Timothy M. Swager
Timothy M. Swager (born 1961) is an American Scientist and the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. His research is at the interface of chemistry and materials science, with specific interests in carbon nanomaterials, polymers, and liquid crystals. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Career and research. A native of Sheridan Montana, Swager earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Montana State University, received a Ph.D. from the California Institute of  Technology working with Robert H. Grubbs, and performed postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Mark S. Wrighton. He began as an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990 and returned to MIT in 1996 as a Full Professor. Swager is best known for advancing new chemical sensing concepts based on molecular electronic principles. He introduced the concepts of charge and energy transport through molecular and nanowires as a method to create amplified signals to chemical events. These methods gave rise to the sensitive explosive sensors that have been commercialized under the trade name Fido. He  demonstrated the integration of molecular recognition into chemiresistive sensors, first with conducting polymers and later with carbon nanotubes, and these methods were commercialized by CSense. Swager also has pioneering contributions to the areas of liquid crystals demonstrating how novel molecular shapes can be used to introduce intermolecular correlations in structures and alignment. In the area of high strength materials, by creating interlocking structures with enhanced ductility and strength. In carbon nanomaterials he has developed methods for functionalizing and/or dispersing graphenes and carbon nanotubes. Also he has designed novel radical materials in collaboration with Robert G. Griffin (MIT) for dynamic nuclear  polarization to enhance the signal to noise ratio in NMR experiments. A number of these enhancement agents are commercially available from DyNuPol Corp. Swager has published more than 450 peer reviewed manuscripts and has more than 80 issued patents.