See here for the group members

Steve holds the Barrett endowed Chair of Polymer Science and Engineering and also is adjunct professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and physics. He strives to create an environment where group members, taking ownership of their projects, constructively help and encourage each other. Upon graduation, this prepares group members to enter whichever job market they choose.

Before joining UMass, Steve served as the Director of the IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter, the South Korean version of a Max Planck Institute (2015-2023). His earlier career was as faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he rose through the ranks with primary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and joint appointments in the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics. He was educated by legendary scientists:  P.-G de Gennes (Nobel Prize in physics) as postdoc advisor, and J. D. Ferry (WLF equation) as Ph.D. advisor. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and his B.A. from Princeton University.