Ryan Hackler is a Ph.D. chemist with 10 years of research experience across various projects in the fields of aerospace engineering, surface science, catalysis, and polymer science. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Politics/Philosophy/Economics from Western Washington University in 2014, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University in 2019. Since acquiring his Ph.D., he developed and pioneered the catalytic technology responsible for converting plastic waste into higher value products while at Argonne National Laboratory.