Michelle Chen’s research focuses on studying light-matter interactions and structure-property relationships of small molecules and polymer assemblies to improve on organic electronics. Her lab at Wesleyan will systematically investigate charge transfer, charge separation and recombination, and triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion in organic materials. Research in her lab will involve both synthesis of organic materials and their spectroscopic characterization.

Michelle received her BA in chemistry and economics from Dartmouth College where she worked in the lab of Jane Lipson. She subsequently earned her PhD in chemistry at Northwestern University under the supervision of Michael Wasielewski. At Northwestern, she investigated the nature of the singlet fission multiexciton state in rylenediimide covalent dimers and thin films. After completing her PhD, Michelle joined Timothy Swager’s group at MIT as a postdoctoral associate. Michelle’s postdoctoral work focused on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing small molecule and polymer surfactants and utilizing these materials to create analytical assays for biosensing.