Biography

Caroline L. Schauer, PhD received her BS degree in Chemistry from Beloit College, Beloit, WI in 1991 and completed her MS and PhD degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1994 and 1997 respectively. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Twente, The Netherlands from 1997-1998 and at Tufts University from 1998-2001, as well as an NRC postdoctoral fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory 2001-2003. In 2003, Schauer joined the faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, obtaining tenure and promotion in 2010 and promotion to full professor in 2018. She was a 2017-2018 ELATES Fellow, where she focused on academic leadership within the College of Engineering (CoE). Schauer served as the inaugural Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs in CoE and subsequently held the position of Associate Dean, Research and Faculty Affairs. As of 2023, she is serving as the Drexel University Interim Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement. In January 2020, she began serving as the Vice President of the Fiber Society. In 2021, she was inducted as Fellow of AIMBE and has been previously honored with Drexel’s Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service and the Drexel Fellowships Office Faculty Mentor Award. She is the recipient of Drexel’s Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service and the Drexel Fellowships Office Faculty Mentor Award. Schauer’s research encompasses a wide range of topics including processing natural polymers, structural color thin films, electrospun nanoyarns, wound healing dressings and tissue engineering. She has published over 60 publications and five patents (two licensed). Her work has been funded by numerous sources such as NSF, DOD, PA Innovation Fellowship, and the US Department of Education.

Degrees / Education

• PhD, chemistry, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY; April 1997
• Dissertation: “The Development of Strategies for the Design and Synthesis of Molecular Solids”
• MS, chemistry, SUNY at Stony Brook; Stony Brook, NY; December 1994
• BS, chemistry, Beloit College; Beloit, WI; May 1991

Research Areas

• Materials

Research Interests

Areas of Study

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanomaterials

Academic Distinctions

• 2021 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
• 2017-2018 ELATES Fellow
• Drexel University Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service, 2018
• Drexel Fellowships Office Faculty Mentor Award, 2016
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award, 2013 and 2008
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering Outstanding Service Award, 2012
• Drexel Graduate Student Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor, 2012
• Drexel University’s Chapter of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Women in Society Faculty Award, 2009

Select Publications

• Kamini Thakur, Deepak Pathania, Susheel Kalia, Amit Dhman, Neha Sharma, Caroline L. Schauer Journal of Cleaner Production 2016, 113, 176-182. “Surface Functionalization of lignin constituent of coconut fibers via laccase-catalyzed biografting for development of antibacterial and hydrophobic properties”
• Chelsea E. Knittel, Diana S. Nicholas, Reva M. Street, Caroline L. Schauer, Genevieve Dion Fibers 2015, 3(4) 575-587 . “Self-folding Textiles through manipulation of knit stitch architecture” (invited for special issue on smart textiles)
• Reena Sharma, Balbir S. Kaith, Susheel Kalia, Deepak Pathania, Amit Kumar, Neha Sharma, Reva M. Street, Caroline Schauer “Biodegradable and conducting hydrogels based on Guar gum polysaccharide for antibacterial and dye removal applications” Journal of Environmental Management 2015 162, 37-45.
• Laura Toth Beringer, Marjorie A. Kiechel, Yuko Komiya, Amalie E. Donius, Raymond Habas, Ulrike G. K. Wegst, Caroline L. Schauer Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A 2015 103(9), 3026-3033. “Osteoblast biocompatibility of novel chitosan crosslinker hexamethylene-1,6-diaminocarboxysulfonate”  DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.35438
• Marjorie A. Kiechel#, Laura Toth Beringer #, Amalie E. Donius, Yuko Komiya, Raymond Habas, Ulrike G. K. Wegst, Caroline L. Schauer Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A 2015103 (10) 3201-3211. “Osteoblast biocompatibility of pre-mineralized hexamethylene-1,6-diaminocarboxysulfonate crosslinked chitosan fibers”  #equal contributions DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.35451
• Laura Toth Beringer, Xin Xu, Wan Shih, Wei-Heng Shih, Raymond Habas, Caroline L. Schauer Sensors and Actuators A 2015 222, 293-300. “An electrospun PVDF-TrFe fiber sensor platform for biological applications”