Karen L. Wooley is the W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry, a University Distinguished Professor and a Presidential Impact Fellow at Texas A&M University, where she holds appointments in the departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering. She also serves as director of the Laboratory for Synthetic-Biologic Interactions.

Karen has served on the technical advisory boards and served in consulting capacities for several companies, from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups and law firms. Her expertise crosses the disciplines of synthetic organic and polymer chemistries, with an emphasis on the development of synthetic methodologies, fundamental study of physicochemical and mechanical properties, and investigation of the functional performance of her materials in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, as non-toxic anti-biofouling or anti-icing coatings, as materials for microelectronics device applications, and as environmental remediation systems.

Karen currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society, among many other advisory roles within the broader scientific community.