Polymer Consulting Group was established in 2020 to leverage the experience and facilities available to the co-founders to solve development challenges facing groups ranging in size from research groups to start-up companies, all the way to Fortune 500 companies.
Our expertise centers around four main areas: synthesis (additives, monomer and polymer), prototype and formulation development, analytical analysis of small molecules and polymers/plastics, and finally scale-up. Find out more
Eric Cochran is a co-Founder of and technical advisor to PCG. He is also the Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson and Randy L. Hagenson Professor of Chemical Engineering at Iowa State University. He has 25 years of experience in the fields of polymer chemistry and polymer physics. His doctoral studies were supported by a highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and advised by Prof. Frank S. Bates, a globally recognized leader in the field of heterogeneous polymers, including synthetic methods and thermodynamic/dynamic behaviors. He was the recipient of the prestigious American Physical Society Frank J. Padden Jr. award in recognition of his contributions to polymer physics and was honored by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation with a New Faculty Award shortly after beginning at Iowa State University.
His early-career research was further supported by the NSF CAREER award and the Petroleum Research Fund managed by the American Chemical Society. In 2011, his research was recognized by the Iowa State University College of Engineering with the Early Career Engineering Faculty Research Award, and his activity in developing 39 intellectual property disclosures resulting in 21 issued patents was recognized by the ISU Intellectual property award in 2018. He directs the operations of the Iowa State University Site of the National Science Foundation supported Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites, an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center with over 40 industry members. He is active in several professional organizations including the American Institute for Chemical Engineers and holds elected office in the American Oil Chemists Society. He is the 2019 recipient of the Glycerine Innovation Award from the American Oil Chemists Society and the 2021 recipient of the PMSE Co-Operative Research Award from the American Chemical Society.
He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 5 book chapters, 60 invited lectures on topics related to his research, and has contributed 88 presentations in professional conferences and symposia.
Michael Forrester is the Lead Researcher and co-founder of PCG. He is also a research scientist at Iowa State University under Dr. Eric Cochran. He has 10 years of experience in the fields of polymer chemistry and polymer processing. He completed his doctoral studies under Eric Cochran, and focused on novel bio-derived monomers and their subsequent polymers. Since graduation, he has been involved in two separate start-ups and is actively leading the activities of PCG. He has authored 23 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor of 23 patents and patent applications.
Nacú Hernández is a co-founder of and technical advisor to PCG. He obtained his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 2012. He is a Scientist IV at ISU working on the research and development of biobased materials from sustainable and renewable resources. His areas of interest are in the research, development, and commercialization of biomaterials, mainly thermoplastic elastomers and novel bio-advantaged monomers from renewable resources. He has led several research initiatives, including using biobased polymers to modify and extend the life of asphalt materials.
Since 2018, he has served as CEO of Sumatra Biorenewables, and in 2019 he was the winner of the National Corn Growers Association Consider Corn Challenge II, which recognizes inventors of technologies that expand the uses of corn. In 2021 he cofounded SoyLei Innovations to commercialize a platform of soybean oil-based materials. He has co-authored more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor of more than 30 worldwide patents.
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