Rate My Professor Stephen Foulger

Stephen H. Foulger serves as the Gregg-Graniteville Endowed Chair and Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University, within the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Bioengineering and directs the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET). Foulger earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996 and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1990. He joined Clemson University in 1999 as an assistant professor in the School of Textiles, Fiber, and Polymer Science, later moving his research group to the Advanced Materials Research Laboratories in 2005. Promoted to professor and appointed to the endowed chair in 2008, prior to academia he worked in research and development at Pirelli in the fiber optics industry.

Foulger's research centers on polymer physics, multifunctional materials, optical and optoelectronic properties of materials, colloid synthesis, intrinsically conductive polymers, biomedical contrast colloids, protein separation nanoparticles, and photodynamic therapy nanoparticles. A pioneer in optoelectronic polymers and polymer colloids, his work extends to memristors mimicking biological synapses for neuromorphic computing and optogenetics applications. In 2016, he secured a $6 million National Science Foundation grant to advance optogenetics research and develop a STEM workforce, fostering collaborations with the Medical University of South Carolina. With over 110 papers and book chapters, key publications include Daniele et al., "Magnetic nanoclusters exhibiting protein-activated near-infrared fluorescence" (ACS Nano, 2013); Daniele et al., "Rapid and continuous hydrodynamically controlled fabrication of biohybrid microfibers" (Advanced Functional Materials, 2013); and Rungta et al., "Selective imaging and killing of cancer cells with protein-activated near-infrared fluorescing nanoparticles" (Macromolecular Bioscience, 2011). His honors include Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2021) and a Fulbright Scholar award (2021) for memristor research in the Czech Republic. Foulger co-founded Tetramer Technologies, LLC in 2001, serving as director, and DF Werke, LLC, contributing to South Carolina's chemical economy with ventures employing about 40 people.