Karen I. Winey is the Harold Pender Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania with appointments in both Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Karen’s research focuses on the nanoscale structures in ionomers and associating polymers to improve mechanical and transport properties, and her groups had recently discovered new structures in several precise polyethylenes. Karen studies the mechanic, thermal and electrical properties of polymer nanocomposites, as well as polymer dynamics and diffusion in the presence of nanoparticles and in nanoconfinement. Karen frequently couples experimental studies with simulation and theory via collaboration. Karen has delivered over 260 invited lectures, holds 21 patents and has published over 235 papers.
Karen received her B.S. in materials science from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She completed a postdoctoral position at AT&T Bell Laboratories before joining Penn. During her 2014-15 sabbatical leave she was a Visiting Miller Research Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a Visiting Scholar at the Materials Research Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Karen recently completed a 5-year term as department chair.
Outside of work, Dr. Winey enjoys bicycling, hiking, and going to new and favorite restaurants with friends. She is also a big fan of the National Parks.