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Department of Chemistry College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Daniel A. Savin, Ph.D, ACSF

Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Florida

Leigh Hall 318

PO Box 117200

Gainesville, FL 32611-7200                                          

Phone: (352) 392-9150 

Email: savin@chem.ufl.edu

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION

B.S. Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA; Advisor Prof. Kerry Karukstis (1995)

M.S. Polymer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (1997)

Ph.D. Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University; Advisor: Prof. Gary Patterson (2002)

Postdoctoral University of Minnesota; Advisor: Prof. Timothy Lodge (2002-2003)

APPOINTMENTS

Program Director, Condensed Matter Physics Program, MPS Materials Research Section, U.S. National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA. (2026 – Present)

Program Director, Biomaterials Program, MPS Materials Research Section, U.S. National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA. (2023 – Present)

Director, Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. (2020-2023)

Associate Professor, University of Florida, Department of Chemistry, Gainesville, FL. (2015 – Present)

Associate Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, School of Polymers and High-Performance Materials, Hattiesburg, MS. (2014)

Assistant Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, School of Polymers and High-Performance Materials, Hattiesburg, MS. (2008-2014)

Assistant Professor, University of Vermont, Department of Physics, Burlington, VT. (2006-2008)

Assistant Professor, University of Vermont, Department of Chemistry, Burlington, VT.  Secondary appointments: Materials Science and Environmental Science. (2003-2008)

AWARDS AND HONORS

  • ACS PMSE Distinguished Service Award (2025)
  • University Term Professorship Award (2019-2022)
  • UF Mentor Academy (2022)
  • Elected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2018)
  • Polymer Chemistry Pioneering Investigator (2017)
  • USM College of Science and Technology Outstanding Faculty Service Award (2013)
  • Bronze Telly Award: “It’s a Wash: The Chemistry of Soap.” NBC Learn (the educational wing of NBC News) Chemistry Now series (2012)
  • Highlighted in the “21st Century Chemists” section of NBC Learn
  • ACS Science Coaches: “You are a Scientist!” ACS-funded outreach program to Oak Grove Lower Elementary School.
  • Selected for Kids’ Science Challenge – Nationwide competition for 3rd-6th grade students. Featured on NPR: 11/01/10; 11/02/10; 08/01/11 and Talk of the Nation – 08/19/11.
  • USM QEP Faculty Development Fellowship: Finding a Voice Improving Oral and Writing Competencies in the Classroom (2011)
  • PMSE Young Investigator Symposium Invitation (2010)

RESEARCH GROUP AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

  • 2025 Gregory Peiris, People’s Choice Award at Southeast Regional Conference (SERC)
  • 2019 ACS POLY/PMSE Student Chapter (Amanda Pritzlaff, President) receives Best Student Chapter award
  • 2019 Scarlett Godinez awarded Best Poster award at the ACS POLY workshop: Polymer Composites and High-Performance Materials
  • 2017 Kyle Bentz awarded the Butler Polymer Research Graduate Award
  • 2016 Kyle Bentz awarded the Eastman Summer Fellowship in Polymer Characterization
  • 2016 ACS POLY/PMSE Student Chapter (Bentz, President) receives Best Student Chapter award
  • 2016 Scarlett Arencibia receives the A. L. Hendry Award from the Southern Society of Coatings Technologies
  • 2016 Scarlett Arencibia receives a Board of Education Summer Fellowship from the UF Office of Graduate Minority Programs
  • 2013 – 2014 Ashley Johnson and Kyle Bentz awarded NSF GK-12 Fellowships
  • 2013 Kyle Bentz awarded DuPont Scholarship to attend ISPAC 2013
  • 2012 – 2013 Andrew Janisse awarded NSF GK-12 Fellowship
  • 2012 Jack Ly awarded ACS Undergraduate Travel Award, POLY Division, ACS National Meeting, San Diego, March 2012
  • 2011 Jacob Ray awarded Journal of Materials Chemistry Poster Prize at the International Symposium of Stimuli Responsive Materials
  • 2011 Jacob Ray awarded Eastman Chemical Graduate Fellowship
  • 2011 Olivia McNair, Adam Richardson and Davis Brent awarded $6000 First Prize in Noetic Technologies ‘Invent Your Future’ competition.
  • 2010 – 2011 Jacob Ray awarded NSF GK-12 Fellowship
  • 2010 Ashley Johnson (Montgomery) and Sandeep Naik awarded $10,000 First Prize in Noetic Technologies ‘Invent Your Future’ competition.
  • 2009 – 2012 Ashley Johnson (Montgomery) awarded a Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship.

DEPARTMENT AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE (since January 2015)

  • Chair, Safety Committee (2019 – 2023)
  • Scientific Advisory group for ICBR EM Core (2018 – present)
  • Undergraduate Curriculum and Lab Committee (2015 – 2023)
  • General Chemistry Curriculum Committee (2019 – 2023)
  • Alpha Chi Sigma faculty co-advisor (2016 – present)
  • Polymer Chemistry Search Committee (2021 – 2022)
  • Faculty Merit Review Committee (2018 – 2022)
  • Graduate Advising Committee (2016 – 2021)
  • Polymer Chemistry Search Committee (2019 – 2020)
  • Chemathon (April 2016, April 2017, April 2018, April 2019)
  • General Chemistry Lecturer Search Committee (2019)
  • Organic Chemistry Lecturer Search Committee (2018 – 2019)
  • Early Career PChem award committee (2016 – 2017, 2019)
  • Graduate Admissions and Recruitment Committee (2017 – 2018)
  • Faculty Search Committee (External member, Chemical Engineering, 2017 – 2018)
  • Magnetic Resonance Search Committee (2017 – 2018)
  • Chemical Biology of Cancer Faculty Search Committee (2015 – 2017)
  • Commencement Marshall (Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2026)
  • Proctor and Gamble Award Committee (2015)

EXTERNAL SERVICE (since August 2008)

ACS PMSE Executive Committee (2009 – present)

  • Past Chair (2024)
  • Chair (2023)
  • Chair-elect (2022)
  • Vice Chair, Program Chair (2021)
  • Treasurer (2019 – 2020)
  • PMSE Distinguished Service Award Committee (2024 – present)
  • PMSE Centennial Planning Committee (2023 – 2024)
  • Co-Chair, PMSE ACS Fellows Nomination Committee (2016 – 2024)
  • Journal of Polymer Science Lectureship Award Committee (2023)
  • Tess Award Committee (2024)
  • Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award Committee (2023, 2024)
  • Henkel Graduate Award Committee (San Diego 2019, Indianapolis 2023)
  • Chemistry of Materials Lectureship Award Committee (2022)
  • POLY/PMSE Student Chapter Coordinator for PMSE (2017 – 2023)
  • Chair, PMSE ACS Fellows Nomination Committee (2009 – 2016)
  • PMSE Representative to the Intersociety Polymer Education Committee (2013 – 2019)
  • Member at Large (2013 – 2015)
  • Doolittle Award judge (Anaheim and Denver 2011, New Orleans and Indianapolis 2013, Dallas 2014, San Francisco 2014, Boston 2018, San Diego 2022)

POLYED Executive Committee (2010 – 2019)

Secretary, Intersociety Polymer Education Committee (2013 – 2019)

ACS Exams Committee – Polymer Chemistry (2018 – 2020)

Board of Directors, Applied Polymer Technology Extension Consortium (2011 – 2023)

International Advisory Board – Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics (2018 – present)

Editorial Advisory Board – Macromolecules and ACS Macro Letters (2014 – 2016)

Scientific Advisory Board. “International Symposium on Polymer Analysis and Characterization.” New Orleans, LA, June 2013.

SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZATION

  • Co-Chair, Polymers Gordon Research Conference (South Hadley, MA, June 2027)
  • Co-Vice Chair, Polymers Gordon Research Conference (South Hadley, MA, June 2025)
  • Co-organizer, “Polymers that are Non-linear” 267th ACS National Meeting, PMSE (New Orleans, LA, March 2024)
  • Co-organizer, “Next-generation Structural Nanocomposites: Advances and Challenges” 267th ACS National Meeting, PMSE (New Orleans, LA, March 2024)
  • Organizer, “PMSE/POLY Poster Session,” 263rd ACS National Meeting, PMSE (San Diego, CA, March 2022)
  • Organizer, “General Papers/New Concepts in Polymeric Materials,” 263rd ACS National Meeting, PMSE (San Diego, CA, March 2022)
  • Organizer, “PMSE/POLY Poster Session,” 262nd ACS National Meeting, POLY/PMSE (Atlanta, GA, August 2021)
  • Organizer, “General Papers/New Concepts in Polymeric Materials,” 262nd ACS National Meeting, POLY/PMSE (Atlanta, GA, August 2021)
  • Co-organizer, “Entrepreneurial Polymer Chemistry: From the Lab to Start-Up,” 260th ACS National Meeting, POLY/PMSE (San Francisco, CA, August 2020)
  • Co-organizer, “Biopolymers, Polymer Bioconjugates, and their Self-Assembled Phases,” APS Focus Session, DPOLY (Denver, CO, March 2020) [Meeting cancelled]
  • Co-organizer, “Unique and Complex Polymer Architectures,” 258th ACS National Meeting, PMSE (San Diego, CA, August 2019)
  • Co-organizer, “ACS POLY: Polymer Composites and High-Performance Materials,” Rohnert Park, CA, July 2019.
  • Co-organizer, “ACS POLY: Polymer Composites and High-Performance Materials,” Santa Rosa, CA, July 2016.
  • Co-organizer, “Polymer Composites and High-Performance Materials,” 249th ACS National Meeting, POLY (Denver, CO, March 2015)
  • Co-organizer, “Self-Assembled Block Copolymers and Soft Nanoparticles in Solution,” APS Focus Session, DPOLY (San Antonio, TX, March 2015)
  • Co-organizer. “Supramolecular Assembly and Gelation in Organic Media,” 247th ACS National Meeting, PMSE (Dallas, TX, March 2014)
  • Co-organizer, “Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science,” 247th ACS National Meeting, POLY (Dallas, TX, March 2014)
  • Co-organizer. “Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules,” 246th ACS National Meeting, CHED (Co-sponsored by POLY, PMSE, PHYS, COLL) (Indianapolis, IN September 2013)
  • Co-organizer. “Bioconjugates and Hybrid Biomaterials,” 246th ACS National Meeting, PMSE (Indianapolis, September 2013)
  • Co-organizer: “ACS POLY: Polymer Composites and High-Performance Materials,” Santa Rosa, CA, July 2013.
  • Organizer. “Joint PMSE/CCS-PD Symposium,” Hattiesburg, MS, April 2013.
  • Co-organizer, “Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science,” 245th ACS National Meeting, POLY (New Orleans, LA, April 2013)
  • Co-organizer: “Advances in Polymer Composites,” 242nd ACS National Meeting, POLY (Denver, August 2011)
  • Co-organizer: “ACS POLY: Composite Matrix Science Workshop,” New Orleans, LA, February 2010.
  • Co-organizer: “Hybrid Soft Materials of Natural and Synthetic Polymers.”  238th ACS National meeting, PMSE (Washington, D.C., August 2009)
  • Organizer: “Nanostructured Block Copolymer Materials.” 237th ACS National meeting, PMSE (Salt Lake City, March 2009)