Ruth Schmarsow

Ruth Schmarsow obtained her BSc in Chemistry from the National University of Mar del Plata (Argentina) in 2017, with a final project on the toxic effects of lead on honeybees (Apis mellifera). She then completed her PhD in Materials Science at the same university in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Walter Schroeder and Prof. Ileana Zucchi, with a thesis on functional materials obtained by self-assembly of semicrystalline block copolymers in polymeric matrices, and obtained the maximum grade. During her PhD she carried out a six-month research stay at POLYMAT under the supervision of Prof. Alejandro J. Müller, which resulted in several joint publications. From 2023 to 2026 she was a postdoctoral researcher at INTEMA (CONICET-UNMdP) under the supervision of Dr. Vera Álvarez, where she developed biodegradable hydrogels and coatings for moisture control and the improvement of agricultural and horticultural crops. Since 2018 she has also been involved in university teaching in chemistry at UNMdP and has supervised several student research internships. Currently, she is a Gipuzkoa Fellows postdoctoral researcher at POLYMAT in the Polymer Physics and Advanced Manufacturing group, under the supervision of Prof. Alejandro J. Müller. Her research focuses on functional polymeric systems, from semicrystalline block copolymers to biodegradable hydrogels. She has co-authored ten peer-reviewed publications, six of them as first author.