Status Full-time Faculty
Home Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Phone 333-3906
Email cms@illinois.edu
Address 3247 Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue
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Biography
Charles M. Schroeder is the James Economy professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. He is Co-Chair of the Molecular Science and Engineering Theme and Leader of the AI for Materials (AIM) Group in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Professor Schroeder is a faculty member in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology and holds affiliate status in the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Bioengineering, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the Materials Research Lab (MRL). He previously served as Associate Head in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois. Before joining the University of Illinois in 2008, he was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow and a K99/R00 NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University (2004-2007).
Education
B.S., chemical engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1999
M.S., chemical engineering, Stanford University, 2001
Ph.D., chemical engineering, Stanford University, 2004
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Honors
2023: American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
2019: Ray & Beverly Mentzer Professor
2019: Society of Rheology Publication Award
2014: Center for Advanced Study, Beckman Fellow, University of Illinois
2013: Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
2013: NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation
2013: Dean's Award for Excellence in Research, University of Illinois
2012: Arthur B. Metzner Early Career Award, Society of Rheology
2012: U.S. Frontiers of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering
2011: Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering
2008: Tomorrow's PIs, Genome Technology
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Research
Research areas:
Single polymer dynamics
Vesicle dynamics, biological membranes, microhydrodynamics & Stokes trap
Automated synthesis for materials discovery
Molecular electronics & bioelectronics
Research interests:
Molecular engineering
Soft materials
Molecular rheology
Single molecule biophysics
The cutting edge of chemical science research lies in the ability to manipulate and control single molecules. The Schroeder group has pioneered a unique and powerful brand of molecular engineering that allows for the precise design and characterization of single molecules, in problems ranging from polymer physics to molecular electronics. Imagine the ability to design and engineer new soft materials with any desired functional properties (e.g., electrical, optical, mechanical) by controlling chemical structure and composition at the molecular level. The Schroeder group aims to achieve this vision by understanding how form and function arise in soft materials given precise control over molecular synthesis, structure, and processing.
A major unsolved problem in soft materials and rheology lies in understanding how the collective behavior of individual molecules gives rise to bulk properties in polymeric materials. To address this challenge, the Schroeder group has extended the field of single polymer dynamics to new materials including architecturally complex polymers such as rings and branched polymers. His work provides a molecular-level understanding of non-equilibrium polymer dynamics, bridging the gap between molecular behavior and bulk properties in polymeric liquids and solids. Recent work has focused on fully recyclable synthetic polymers using metastable chemistries.
Schroeder's group studies the non-equilibrium conformational dynamics of lipid vesicles and colloidal clusters using a Stokes trap, which is a new method developed by his group that allows for the precise trapping and manipulation of single molecules or particles using automated flow control. Understanding the dynamics of membrane-bound vesicles is critical for developing new and efficient drug delivery vehicles. His recent work has focused on understanding the non-linear deformation of lipid membranes in flow, including phase separation and dynamics of multi-component lipid membranes under tension.
The Schroeder group uses automated synthesis to drive the discovery of new materials for applications including organic electronics and energy storage. A “Lego-like” building block approach is used to synthesize large libraries of chemically diverse, sequence-defined molecules via automated iterative Suzuki coupling (C-C coupling). Automated synthesis is also used in combination with AI-guided, closed-loop discovery methods for new materials, e.g., organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with improved photostability or new electrochromic molecules.
Electron transport in proteins is essential for fundamental life processes in living cells. Understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level remains an open challenge in the field. Recently, the Schroeder group has studied charge transport mechanisms in sequence-defined polymers, redox-active molecules, and supramolecular assemblies using single molecule techniques. His work is focused on bioelectronics by developing new sustainable materials for next-generation electronic devices, including self-assembled protein circuitry and conductive peptide nanowires.
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2022
- C. Pan*, S. K. Tabatabaei*, S. M. H. Tabatabaei Yazdi, A. G. Hernandez, C. M. Schroeder*, O. Milenkovic*, "Rewritable Two-Dimensional DNA-Based Data Storage with Machine Learning Reconstruction", submitted (2021). Nature Communications, accepted (2022)
2021
- C. Lin, D. Kumar, C. Richter, S. Wang, C. M. Schroeder, V. Narsimhan, "Vesicle Dynamics in Large Amplitude Oscillatory Extensional Flow", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 929 (2021).
- S. Jain, S. Shukla, C. Yang, Y. Wang, X. Xiong, S. Abesteh, M. Lingamaneni, C. M. Schroeder, P. R. Selvin, H. Zhao, "TALEN Outperforms Cas9 in Editing Heterochromatin Target Sites", Nature Communications, 12, 606 (2021).
- Y. Zhou, C. D. Young, K. E. Regan, M. Lee, S. Banik, D. Kong, G. B. McKenna, R. M. Robertson- Anderson, C. E. Sing, C. M. Schroeder, "Dynamics and Rheology of Ring-Linear Blend Semidilute Solutions in Extensional Flow: Single Molecule Experiments", Journal of Rheology, 65, 757-777 (2021).
2020
- 76. K. R. Peddireddy, M. Lee, C. M. Schroeder, R. M. Robertson-Anderson, "Viscoelastic Properties of Ring-linear DNA Blends Exhibit Non-monotonic Dependence on Blend Composition", Physical Review Research, 2, 023213 (2020).
- 82. S. Patel, C. D. Young, C. E. Sing, C. M. Schroeder, "Non-monotonic Dependence of Comb Polymer Relaxation on Branch Density in Semi-dilute Solutions", Physical Review Fluids, 5, 121301R (2020).
- D. Kumar, A. Shenoy, J. C. Deutsch, C. M. Schroeder, "Automation and Flow Control for Particle Manipulation", Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 29, 1-8 (2020).
- D. Kumar, C. M. Richter, C. M. Schroeder, "Conformational Dynamics and Phase Behavior of Lipid Vesicles in a Precisely Controlled Extensional Flow", Soft Matter, 16, 337-347 (2020).
- D. Kumar, C. M. Richter, C. M. Schroeder, "Double-mode Relaxation of Highly Deformed Vesicles", Physical Review E, 102, 010605R (2020).
- D. Mai and C. M. Schroeder, "Single Molecule Studies of Synthetic Polymers", ACS Macro Letters, 9, 1332-1341 (2020).
- E. R. Jira, K. Shmilovich, T. S. Kale, A. Ferguson, J. D. Tovar, C. M. Schroeder, "Effect of Core Oligomer Length on the Phase Behavior and Assembly of pi-conjugated Peptides", ACS Applied Ma- terials & Interfaces, 12, 20722-20732 (2020).
- H. Yu*, S. Li*, K. E. Schwieter, Y. Liu, B. Sun, J. S. Moore, C. M. Schroeder, "Charge Transport in Sequence-defined Conjugated Oligomers", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, 4852-4861, (2020).
- K. Peddireddy, M. Lee, Y. Zhou, S. Adalbert, C. M. Schroeder, R. Robertson-Anderson, "Unexpected Entanglement Dynamics in Semidilute Blends of Supercoiled and Ring DNA", Soft Matter, 16, 152-161 (2020).
- L. Cuculis*, C. Zhao*, Z. Abil, H. Zhao, D. Shukla*, C. M. Schroeder*, "Divalent Cations Enhance TALE DNA-Binding Specicity", Nucleic Acids Research, 48, 1406-1422 (2020).
- M. Tu, M. Lee, R. M. Robertson-Anderson, C. M. Schroeder, "Direct Observation of Ring Polymer Dynamics in the Flow-Gradient Plane of Shear Flow", Macromolecules, 53, 9406-9419 (2020).
- S. Li, H. Yu, X. Chen, A. A. Gewirth, J. S. Moore, C. M. Schroeder, "Covalent Ag-C Bonding Contacts from Unprotected Terminal Acetylenes for Molecular Junctions", Nano Letters, 20, 5490-5495 (2020).
- S. Li, J. Li, H. Yu, S. Pudar, B. Li, J. Rodriguez-Lopez, J. S. Moore, C. M. Schroeder, "Characterizing Intermolecular Interactions in Redox-active Pyridinium-based Molecular Junctions", Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, in press (2020).
2019
- A. Shenoy, D. Kumar, S. Hilgenfeldt, C. M. Schroeder, "Flow Topology During Multiplexed Particle Manipulation using a Stokes Trap", Physical Review Applied, 12, 054010 (2019).
- B. Li, H. Yu, E. C. Montoto, Y. Liu, S. Li, K. Schwieter, J. Rodriquez-Lopez, J. S. Moore, C. M. Schroeder, "Intrachain Charge Transport through Conjugated Donor-Acceptor Oligomers", ACS Ap- plied Electronic Materials, 1, 7-12 (2019).
- C. Boucher-Jacobs, B. Li, C. M. Schroeder, and D. Guironnet, "Solubility and Activity of a Phosphinosulfonate Palladium Catalyst in Water with Di erent Surfactants", Polymer Chemistry, 10, 1988- 1992 (2019).
- D. Kumar, A. Shenoy, S. Li, C. M. Schroeder, "Orientation Control and Nonlinear Trajectory Tracking of Colloidal Particles using Microfluidics", Physical Review Fluids, 4, 114203 (2019).
- L. Valverde, B. Li, C. M. Schroeder, W. Wilson, "In Situ Photophysical Characterization of - conjugated Oligopeptides Assembled via Continuous Flow Processing", Langmuir, 35, 10947-10957 (2019).
- S. Li*, H. Yu*, K. E. Schwieter, K. Chen, B. Li, Y. Liu, J. S. Moore, C. M. Schroeder, "Charge Transport and Quantum Interference in Oxazole-Terminated Conjugated Oligomers", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141, 16079-16084 (2019).
- Y. Zhou, K. W. Hsiao, K. E. Regan, D. Kong, G. B. McKenna, R. M. Robertson-Anderson, C. M. Schroeder, " Effects of Molecular Architecture on Ring Polymer Dynamics in Semi-dilute Linear Polymer Solutions", Nature Communications, 10, 1753, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09627 (2019).
2018
- C. M. Schroeder, "Single Polymer Dynamics for Molecular Rheology", Journal of Rheology, 62, 371-403 (2018).
- D. J. Mai, A. Sadaat, B. Khomami, C. M. Schroeder, "Stretching Dynamics of Single Comb Polymers in Extensional Flow", Macromolecules, 51, 1507-1517 (2018).
- S. Li and C. M. Schroeder, "Synthesis and Single Molecule Studies of Thermo-responsive DNA Copolymers", ACS Macro Letters, 7, 281-286 (2018).
- Y. Zhou and C. M. Schroeder, "Dynamically Heterogeneous Relaxation of Entangled Polymer Chains", Physical Review Letters, 120, 267801 (2018).
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2024
- Meet the 2024 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellows
- Beckman researchers find key chemistry for solar energy and beyond
- Beckman researcher controls molecular electronics with rigid, ladder-like molecules
- Folded peptides are more electrically conductive than unfolded peptides
- Qian Chen directs study that unveils nanoscale voids in three dimensions
- Professor Schroeder highlighted as an MRL MVP
2023
- Lightening the load: Beckman researchers develop autonomous electrochemistry robot
- Charles Schroeder chosen as 2023 Fellow of American Physical Society
- Microdroplets, macro results: Beckman researchers pursue Energy Earthshots
- Mix it, test it, create it: NSF funds automated polymer research instrument at the Beckman Institute
- Meet the 2023 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellows
- Beckman researchers demonstrate single-molecule electronic "switch" using ladder-like molecules
- Schroeder elected to Society of Rheology
- Charles Schroeder wins Beckman’s Vision and Spirit Award
- Beckman announces 2023 class of postdoctoral fellows
- Four Beckman faculty members elected to AAAS
2022
- Molecule Maker Lab and AI join forces to generalize automated chemistry
- Automated synthesis enables discovery of unexpected charge transport behavior in organic molecules
- Two challenges posed, two Beckman winners at AI Hackathon
- Mind the gap: Beckman researchers measure electron transport through space
- Expanded alphabet, precise sequencing make DNA the next data storage solution
- Student Researcher Spotlight: Oleg Davydovich
2021
2020
2019
2018