Dr. Matthew J. Powell-Palm is a thermodynamicist, engineer, and inventor from Bozeman, MT, and currently holds an Assistant Professorship at Texas A&M University. He completed his M.S. at Carnegie Mellon under the advisement of Jon Malen, and his Ph.D at UC Berkeley with Boris Rubinsky.

His research, which is unified by a core concern with fundamental materials thermodynamics and kinetics, penetrates the medical sciences, agricultural sciences, planetary sciences, material sciences, and beyond. In all his work, he is motivated by the promise of real benefit to human and planetary health and sustainability, and he works with one eye constantly trained on translation of his science to industry, medicine, and the world outside the lab.

He is a globally-recognized expert in isochoric thermodynamics and cryopreservation, with more than 25 peer-reviewed publications and multiple patents in the field, and is currently working on multiple translational efforts in this domain, including: applications of isochoric supercooling protocols and devices to clinical efforts in whole-organ preservation for transplantation purposes; applications of isochoric vitrification to to preservation of whole coral fragments and other threatened marine organisms for conservation purposes; applications of isochoric freezing to global food storage and transportation; and the development of isochoric metrology techniques for planetary science applications.

In support of his applied research, Dr. Powell-Palm conducts fundamental theoretical research in high-dimensional classical thermodynamics, aiming to develop new theoretical and computational frameworks with which to tackle the suite of increasingly common material problems involving high-dimensional free energy space, including the mapping of n-dimensional phase diagrams for n-component systems, the study of both phase equilibria and metastabilities in systems influenced by n-many forms of simultaneous thermodynamic work, and etc.

Matt is always interested in collaborating, especially in contexts wherein fundamental thermodynamics can intersect meaningfully with the life sciences— if anything on this site piques your interest, please get in touch!