Ben Elling's research centers on developing new polymerization methods with an emphasis on sustainability. Work in his lab at Wesleyan will focus on leveraging strain energy to create polymers that are capable of controlled degradation, reprocessing thermosets through novel exchange chemistries, and optimizing reactions to incorporate renewable building blocks such as carbon dioxide into materials.

Ben received his BA in chemistry from Cornell University, where he synthesized polymers for anion exchange membranes in the lab of Geoff Coates. He then attended Stanford University, where he became the first PhD student of Yan Xia and developed methods for sequence-specific polymerization via the ring-opening metathesis of substituted cyclopropenes. Prior to his appointment at Wesleyan, Ben was a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Professor Will Dichtel, where he designed new covalent adaptable networks and investigated strategies for mixed plastic compatibilization.