Team > Lawrence R. Sita

Dr. Sita is currently Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland.  Dr. Sita has received many awards, and has published over 180 scientific papers, and holds 25 patents.  Dr. Sita obtained his Ph.D. from MIT under the mentorship of Dr. Satoru Masamune and he was a Postdoctoral Associate with the 2005 Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard R. Schrock at MIT.  Dr. Sita has also held professorial faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University and was a Senior Research Fellow of the Beckman Institute at Caltech working with another 2005 Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert H. Grubbs.  Dr. Sita is an entrepreneur and has founded several startup companies, and most notably, Precision Polyolefins, LLC (PPL), a UMD technology spinout.  While serving as CEO, Dr. Sita led PPL from initial startup to the securing of investments, grants, partnerships, joint-development and sponsored research agreements that have led to the licensing and patenting of several new polyolefin products demonstrated at the pilot plant production level.  

Education

1981 B.S. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

1985 Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Prof. Satoru Masamune)  

Professional Experiences (Activity)

1986-1987 Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Prof. Richard R. Schrock)

1987-1990 Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

1990-1994 Senior Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology, CA, USA

1994-1998 Assistant Professor, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

1998-2002 Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

2002- Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

2005-2006 Associate Dean for Faculty, Research and Diversity, College of Chemical and Life Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

2008 – Present Founder, Precision Polyolefins, LLC (PPL) – a university technology spin-out company

Honors and Awards

Beckman Young Investigator                                                          

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar                                                     

Visiting Scholar, Institute of Molecular Science, Japan,   

UMd Life Sciences Invention of the Year Finalist  

NSF Special Creativity Award                                                         

UMd College of Chemical and Life Sciences Faculty Research Award  

Five Time UMd Invention of the Year Finalist