Dr. Kim Ragaert
Talk Title: How do we make polymer science research useful for real-world recycling?
Kim Ragaert is full professor at Maastricht University, holding the key domain chair of Circular Plastics within the department Circular Chemical Engineering (CCE). She leads a research group on Brightlands Chemelot Campus with 2 associate professors, 4 assistant professors, 5 postdocs and 16 PhDs. Research topics include concepts of quality for recycling, the macromolecular interactions in complex mixes, the effects of contaminations and degradation, design for & from recycling and the balance between different recycling pathways. Interdisciplinary topics include circular data, systems thinking for plastics, cost calculation in recycling and how to connect technical quality to LCA.
Kim 's 2017 review paper on plastics recycling has been cited over 2500 times, she was the 2020 European Plastics Recycling Ambassador and a 2024 royal finalist of the Prins Friso Engineer of the Year award. She is a founding member of Brightlands Circular Space, a member of the Impact Committee of the ReOcean investment fund and sits on several steering and expert boards for industry and academia alike.
Dr. John M. Torkelson
Talk Title: Industrially Adaptable Upcycling of Waste Plastics into Reprocessable Polymer Networks
John Torkelson is a Walter P. Murphy Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, respectively. Throughout his career at Northwestern, he has done research in polymers and plastics. His research has also included topics in sustainability as well as nanoscience and nanotechnology. As a research mentor/advisor, he has graduated 68 Ph.D. students and 34 M.S. students, and he has advised dozens of undergraduate researchers. He is the co-author of nearly 300 refereed research articles and more than 25 awarded U.S. patents. According to Google Scholar, his research has ~25,000 citations, with an h-index of 84. Scholar GPS named John a 2024 “highly ranked scholar” in three topic areas, ranking him #1 in “transition temperature”, #3 in “glass transition”, and #95 in “polymers.”
Torkelson has served Northwestern University as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, and as Director of the Materials Research Center and the NSF-MRSEC at Northwestern University. He served the broader community as Chair of the Division of Polymer Physics of the American Physical Society (APS) and Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Division (MESD) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He has been recognized for teaching excellence with three-year terms as the Bette and Neison Harris Professor of Teaching Excellence and as the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence. He has been recognized for research excellence as the winner of the Polymer Physics Prize (awarded by the Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics) and the Charles M.A. Stine Award from the MESD of the AIChE.
Dr. Jan-Georg Rosenboom
Talk Title: Circular plastics through cyclic molecules - how to recycle polymer waste without costly breakdown
Jan-Georg Rosenboom, PhD, is Chemical Engineer with a focus on Polymers for People and the Planet. He is a co-founder of MacroCycle Technologies, which commercializes a new chemical recycling process for PET packaging and textile polyester, and a research affiliate with MIT's Langer Lab. He obtained a PhD from ETH Zurich specializing in Ring-Opening Polymerization first for PEF and then for PET polyesters, which formed the basis for MacroCycle’s technology. He worked with SULZER ChemTech on process scaleup of the PEF synthesis technology after his PhD, until moving to MIT for postdoctoral work with Prof. Robert Langer before spinning out MacroCycle. He has produced 20 papers, 4 patents, and served as a plastics consultant for Apple, Henkel, and venture capital firms. He has won science outreach and public speaking awards, and gave 2 TEDx talks, including one on MacroCycle's technology: “Why plastic recycling is broken - and how to fix it”.
Dr. Nicolas Cottenye
Talk Title: Recycling and upcycling of plastic waste: Purification at the heart of the solution
Nicolas Cottenye, Ph.D., serves as the Vice President of Research and Development at UpSolv. He earned his doctorate in Chemistry from the Universities of Basel (CH) and Haute Alsace (FR) in 2010. With over a decade of experience in industrial R&D, he has authored 7 inventions. Following the completion of his doctoral studies and a postdoctoral fellowship in the field of polymer-biological interactions, Nicolas embarked on a career at Bioastra Technologies, where he dedicated himself to develop smart polymers. There, he honed his skills in managing research and development, collaborating extensively with industrial partners in both B2B and open innovation settings. In 2022, he joined UpSolv (formerly Polystyvert) to lead research and development in polymer recovery from the recycling process using dissolution-based technology. With his extensive experience in polymer interfaces and particle-polymer interactions, Nicolas has led the development of ABS recycling and purification in collaboration with Dr. Roland Côté, the inventor of the original PS dissolution process.