Michelle Calabrese

Michelle Calabrese
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
College of Science & Engineering
Twin Cities

Award Year
2025
University Award
McKnight Presidential Fellow Award

Novel soft materials for sustainability, drug delivery, and separations

Michelle Calabrese develops new polymer materials and complex fluids to address global challenges in healthcare, sustainability, and separations. To do so, her group takes advantage of the unique properties of nano- and micro-structured fluids. For example, they design innovative routes for noninvasive therapeutic delivery by leveraging the temperature-responsive properties of polymers, and create cost-competitive solution processing methods to make high-performance electrodes and biomass materials. Her group also develops new techniques, instruments, and analyses for materials characterization, often partnering with national and international laboratories. Beyond dissemination in peer-reviewed publications, these advances are made freely available to the scientific community.