Michael Spicuzza Email & Phone Number

My career has taken me through multiple avenues of polymer and small molecule syntheses and applications. I received my BS in Chemistry from Edinboro University (now PennWest) where I was recognized for my academic achievement by the ACS and American Institute of Chemists. During that time, I completed an internship at JSP (the third generation of my family to work at their Butler plant) and gained firsthand experience in polymer engineering and processes. After graduation, I spent half a year contracting at Heritage Thermal Services doing routine analytical work. This was followed by my pívot to research and development at PPG in their polymer synthesis department. During my time there I learned much about polymer synthesis, characterization, and applications in coatings. I spent the majority of my time as a technician, synthesizing polymers for further R&D and product development testing. By the end of my time, I was conducting more independent work to improve the understanding of how the waterborne basecoats were curing. I entered graduate school at The Pennsylvania State University in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. This lead to overcoming challenges not only in the traditional sense of higher education, but also navigating the new world we found ourselves in. I joined Dr. Beth Elacqua’s group where I started work in single-chain nanoparticles and their use as homogenous photoredox catalysts. During my time, I have also broadened my skills by taking on responsibilities in our group for ordering and maintaining our gel permeation chromatography instrument. I have also picked up a broad experience teaching different courses both in lab and lecture settings. This has lead in a culmination of two semesters of organic chemistry lab (CHEM213W), one semester of advanced organic chemistry lab (CHEM431W), one semester of honors organic chemistry lab (CHEM213M), one semester of organic I lecture (CHEM210), and one semester of organic II lecture (CHEM212) teaching assistant experience. I have received multiple Continuing TA awards from the Chemistry Department for designing new lab experiments for several of the courses I taught and designing supplemental organic chemistry lecture material. I aim to be able to apply my experience in polymer and organic chemistry towards solving modern problems. I feel qualified to address research in different areas of the industrial value chain such as R&D for novel products & product development for translating research to the market and bringing it to scale.

Listed skills include Research, Instrumentation, Quality Control, Problem Solving, and 11 others.