author of more than 290 scientific papers and 17 patents (h-index: 19). He also gave 150 plenary lectures in international conferences and more than 600 communications. He also supervised 80 PhDs and more that 35 post-doc scientists.

Prof. Hermis Iatrou

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Title: Smart Nanostructured Materials as Drug Delivery Carriers to Treat Cancer, Kidney and Cardiovascular Diseases

Bachelor of Chemistry in 1989 from the Chemistry Department of NKUA, PhD from the Chemistry Department of NKUA in 1993. Post-Doc Fellow, Marie-Curie project at Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany from 1994-1995. Director of the Analysis Laboratory of Aviation fuels for the Northern Greek Army Air Force Installations 1995-1997. Second post-doc at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, 1997-1998. Research Fellow of Prof. Nikos Hadjichristidis at the NKUA, Chemistry Department, 1998-2002. Assistant professor of the Chemistry Department of NKUA, 2002, Associate Professor on 2009 and Professor on 2015 and Director of industrial Chemistry lab. His research interests are Polymer Chemistry, synthesis of biomaterials for drug and gene delivery, synthesis of nanostructured materials for biological applications, “smart” responsive nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery applications. He has published more than 180 papers.

Prof. Jannick D. Rumeau

University of Lyon, France

Title: Circularity of polymer materials : is it a reality?

Prof. Jannick Duchet-Rumeau got a PhD diploma of University of Lyon in Macromolecular Materials & Composites in 1996 focused on modelling of the interface in a polyethylene / glass system tuned by the grafting connecting chains to improve the adhesion properties. She has had a post PhD position in Louvain La Neuve (Belgium) where she worked on processing and characterization of polymer nanotubes. In 1998, she got an assistant professor position then a full professor position in 2010 in the laboratory ‘Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères’ UMR CNRS #5223. She manages the National CNRS Network (GDR #3585) dedicated to Ionic Liquids and Polymers gathering 40 academic laboratories. Her research activities are dedicated to multiscale relationships between architecture and physical properties of polymer materials involving i/ nanocomposites materials ii/ mesoporous materials iii/ self assembled materials onto inorganic surfaces iv/ ionic materials from Ionic Liquids and v/ the multi-phased materials : polymer blends and fiber based composites. She is author of two hundred papers in international journals, 7 book chapters and 200 communications in international conferences. She has supervised 60 phd students. Since 2021, she has being managed the IMP Lab gathering 200 permanent and non permanent staff. Since 2025, she is the co-director of French National Program PEPR dedicated to Recycling, recyclability and Re-Use of materials.

Prof. Mathias Ulbricht

Universitat Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Title: Advanced polymer-based membranes with tailored barrier and surface properties

Mathias Ulbricht was from 2001 to January 2025 a Full Professor for Chemical Technology in the Department of Chemistry at University Duisburg-Essen, Germany; he serves now as a Senior Professor (www.uni-due.de/tech2chem). He received his doctoral degree in chemistry in 1987 from Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, and his habilitation from the same university in 1997. He also worked as researcher in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA (1992-1993), and at GKSS Research Center Geesthacht, Germany (1997-1999). He was founder and CEO of a private company in Berlin (1999-2003). His research interests are in the field of functional polymeric as well as nanohybrid materials and have a focus on synthetic membranes and membrane-based technologies for water purification, bioseparation and energy conversion.

Prof. Georgios C. Psarras

University of Patras, Greece

Title: Hybrid Polymer Matrix Nanocomposites: Multi-functional Performance vs Smart Behaviour

Georgios Chr. Psarras is Professor in the Department of Materials Science, University of Patras, Greece. He received his PhD from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1995. His research interests include: (a) smart and functional materials incorporating ceramic nanoparticles (polar oxides, ferro/piezo-electric elements), (b) nanocomposite-nanodielectric materials (dielectric response, conductivity, thermomechanical performance), (c) investigation of the ability to store and harvest energy in polymer matrix nanocomposites, (d) magnetic properties of polymer matrix nanocomposites incorporating magnetic nanoparticles, and (e) relaxation phenomena and electrical properties in biopolymers and biocompatible nanocomposites. He has been invited to teach in the: (a) Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of Beijing, China, (b) Institute for Composite Materials, Kaiserslautern University of Technology, Germany, and (c) Department of Polymer Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary. His research activities classify him in “the top 2% of global researchers’ world ranking, 2020-2025, Stanford University & Elsevier BV, Published: 19 September 2025.

Prof. Marinos Pitsikalis

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Title: Poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) based macromolecular architectures as vehicles for the encapsulation of hydrophobic compounds

Marinos Pitsikalis received his B. Sc. (1989) and Ph. D. (1994) in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA (1995-1996). He was elected Lecturer (1998), Assistant Professor (2002), Associate Professor (2009) and Full Professor (2014) at the Industrial Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He worked as a Visiting Scientist at the University of Milano (March 1991), University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA (September-October 1993), Max Plank Institute for Polymer Science, Germany (August 1994), National Institute for Standards and Technology, USA (December 1995), IBM Almaden Research Center, USA (February 1995), University of Wisconsin (September 2002), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA (August 2003 and August 2005). His research interests involve the synthesis and characterization of complex macromolecular architectures by a variety of well-controlled and living polymerization techniques, the self-assembly behavior of copolymers in selective solvents and in bulk and the study of the thermal properties and the kinetics of thermal decomposition of polymers. He is the co-author of approximately 185 papers, review papers and book chapters. He has more than 10,500 citations and an h-index equal to 44.

Prof. Ramani Narayan

Michigan State University, USA

Title: Re-designing carbon-carbon backbone polymers for biodegradability (compostability) and recyclability

Dr. Ramani Narayan is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science at Michigan State University, where he has mentored over 50 graduate students and authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. With 32 issued patents and over 28,000 citations, his pioneering research has led to the commercialization of multiple biobased, biodegradable polymer technologies, including PLA and starch-based foams.

A global leader in sustainability standards, Dr. Narayan is the founding chair of ASTM International’s committee on Environmentally Degradable Plastics and Biobased Products, where he spearheaded the development of key standards such as D6400, D6868, and D6866. He also serves as a U.S. technical expert to ISO, contributing to international standards on environmental aspects of plastics and packaging.

His expertise has been recognized by the U.S. National Academies, where he contributed to the national report on ocean plastic waste. He is a sought-after authority on life cycle assessment and serves on critical review panels for environmental impact studies.

Dr. Narayan’s accolades include MSU’s highest faculty honor, the University Distinguished Professor title, multiple Governor’s Awards for commercialization and green chemistry, and international recognition as a Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship Chair. He is a Fellow of both the National Academy of Inventors and ASTM, and a recipient of numerous lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to degradable polymers and sustainable materials science.

Plenary Speakers