Krzysztof Matyjaszewski was born in Poland, in 1950.  He obtained his PhD degree in 1976 at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Lodz, Poland, working with Prof. S. Penczek.  Since 1985 he has been at Carnegie Mellon University where he is currently J. C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences and director of Center for Macromolecular Engineering.  His main research interests include hybrid materials, controlled/living radical polymerization, catalysis, environmental chemistry, and synthesis of advanced materials for optoelectronic and biomedical applications.  He has authored over 600 publications, including 14 monographs and 70 book chapters as well as over 30 US and 100 international patents. His first paper and review on ATRP has been cited > 2000 times each and his citation record (>37,000) ranked among top 10 scientists in all fields of chemistry world –wide in 2004-2010. He is the editor of “Progress in Polymer Science”, “Central European Journal of Chemistry”, and serves on the editorial boards of fourteen other chemistry journals.

His recent awards include: 2010 Gutenberg Award, 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, 2005 UK Macro-Group Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Polymer Science, 2004 Prize of the Foundation of Polish Science, as well as several awards from the American Chemical Society: 2007 Mark Senior Scholar Award, 2004 Award for Cooperative Research in Polymer Science and 2002 Award in Polymer Chemistry. Matyjaszewski is a member of Polish Academy of Sciences and US National Academy of Engineering. He received honorary degrees from University of Ghent, Belgium (2002), Russian Academy of Sciences (2006), Lodz Polytechnic, Poland (2007), University of Athens, Greece (2008) and Institut Polytechnique, Toulouse, France (2010).

He has developed atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) which has been commercialized in US, Europe and in Japan. Over 40 companies have been members of ATRP and CRP Consortia at CMU with 10 signed commercial licenses.