Karen I. Winey is the Howard Pender Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania with a 50:50 appointment in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.

Dr. Winey earned her B.S. from Cornell University in 1985 and her Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1991.  After holding a brief postdoc at AT&T Bell Labs she joined the faculty at University of Pennsylvania Engineering.

Karen’s current research interests focus on (1) ion and proton conduction in polymer for a variety of electrochemical applications, including batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers, (2) polymer-to-polymer chemical upcycling of waste polyolefins to functionalized higher value polyolefins, and (3) nanoparticle dynamics in polymer melts and polymer electrolytes across time and length scales. The Winey research group approach typically includes model materials, careful processing, and thorough characterization of morphology and properties, and often directly couples to theory and simulations, with X-ray scattering, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and time of flight SIMS

Karen has also held various service and leadership positions, including department chair and chair of the Division of Polymer Physics within the APS. In addition to earlier recognitions, Karen was awarded the 2020 Braskem Award by AIChE, fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2022, and the 2023 ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry. Karen has delivered over 290 invited lectures, holds 21 patents, has published over 265 papers, and graduated 30 doctoral students.

Recent Publications:

Increasing Branching and Functionalization Decreases Crystallinity and Crystallization Rate in Linear EVOH.  Eli J. Fastow, Anne N. Radzanowski, E. Bryan Coughlin, Karen I. Winey*, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025.

Impact of Hydroxyl Functionalization and Unsaturation on Linear Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol).  Anne N. Radzanowski, Eli J. Fastow, Chien-Hua Tu, James Votruba-Drzal, Vivek Nair, Karen I. Winey*, and E. Bryan Coughlin*, Macromolecules,  2025 58 (5), 2675-2682

Gold Nanoparticle Adsorption in Covalently Bonded Weak Polyelectrolyte Brusheshttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02332.  Katie Sun, Ye Chan Kim, Russell J. Composto*, and Karen I. Winey*, Macromolecules, 2025 58 (5), 2412-2424

Hydroesterification of Polycyclooctene to Access Linear Ethylene Ethyl Acrylate Copolymers as a Step Toward Polyolefin Functionalization.  Ikechukwu Martin Ogbu, Eli J. Fastow, Karen I. Winey* and Marisa C. Kozlowski*, Macromolecules, 2024, 57, 10767−10777.

Hydrocarboxylation of C═C Bonds in Polycyclooctene: Progress Toward Valorization of Waste Polyolefins.  I. M. Ogbu, Eli J. Fastow, W. Zhu, L. A. Wells, R. J. Chethalen, Vivek Nair, Z. R. Hinton, A. H. Balzer, W. Hu, E. Bryan Coughlin, Karen I. Winey*, and Marisa C. Kozlowski*, Macromolecules, 2024.