Marek received his BS in chemistry and economics summa cum laude from Marquette University in 2014 where he worked on the organic synthesis of molecular switches and actuators. He completed his PhD in 2019 at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Professor Rowan working on porous polymeric materials for actinide separations in a collaborative effort with the Separation Science Group at Argonne National Laboratory. He is currently an Analytical Chemist at SHINE Medical Technologies.
Marek is the previous recipient of the Gerhard Closs Teaching Award in Organic Chemistry, the DOE Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies, the Fuel Cycle Student Innovator Award, the Office of Science SCGSR Fellowship, and Impact Argonne Award.
Current research at Argonne National Laboratory seeks to understand the major chemical drivers behind liquid-liquid extraction and to investigate new porous, polymer materials for lanthanide/actinide separations for nuclear fuel cycle applications. Water purification using membrane technology as well as REE and TM recovery from electronic waste are research areas that are actively being pursued.
Piechowicz, M., Chiarizia, R., Skanthakumar, S., Rowan, S. J. & Soderholm, L. Leveraging Actinide Hydrolysis Chemistry for Targeted Th and U Separations using Amidoxime-Functionalized Poly(HIPE)s. ChemPhysChem 21, 1157–1165 (2020).
Celine Calvino, Marek Piechowicz, Stuart J. Rowan, Stephen Schrettl, and Christoph Weder. A Versatile Colorimetric Probe based on Thiosemicarbazide–Amine Proton Transfer. Chemistry: A European Journal. 2018. Vol. 24, Pg. 7369-7373.
