About the Speaker:

Bio:

Erin Stache is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University.

Stache finished her Ph.D. at Princeton Chemistry in 2018 under the joint advisorship of Abigail Doyle, formerly of Princeton Chemistry, and Columbia University’s Tomislav Rovis. Her Ph.D. degree-granting institution is Colorado State University, where Rovis was previously a professor.

Stache did her undergraduate work in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, after which she started her Ph.D. at Colorado State.

After she completed her Ph.D., Stache did her postdoctoral work with Brett Fors as one of the inaugural  Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows at Cornell University. She has received the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, the President’s Council of Cornell Women Affinito-Stewart Grant, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grant, and the NSF CAREER Award.

Stache grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, the youngest of four daughters who rose each day at 5 a.m. to tend the farm’s dairy cows, planting and harvesting. She is an avid runner and completed her first half-marathon in Princeton in 2015.

Research Interests:

Research in Stache’s lab aims to integrate diverse fields, including organic chemistry, photochemistry, inorganic materials, and polymer chemistry, to pioneer fresh advancements in materials science and synthesis. One major aspect of their research is finding solutions for a more sustainable plastics economy. This work involves the application of innovative catalytic methods to formulate previously unexplored strategies for polymerization. Central to this approach is the discovery of novel monomers that unlock access to unprecedented materials, facilitating an in-depth exploration of their potential applications.