Segalman Group

Rachel Segalman is the Edward Noble Kramer Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials at UC Santa Barbara. She also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her research involves controlling the hierarchical structure and thermodynamics of energy-relevant polymers including polyelectrolytes and semiconducting and bioinspired polymers. This includes a desire to understand the molecular-scale design rules and synthesis that lead to self-assembly and mesoscale architectures that then control macroscopic properties such as ionic, thermal and electronic conductivity as well as surface activity. Applications of relevance include battery electrolytes and binders, semiconducting polymer devices, separation
membranes, and bioinspired polymers for applications ranging from marine anti-fouling coatings to next-generation photoresists.

Segalman earned a Bachelors degree with Highest Honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas (1998), a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara (2002). She was Department Chair of Chemical Engineering at UCSB from 2015 until 2023. She is the Associate Director of the UT/UCSB/LBL EFRC: Center for Materials for Water and Energy Systems and the co-editor of the Annual Reviews of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Segalman is also a founding organizer of the National ChemE Seminar Series featuring future faculty and the diversity of the discipline, Chair of the Division of Polymer Physics in the
American Physical Society, on the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC), and a co-author of the recent National Academies study, “Chemical Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century. She also serves on the National Academies Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).

Among other awards, Segalman received the E.O. Lawrence Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Andy Acrivos Award for Professional Progress from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award, and the Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society. She is also a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was elected