Regular biography
Dr. Parisa Mehrkhodavandi is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a faculty member at the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and the affiliated Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS). Her research focuses on the development of sustainable and biodegradable polymers, particularly poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), through the use of advanced catalytic systems and polymerization techniques. Her work has significantly advanced the understanding of stereoselective polymerization, the design of chiral catalysts, and the synthesis of complex block copolymers with tailored properties. Dr. Mehrkhodavandi is known for her innovative approaches to redox control in polymerization reactions and her contributions to the field of green chemistry. She has received numerous awards and honors for her research, including the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry Award and the NSF CAREER Award. Her work has been published in leading scientific journals, and she is a frequent speaker at international conferences on polymer science and engineering.
Scholar-generated biography
Parisa Mehrkhodavandi's research focuses on the development of chiral indium and group 4 metal catalysts for ring-opening polymerization of lactide and ε-caprolactone. Her work explores redox control, catalyst aggregation, and isoselectivity in living polymerization processes. She investigates the mechanism of lactide polymerization using dinuclear catalysts and examines the impact of ligand structure on polymerization activity. Additionally, she studies the synthesis of biodegradable polyester-based block copolymers and their viscoelastic properties. Her research also includes theoretical investigations into polymerization mechanisms and the design of stable cationic metal complexes for controlled polymerization of 1-hexene.