We are pleased to announce the winners of Rising Stars in Polymer Science 2024 as young influential. Polymer Journal has been enriched by the complex of wonderfully talented and diverse groups of these young scholars in addition to outstanding teams of well-established senior researchers. They bring a variety of new insights, both personal and professional, to the task of better understanding polymer science and engineering. Here they provide us with an array of novel observations drawn from such disciplines as synthesis, structure and physical properties and functions and applications. We believe our readers will appreciate the opportunity to learn new voices in this special issue.

Ho-Hsiu Chou

National Tsing Hua University

Ho-Hsiu Chou is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at National Tsing Hua University. He received Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from National Tsing Hua University in 2010. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at National Tsing Hua University from 2010-2013, and subsequently joined the Interuniversity Microelectronic Center (IMEC), Belgium as a visiting researcher in 2013. After that, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Chemical Engineering of Stanford University from 2013-2016. His primary research emphasis lies in functional polymers and the influence of molecular engineering on their properties and interfacial phenomena.

Goutam Ghosh

Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS)

Goutam Ghosh received his Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Calcutta, India, where he investigated the folding and unfolding mechanisms of proteins and peptides. Following his doctoral studies, he joined the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, as a postdoctoral researcher, focusing on controlled supramolecular polymerization of π-systems and polymers. He subsequently pursued as a postdoctoral research fellow at Westfälische Wilhelms Universität (WWU) Münster, Germany. Currently, he is serving as an Assistant Professor (Ramanujan Faculty) at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) in Bengaluru, India. His research interests focus on controlled supramolecular polymerization of peptides, amphiphilic molecules, and polymers, exploring their diverse applications across materials and biomedicine.

Kan Hatakeyama-Sato

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Kan Hatakeyama-Sato earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Waseda University in 2018, focusing on redox-active polymers and their electrochemistry. From 2018 to 2022, he served as an assistant professor at Waseda, continuing his work on radical polymers and venturing into data science in chemistry. In 2022, he was honored with the SPSJ Award for the Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science. Since 2023, he has been with the School of Materials and Chemical Technology at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Ryoyu Hifumi

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Ryoyu Hifumi received his M.Eng. from Kyoto University in 2012. He worked as a researcher at JSR Corporation from 2012 to 2021. In 2019, he received his Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology under the supervision of Professor Ikuyoshi Tomita. In 2021, he started his academic career at Tokyo Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor. His research interests include the synthesis of novel element-block molecules and polymers and their applications in optical and electronic materials. He won the Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science; The Society of Polymer Science, Japan in 2023.

Takato Ishida

Nagoya Univeristy

Takato Ishida is an assistant professor of Nagoya university in the research group on the physics of rheology (Prof. Masubuchi-lab). He received his B.Eng., M.Eng. degrees from the University of Tokyo, majoring in Architecture. He obtained his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Dr. Ryoma Kitagaki and Dr. Yogarajah Elakneswaran from Hokkaido University in 2022 in Sustainable Resources Engineering. Alongside his Ph.D. studies, he served as a research assistant at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) from 2020 to 2022. From 2022, He started working as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Nagoya university in the current research group. From April to October 2024, he served as a designated assistant professor in the Young Leaders Cultivation Program at the Institute for Advanced Research (IAR) of Nagoya University. As of October 2024, he has been in the current position at the Department of Materials Physics in Nagoya University. His research interests are centered on the aging of polymers and their modeling, exploring the relationship between time and materials primarily through computational approaches.

Takuma Kureha

Hirosaki University

Takuma Kureha received his Ph.D. (2018) from Shinshu University through a JSPS Research Fellowship (DC1, 2015-2018) on the synthesis of functional nanogels conducted under the supervision of Prof. Daisuke Suzuki. He then worked as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (PD) at the Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo under the supervision of Prof. Mitsuhiro Shibayama, and since 2020, he has been leading an independent research life as an Assistant Professor at Hirosaki University. His current research interests include characterization of hydrogel and elastomer-based materials by quantum beam scattering methods and rheological measurements to control their functions.

Changyeon Lee

Chung-Ang University

Changyeon Lee received his Ph.D. in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Bumjoon Kim. His research focus during his doctoral studies was the design of conjugated functional polymers for the development of efficient polymer-based optoelectronic devices. After earning his Ph.D., he began his research career at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) as a postdoctoral fellow. From 2018 to 2022, he worked with Prof. Chinedum Osuji in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering at UPenn, focusing on the self-assembly of liquid crystal block copolymers in bulk and thin films. In 2022, he joined Chung-Ang University in South Korea as an assistant professor. Currently, his research team focuses on developing liquid crystal-based responsive polymers and understanding their structure-property relationships.

Tsubasa Mikie

Hiroshima University

Tsubasa Mikie received his Ph.D. degree in engineering from University of Osaka in 2015 under the supervision of Professor Akinori Saeki and Professor Shu Seki. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and RIKEN, he joined Professor Itaru Osaka group at University of Hiroshima in 2016, and then started his academic career as an Assistant Professor in 2020. His research interest focuses on the rational design and synthesis of π-conjugated polymers for organic electronics.

Yuma Morimitsu

Kyushu University

Yuma Morimitsu received his Ph.D. degree from Kyushu University in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Keiji Tanaka. He was a JSPS research fellow (DC1) from 2017 to 2020. During his Ph.D. course, he worked as a research scholar at Stony Brook University (in the group of Prof. Tadanori Koga) as a curriculum of Advanced Graduate Program on Molecular Systems for Devices, Program for Leading Graduate Schools, MEXT. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Pennsylvania (in the group of Prof. Chinedum Osuji) from 2020 to 2022. He moved to Kyushu University as an Assistant Professor since 2022. His current research interest is direct visualization of the dynamics of polymer chains at solid interfaces using atomic force microscopy in conjunction with image analysis and molecular dynamics simulations.

Xiangcheng Pan

Fudan University

Xiangcheng Pan received his B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) from Eastern Washington University in 2009 and earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh under the guidance of Dr. Dennis P. Curran in 2014. He then spent three years conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017, he became an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator in the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers and the Department of Macromolecular Science at Fudan University, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2023. He has received the NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (2023) and the Polymer Young Scholar Award from the Chinese Chemical Society (2023). His research group at Fudan University focuses on developing novel radical polymerization methods and heteroatom-involved controlled/precise polymer synthesis. More information about Dr. Pan and his research can be found at www.panxlab.com.

Yasuhito Suzuki

Osaka Metropolitan University

Yasuhito Suzuki received his B.Eng. from Iwate University and his M.Sci. from the University of Tokyo. He conducted his Ph.D. study at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Jürgen Butt and Prof. George Floudas. He obtained his doctoral degree from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in 2015. He spent two and a half years in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Colorado School of Mines in the group of Prof. Aaron Stebner as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2018, he became an Assistant Professor at Osaka Prefecture University in the group of Prof. Akikazu Matsumoto. In 2022, Osaka Metropolitan University was established by merging Osaka Prefecture University and Osaka City University. Since 2023, he has been an Associate Professor at Osaka Metropolitan University. His research interests include polymer dynamics, such as glass transition, polymer crystallization, bulk polymerization, and phase separation.

Rintaro Takahashi

Nagoya University

Rintaro Takahashi received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Tokyo Metropolitan University and Osaka University, respectively. He then worked at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. Thereafter, he returned to Osaka University as a Ph.D. student and completed his Ph.D. in polymer science under the supervision of Professor Takahiro Sato from Osaka University in 2016. During that year, he also worked as a visiting scientist in ESRF–The European Synchrotron. From 2016 to 2020, he was a postdoctoral fellow in University of Kitakyushu. Currently, he has been an assistant professor in the Department of Energy Engineering at Nagoya University. His major interests lie in the structure and dynamics of macromolecular self-assembly in solution, as well as the methodology of small-angle scattering.

Kenji Yamaoka

Osaka University

Kenji Yamaoka is a specially appointed assistant professor in the Department of Macromolecular Science at Graduate School of Science, Osaka University. He received his B.Eng., M.Eng., and D.Eng. in Chemistry for Materials from the Mie University. He obtained his D.Eng. under the supervision of Professor Dr. Naoya Torikai and Associate Professor Dr. Yoshihisa Fujii from the Mie University in 2023. His research interests include Polymer physics, Interfacial chemistry, and Neutron science. Currently, his research focuses on the viscoelastic behavior of polymers with dynamic bonds and the interfacial structure of self-healing polymers at the repair interfaces.