ACIS Plenary

Professor Julia A. Kornfield is the Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Her group designs and synthesizes new molecules guided by understanding their physics. Polymers developed at Caltech are currently used to customize human vision by noninvasively optimizing a lens after it is implanted into a patient’s eye (FDA-approved 2017). Kornfield co-founded Fluid Efficiency, which uses “megasupramolecules” to improve hydrocarbon transport and safety. Thus, her work spans from fundamental research on the molecular basis of polymer structure and properties, to commercialization of polymers that improve sustainability, health and safety. Elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, she has been recognized as an outstanding mentor by Caltech’s Graduate Students and received the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology, among other honors.