Dr. Alex Norman is the Executive Director of the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI). Prior to joining Princeton University, Alex has held various positions in R&D technical leadership in industry including ExxonMobil, United Technologies (now Raytheon Technologies) and Ingredion. Most recently Alex was the Director of Materials R&D for a NJ-based biomaterials start-up company, Modern Meadow.  

Alex holds a BS degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield (UK), where he worked on the self-assembly and transition kinetics of aqueous block polymers. During his postdoctoral studies at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), University of Maryland and New York University, Alex worked on X-ray, neutron and light scattering to probe structure and morphology across a variety of polymer and protein solutions. Throughout his industrial career, Alex continued to work with National Labs and University core facilities to bring SAXS capabilities to solve industrial problems and support product development. Alex has held positions as a Program Chair at the PMSE division of the American Chemical Society and currently is a symposium organizer for the TechConnect World meetings.