Eric Appel

Eric A. Appel is an Associate Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University. He received his BS in Chemistry and MS in Polymer Science from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Eric performed his MS thesis research with Robert D. Miller and James L. Hedrick at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. He then obtained his PhD in Chemistry working in the lab of Dr. Oren A. Scherman in the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis at the University of Cambridge. His PhD research focused on the preparation of dynamic and stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymeric materials. For his PhD work, Eric was the recipient of the Jon Weaver PhD prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Graduate Student Award from the Materials Research Society. Upon graduating from Cambridge in 2012, he was awarded a National Research Service Award from the NIH (NIBIB) and pursued a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT working with Robert S. Langer on the development of supramolecular biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering. Eric’s research at Stanford focuses on the development of biomimetic polymeric materials that can be used as tools to better understand fundamental biological processes and to engineer advanced healthcare solutions. His research has led to more than 150 publications, 40 pending or granted patents, and formed the basis for three start-up companies. In 2026, Eric was awarded the Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success from the American Chemical Society and has been elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.