Kathryn Beers

Kathryn L. Beers is an American polymer chemist. Beers is Leader of the Polymers and Complex Fluids group in the Materials Science and Engineering Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Her research interests include microreactors and microfluidics, advances in polymer synthesis and reaction monitoring, macromolecular separations, integrated and high throughput measurements of polymeric materials, degradable and renewable polymeric materials, and sustainable materials.

Early life and education Beers is a native of the Washington metropolitan area. She completed a B.S. in chemistry at the College of William & Mary in 1994. In 1996, she earned an M.S. in polymer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at Carnegie Mellon in 2000. She worked with professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski. From 2000 to 2002, she was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow in the Polymers Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Career From 2002 to 2007, Beers was a research chemist and project leader in the polymer formulations at the NIST Combinatorial Methods Center (NCMC) in the Polymers Division at NIST. Beers was the Assistant Director for Physical Sciences and Engineering in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from 2007 to 2008. and served in the POLY Chair series from 2012 to 2017. She became a member of the Materials Research Society in 2001 and Sigma Xi in 2004.

Research Beers researches microreactors and microfluidics, advances in polymer synthesis and reaction monitoring, macromolecular separations, integrated and high throughput measurements of polymeric materials, degradable and renewable polymeric materials, and sustainable materials.

Awards and honors In 2005, Beers was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal. She was a 2006 Department of Commerce Science and Technology Policy (ComSci) fellow. In 2007, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.