Matthew John Allen
| Matthew John Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 28, 1977 Livonia, Michigan |
| 🏳️ Citizenship | American |
| 🏫 Education | Purdue University (BS), California Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| 💼 Occupation | Chemist, academic administrator |
Matthew John Allen (born May 28, 1977) is an American chemist and academic administrator at Wayne State University. He serves as a professor and chair of the Chemistry Department, as well as an assistant vice president for Research and Innovation. His research includes lanthanide chemistry, contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, lanthanide luminescence, critical-material recovery, and coordination chemistry.[1]
Biography
Allen was born in Livonia, Michigan, on May 28, 1977. He graduated from Swartz Creek High School in 1995 and enrolled at Purdue University, where he received a bachelor of science in honors chemistry with distinction and a minor in mathematics in 1998. At Purdue, he conducted undergraduate research with Jillian Buriak. Each summer during his undergraduate experience, he worked at Eli Lilly and Company in Process Research and Development as a chemistry intern. Before beginning graduate school in 1999, he also worked at Eli Lilly and Company in Process Research and Development as a chemistry intern.
Allen entered the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1999 and completed a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 2004 in the laboratory of Thomas J. Meade. His dissertation, Delivery and Activation of Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, examined approaches for modifying MRI contrast agent activity. During his graduate studies, he was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship, which he declined, and he received a DOW Caltech Fellowship, a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, a Cline Neuroscience Discovery Grant, an AFAR Fellowship, and an ICCC Fellowship.
From 2004 to 2007, Allen conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Laura L. Kiessling and Ronald T. Raines, supported by an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Fellowship and an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00). He received the Paul D. Boyer Postdoctoral Excellence Award at Wisconsin in 2007.
Allen joined Wayne State University in 2008 as an assistant professor of chemistry. He was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and professor in 2016. He became the chair of the Department of Chemistry in 2016 and assistant vice president for Research and Innovation in 2025. In 2023, he began a secondary appointment in Oncology. His research program has focused on aqueous lanthanide chemistry, the design and activation of MRI contrast agents, photoredox catalysis with Eu(II), divalent lanthanide chemistry, and ligand-based approaches for separating rare-earth elements.
Allen is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and the American Chemical Society. He served as co-director of the Rare Earths from U.S. Extractions (REUSE) Center, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which examined recovery of rare-earth elements from mine drainage, fly ash, and hospital wastewater. His group developed coordination-chemistry-driven strategies for improving rare-earth separations. He was also co-director of the NIH-funded MARC at Wayne State University program focused on preparing students for advanced studies and careers in the biomedical sciences. He has held roles on several university committees and served nationally on the NIH Imaging Probes and Contrast Agents Study Section and on the editorial advisory board of Inorganic Chemistry.[2][3]
Allen's awards include the Bausch and Lomb Science Award (1994), the Purdue University Valedictorian Scholarship (1995), the Eli Lilly-Purdue Alumni Scholarship (1995–1998), the Purdue University Alumni Award in Physical Chemistry (1998), the D. W. Margerum Undergraduate Research Scholarship (1998), the Cline Neuroscience Discovery Grant at the California Institute of Technology (2001–2003), the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Award (2009), the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2011), the Schaap Faculty Scholar designation (2011–2016), the Elliott Lasser Award (2011), the Career Development Chair Award (2014–2015), the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2015), the Emerging Investigator recognition in bioinorganic chemistry from the American Chemical Society (2016), the Outstanding Teacher Award from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2016), election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018), election as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2019), and the Wayne State University Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award (2020).[4][5] He also received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Swartz Creek High School (2009), the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (2000–2003), and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2010–2015).
In addition, in 2007, he won the Frog Leg Eating Championship in Madison, Wisconsin.
As of 2025[update], he has been serving as the chair of the Chemistry Department, professor of chemistry, and assistant vice president for Research and Innovation at Wayne State University.
References
- ↑ "MRI contrast agent targets hypoxic disease". National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ↑ welldesign (2012-12-13). "WSU Research Could Lead To Shorter, Sharper MRI Scans, Earlier Diagnosis". Research Universities for Michigan. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ↑ Pierre, Valérie C; Allen, Matthew J, eds. (2017). Contrast Agents for MRI. New Developments in NMR. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry. doi:10.1039/9781788010146. ISBN 978-1-78262-447-9. Archived from the original on 2025-06-12. Retrieved 2026-02-05. Unknown parameter
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- ↑ "Previous Winners - Thieme Chemistry - Georg Thieme Verlag". Thieme. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ↑ admin. "2016 Outstanding Teacher Awards". ISMRM. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
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