Matthew Tirrell is the interim deputy laboratory director for science and technology, chief research officer, science strategist, and advisor. In this role, he works with the laboratory director and associate laboratory directors to develop and shepherd Argonne’s scientific and technical portfolio and to articulate the Laboratory’s strategic priorities including through the development of Argonne’s Office of Science Annual Laboratory Plan. Tirrell previously worked as Argonne’s deputy director for science from 2015 through 2018.

Tirrell also serves as dean of the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where he is the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor. He continues in this role and will divide his time between his existing and new commitments.

Before becoming founding director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME) in 2011, Tirrell was the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley and a professor of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Previously he served as the dean of engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Tirrell began his academic career at the University of Minnesota, where he was the Shell Distinguished Chair in Chemical Engineering, Earl E. Bakken Professor of Biomedical Engineering, director of the Biomedical Engineering Institute, and head of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

He has provided leadership to numerous national and regional organizations, including the Science and Technology Panel of the University of California President’s Council for National Laboratory Administration from 2000 to 2010.

Tirrell received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and his doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He has received many honors, including the National Award in Colloid Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and Docteur Honoris Causa from the Université de Bordeaux.

Recent Awards

• 2022 | National Award in Colloid Chemistry, American Chemical Society
• 2019 | Docteur Honoris Causa, Université de Bordeaux
• 2019 | National Academy of Sciences
• 2012 | Polymer Physics Prize, American Physical Society