Paula Therese Hammond was born on September 3, 1963. She is an Institute Professor and the Dean of the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2015, she became the first woman and person of color to lead the Chemical Engineering department. Her laboratory creates polymers and nanoparticles used to deliver medicines and in energy technologies like batteries and fuel cells.

She has received many awards and is a member of several important organizations. These include the National Academy of Medicine (2016), the National Academy of Engineering (2017) for work on materials used in energy and healthcare, the National Academy of Sciences (2019), and the National Academy of Inventors (2021).

She is an intramural faculty member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and serves as an associate editor for the journal ACS Nano.

Early life and education

Hammond was born in 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, as Paula Therese Goodwin. Her parents were Jesse Francis Goodwin and Della Mae Goodwin (née McGraw). Her father has a PhD in Biochemistry, and her mother has a master's degree in nursing.

Goodwin graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield, Michigan, one year earlier than expected in 1980. After graduating, she studied chemical engineering and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. She worked for Motorola for two years as a process engineer, helping to package integrated circuits. She then returned to school and earned a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988. During this time, she worked as a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Her master's thesis focused on creating rubber-like materials for robotic touch sensors.

In 1988, she went back to MIT to earn a PhD in chemical engineering. At MIT, she studied under Professor Michael F. Rubner, and her PhD research involved creating polymers that change color when force is applied. After finishing her PhD in 1993, Hammond completed postdoctoral research with Professor George M. Whitesides in the chemistry department at Harvard University through an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Research and career

In 1995, Hammond became an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research studies how molecules interact to build materials at surfaces and in liquids, helping create polymers and nanoparticles for uses like drug delivery, wound healing, and energy systems. She uses a method called Layer by Layer (LbL) assembly to make thin films with alternating positive and negative molecules for medical purposes. Her lab also uses nanoparticles to deliver drugs, genes, and siRNA to treat cancer, as well as artificial proteins and polymers that interact with living systems to develop new medicines.

Hammond created "stealth polymers" to hide cancer drugs inside nanoparticles, helping them reach tumors more effectively. She also works on methods to deliver RNA into cells to control gene activity.

She co-founded MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN), a collaboration between MIT, the Army, and industry partners to create nanotechnology that improves soldier safety and survival. Through ISN, she developed a spray that speeds up blood clotting to stop blood loss.

Hammond invented LayerForm™ technology, a method to make drug delivery films with alternating layers of medicine and polymers. In 2013, she co-founded a biotechnology company, LayerBio Inc., to use LayerForm™ for medical treatments related to glaucoma, wound healing, and tendon repair.

Hammond is a member of scientific advisory boards for companies like Moderna Therapeutics, Inc., Camden Partners LLC, Alector, Focal Medical, and Senda Biosciences. She also serves on non-profit boards, including MIT Engine and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

She studies polymers for use in batteries, thin films of carbon microtubules for batteries, solar cells, and fuel cells. In 2009, she shared research on batteries made using viruses with Barack Obama.

Honors and recognitions

Throughout her career, Hammond has received many honors and awards. In 1992, while she was a graduate student, she received a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences. Her postdoctoral research was supported by an NSF fellowship in chemistry, which she received in 1994. After joining the faculty at MIT, Hammond received many honors. Early in her career, she was awarded an Environmental Protection Agency Early Career Research Award in 1996 and an NSF CAREER Award for Young Investigators in 1997. In 2013, Hammond was one of three African-American women elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering in quick succession in 2016 and 2017, respectively. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 and to the National Academy of Inventors in 2021. In 2021, Hammond was selected to be a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) under President Biden. In 2024, she received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry for developing a method to build new materials one molecular layer at a time and using these materials for drug delivery and energy storage. In 2025, she was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Selected bibliography

• Nam, K. T., Kim, D. W., Yoo, P. J., Chiang, C. Y., Meethong, N., Hammond, P. T., Chiang, Y. M., and Belcher, A. M. (2006). "Using viruses to create nanowires for lithium battery parts." Science. 312(5775): 885–888. Bibcode: 2006Sci…312..885N. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.395.4344. doi: 10.1126/science.1122716. PMID: 16601154. S2CID: 5105315.
• Hammond, P. T. (2004). "How structure and purpose work together in building layers at the nanoscale." Advanced Materials. 16(15): 1271–1293. Bibcode: 2004AdM….16.1271H. doi: 10.1002/adma.200400760. S2CID: 135521187.
• Hammond, Paula T. (1999). "New studies on building thin films using electrostatic layers." Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science. 4(6): 430–442. doi: 10.1016/S1359-0294(00)00022-4.