The Loops of Life

Speaker: Dr. Michael Rubinstein

Register

Speaker Bio

Michael Rubinstein received a B.S. from Caltech in 1979 and a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1983. After two years as a post-doc at AT&T Bell Laboratories, he joined the Research Laboratories of Eastman Kodak Company, where he worked for 10 years. In 1995, Michael Rubinstein started his academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and in 2018, he moved to Duke University, where he is currently Aleksander S. Vesic Distinguished Professor of Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry.  In 2016, Rubinstein became a Distinguished Professor at Hokkaido University. In 2003, he published a textbook, “Polymer Physics,” with R. H. Colby. In 2010, he received the Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society. In 2018, he received the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology, and in 2019, the Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2025, he received the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry. Rubinstein is currently serving as the Chair of the IUPAP Working Group on Soft Matter and the Soft Matter Association of the Americas. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, Society of Rheology, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.