Tracy Schloemer
Hi, I'm Tracy, an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. I am a teacher-turned-researcher working to enable optically driven technologies in soft matter.
Controlling soft matter with light can impact a lot of places, from 3D printing to soft robotics to photocatalysis to optogenetics and more... as long as you can get the color and shape of the light you need where you need it. This is pretty tough.
Broadly, I am interested in using triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion to deliver the light you need where you need it.
Molecular design and nanoscale assembly tremendously impact system-level properties, and that's the holistic perspective my future research group will use as we navigate these challenges. My research program will bridge fundamental and translational research at the intersection of chemistry, spectroscopy, photonics, and optics to facilitate the development of precisely controlled, optically driven soft matter technologies for soft robotics and beyond.
My path to research has not been linear. I fell into chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan by accident - I assumed I'd attend medical school (isn't that what you do when you're good at math and science?), so I took an organic chemistry course. It was there I experienced the power of materials design to solve complex challenges with chemistry. I conducted research in the McNeil Group and earned a B.S. in Chemistry.
I also became equally interested in teaching chemistry, earned an M.A. in Educational Studies, and taught high school chemistry. My teaching was supported by a Knowles Teacher Initiative Fellowship. Through teaching, I learned to communicate complex topics and connect with diverse groups of people. I loved teaching, but I missed the creativity of research, so I here I am today.
I earned my Ph. D. at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Chemistry as a part of the Sellinger Group and at the National Renewable Energy Lab.
I started my postdoctoral research in the Congreve Group when it was at the Rowland Institute at Harvard. We moved the lab to Stanford University in 2020. I am still in the Congreve Group, but now as an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford.
Outside of science, I love to explore new places.
Cities are incredible, but hiking is my favorite way to explore and reflect. Here are some pictures from the last few years.
