About MRS

• History
• MRS Mission, Vision and Values
• Contact Us
• Governance
• Elections
  • 2011 MRS Elections
    • Orlando Auciello (Argonne National Laboratory)
    • Lynn A. Boatner (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
    • Shenda M. Baker (Synedgen, Inc. and Harvey Mudd College)
    • Li-Chyong Chen (National Taiwan University)
    • Chang-Beom Eom (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
    • Eric Garfunkel (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey)
    • Young-Chang Joo (Seoul National University)
    • Kalpana S. Katti (North Dakota State University (NDSU))
    • David P. Norton (University of Florida)
    • Francesco Priolo (University of Catania, Italy)
    • Ainissa G. Ramirez (Yale University)
    • Stephen K. Streiffer (Argonne National Laboratory)
• Annual Reports

Shenda M. Baker (Synedgen, Inc. and Harvey Mudd College)

Shenda M. Baker - Synedgen, Inc. and Harvey Mudd College

Shenda Baker is the President and Chief Operations Officer of Synedgen, Inc., a small biotechnology company that optimizes modified biopolymers to treat and prevent bacterial infection, reduce bacterial biofilms and stimulate wound healing. She remains a Professor of Chemistry at Harvey Mudd College where her research interests focus on understanding and controlling nanoscopic structures in self-assembling copolymer systems.

Baker has been an active member of MRS since 1991. She has spoken in a number of MRS meeting symposia through the years in polymer self-assembly and rheology and organized a junior-high school teacher symposium while being a Chair of the Education and Outreach symposium in F04. She was the chair of the committee that designed, built and tested Strange Matter, two traveling museum exhibitions which have been seen by over three million people. With its accompanying website and downloadable activities, Strange Matter continues to engage participants in materials science education. It has become MRS’s flagship outreach program. Baker was an F08 Meeting Chair, focusing on soft matter, biomaterials and nanometer-structures materials and continues to serve on the Public Outreach Committee that developed the successful PBS NOVA four-part series “Making Stuff”, narrated by David Pogue. She remains involved in APS, ACS, CUR, and the Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) where she served as founding member and Member-at-Large. Baker is an author on over 60 scientific papers and patents, and received the NSF CAREER Award (DMR-Polymers) and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award from the DoE in 1997. She received her PhD at Caltech in physical chemistry, understanding single surface defect effects on semiconductor band bending in silicon and diamond surfaces using primarily ultra-high vacuum tunneling techniques. Her post-doctoral research at Los Alamos National Laboratory focused on developing neutron reflectometry for studying rheology of polymer thin films at interfaces.

Baker’s research at Harvey Mudd College examines the molecular and physical parameters of diblock copolymers used to control self-assembly at interfaces. She served on the NSF Advisory Committee (AC) for the Directorate of Math and Physical Sciences, the NSF AC for Computer & Information Science and Engineering and currently serves on the NSF AC for Cyber Infrastructure. Since 2004, she has been guiding the development of polysaccharide derivatives that disrupt bacterial biofilms, provide antimicrobial activity and promote wound healing, and in 2008 joined Synedgen full-time.

Candidate’s Statement 

“A research society exists to promote the interests of its members and must reflect and support the diverse interests and activities of the groups it represents. With the guidance of its membership, the Materials Research Society has evolved since the beginning of my involvement in 1991 to be an innovative leader in public outreach and education while still supporting the exchange of technical and educational ideals at the meetings that are at the core of the society. As a director, there are two primary areas where I will continue to work with the members and provide a forward-looking perspective and vision for the MRS.

The participation of industrial members in the MRS has not been particularly strong in recent years. Large companies have had less available funding for travel and R&D resulting in diminished attendance at meetings. Small companies and entrepreneurs are emerging as the R&D workhorses with tremendous potential but face similar financial limitations. However, the challenges in creating a successful, sustainable small business are fundamentally different than an established company. As an academic who has recently made the transition to industry, I will encourage more involvement of small businesses and start-up companies with the MRS and seek to reinvigorate interest from large companies. Academia is playing an increasingly larger role in the emergence of technologies from academia, and not addressing the needs of these companies beyond the “tech transfer” office. MRS should play a stronger role in providing opportunities for collaboration, interactions and development of technologies between small and large companies, between entrepreneurs, funding agencies, and investors.

Engaging the public in the vision and promoting undergraduate involvement and awareness of materials science continues to be an important role of MRS. I have been an advocate of private and public educational approaches through my volunteer activities over the years. Although “Making Stuff” was highly successful and Strange Matter continues to tour the US--while anticipating its International program in the upcoming years--innovative and ongoing engagement with policy makers and thought leaders is critical to both engage upcoming students and to inform public policy issues. Continued out-of-the-box thinking will keep MRS vibrant in its role of continued outreach.

A number of other directors will enthusiastically engage MRS with particular scientific development areas that require attention, national laboratory connections, and international and emerging technologies. My particular experience with education and outreach, public policy, and now small business needs will provide unique and complementary insights into how MRS can serve its broad constituency in the future.”