Meet Adrian Figg

Adrian Figg, Ph.D. joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor of polymer chemistry in August 2021.

Figg earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara where he was first introduced to polymer chemistry while conducting research with Craig Hawker and Brett Fors. After graduation, he went on to the University of Florida, working on polymer self-assembly, controlled radical polymerization and polymer functionalization under the advice of Brent Sumerlin.

After earning his Ph.D., he joined Chad Mirkin’s group at Northwestern University as a postdoctoral fellow. There he worked on protein-DNA oligomers, controlled DNA oligomerization and nanotherapeutics.

His research at Virginia Tech will study how to use polymer chemistry to control, exploit, and repurpose biological systems to create biohybrid systems that mimic and surpass those found in nature.

In his free time, Adrian enjoys the outdoors, exercising, cooking, trying new things, and is a proud plant and cat dad.