(266e) My Polymer Pilgrimage: From Iranian Grad Student to a Scientist in Industry

In this talk, I will walk you through my journey in the polymer world. Starting in Iran as a budding scientist, I navigated the world of post-doctorates and landed in industry. Through my own real life examples I will show you my best tips for securing a successful industrial career. I will demonstrate how team-work and collaboration creates synergy in your research, which helped land my first granted US patent for thermoset recycling. How un-related research topics can promote disruptive innovations, allowing me to utilize previous olefin polymerization knowledge in increasing efficiency and safety for drilling fluid mud cake cleaning. Finally, how my grad-school research on rheology and postdoc experiences on (meth)acrylate polymerizations, helped me to get my jobs at Covestro as i) polymer physicist and ii) application development scientist for automotive coatings.