Dr. Alaaeddin Alsbaiee

Prof. Alaaeddin Alsbaiee is an award-winning polymer chemist and materials scientist whose career bridges the frontiers of academic research and industrial innovation. He holds a B.Sc. in Applied Chemistry from Damascus University, an M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and a Ph.D. in Supramolecular Polymer Chemistry from the University of Alberta and the Canadian National Institute for Nanotechnology. He completed his postdoctoral studies in polymer chemistry at Cornell University in 2016. His commitment to education did not stop there, as he recently completed his graduate studies in Corporate Sustainability and Innovation at Harvard University (2026).

His research at Cornell pioneered a novel class of porous β-cyclodextrin polymers with transformative applications in water and air purification, published in several leading journals including Nature, and gave rise to CycloPure, Inc., a start-up company that grew to become one of the top 10 companies worldwide in water treatment and PFAS removal.

Building on over 10 years of industrial R&D leadership as an R&D Manager and Lab Leader, his career spans three of the world's leading chemical companies. At Arkema, he co-invented Elium®, the first commercially recyclable fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite for wind blades. At Dow and DuPont, he developed a novel family of polyurethane semiconductor polishing pads, commercialized in 2022. At BASF, he has pioneered novel bio-based polyurethane materials as well as cost-effective closed-loop recycling technologies for thermoset polyurethanes, advancing them from concept to near-commercialization.

Prof. Alsbaiee's contributions have earned him some of the field's most prestigious recognitions, including the Rising Star of the Polymers Industry (AIChE, 2018), Talented 12 (C&EN/ACS, 2021) — a distinction he holds as the first Arab scientist ever to receive — and BASF Smart Scientist (2022), selected from over 5,000 researchers worldwide.