Brad Olsen, PhD

Bradley D. Olsen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. He earned is S.B. in Chemical Engineering at MIT in 2003 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 2009 studying with Professor Rachel Segalman. He was then a postdoctoral scholar tat the California Institute of Technology with Professors David Terrell, Julia Kornfield, and Zhen-Gang Wang from 2008 to 2009. He started as an assistant professor at MIT in December 2009.

Olsen’s research focuses on engineering new polymer, biohybrid, and protein materials and understanding the novel polymer physics required to control the nanoscale structure and properties of these complex systems. His group investigates the relationships between molecular structure and self-assembly, applying concepts from block copolymer assembly and polymer gels to understand material properties. Their work designs new materials as models to advance our fundamental understanding of polymer physics through experiment and theory while also developing specific new materials for a variety of applications in energy, health, and national defense. Olsen is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.