Dr. Glenn H. Fredrickson is a preeminent scholar in soft materials science, currently holding the position of Mitsubishi Distinguished Professor in Functional Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He maintains dual appointments in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Departments, embodying the interdisciplinary approach that defines his influential career. After completing his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University in 1984, he spent six pivotal years at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he was elevated to Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in 1989. His 1990 transition to UCSB aligned with the university's strategic growth in materials research, where he became a cornerstone of what colleagues termed 'Bell Labs West' due to its robust interdisciplinary culture and strong industry partnerships.
Fredrickson pioneered the transformative field theoretic simulation technique, which revolutionized the analysis of complex polymer systems by converting particle-based models into field-theoretic form through Hubbard-Stratonovich transforms and coherent state variables. His seminal work on block copolymers, particularly through longstanding collaboration with experimentalist Frank Bates, established comprehensive theoretical frameworks for understanding self-assembly phenomena and phase behavior in multiphase polymer systems. The computational methodologies developed by his research group have overcome the 'sign problem' via complex Langevin sampling, enabling unprecedented exploration of statistical field theories across diverse domains including polymer science, cellular biology, and quantum mechanics. With over 375 refereed publications, one book, and more than 15 patents, his contributions have fundamentally reshaped how scientists design and analyze nanostructured soft materials.
As Director of both the Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials and the Complex Fluids Design Consortium, Fredrickson has cultivated essential industry-academic partnerships that accelerate the translation of theoretical insights into practical materials innovations. His election to both the National Academy of Sciences in 2021 and the National Academy of Engineering, alongside prestigious honors including the Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society and the Materials Theory Award from the Materials Research Society, underscores his profound impact on the field. Through dedicated mentorship of generations of researchers, he has nurtured scientific talent that continues to advance the frontiers of soft matter physics and materials design. Fredrickson's current research extends field-theoretic approaches to increasingly complex systems, with particular focus on bosonic quantum many-body systems and the rational design of next-generation soft materials with precisely engineered properties.
