Richard McCullough, Ph.D.

President
Professor of Chemistry
Florida State University

16 U.S. Patents

Richard McCullough, Ph.D. is the 16th President of Florida State University (FSU), one of the nation’s top public research universities. With more than three decades of experience in scientific innovation, institutional leadership, and entrepreneurial ecosystem development, Dr. McCullough has guided transformative initiatives during his presidency designed to elevate FSU’s impact across Florida and beyond.

A renowned chemist, Dr. McCullough was the first to discover and develop regioregular polythiophenes, a revolutionary class of conjugated polymers that dramatically improved conductivity, charge mobility, and solubility in organic materials. This landmark method for synthesizing poly(3-hexylthiophene) laid the foundation for the field of plastic electronics and significantly advanced low-cost, flexible technologies such as solar cells, field-effect transistors, and next-generation displays.

Dr. McCullough’s pioneering research on regioregular polythiophenes also led to breakthroughs in printable electronic materials, reactive metal inks, and organic semiconductors. These discoveries advanced the field of flexible and wearable devices and contributed to the development of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays with thinner, more efficient, and longer-lasting organic layers. As a result of Dr. McCullough’s innovations, regioregular polythiophenes have become one of the most studied and cited materials in the field over the past two decades, contributing to further breakthroughs in flexible and low-cost electronics.

Beyond his scientific contributions, Dr. McCullough is also an experienced entrepreneur. He founded two startup companies, Plextronics, Inc., and Liquid X Printed Metals, both of which commercialized his discoveries to address real-world challenges across the technology, energy, and healthcare sectors. Plextronics was later acquired by Solvay, a global chemical company.

Dr. McCullough’s innovations extend into academia, where he has played a transformational role in building innovation ecosystems at leading research institutions. At Carnegie Mellon University, he launched the Greenlighting Start-ups Initiative, a comprehensive program that dramatically increased university spinouts and technology transfer activity. At Harvard University, he helped spearhead Landmark Bio, a $100 million multi-institutional initiative designed to catalyze biomedical research and biomanufacturing at scale. At FSU, Dr. McCullough spearheaded the creation of FSU Health, a sweeping initiative to transform healthcare delivery, education, and biomedical research in North Florida. His leadership helped secure $98.4 million in Triumph Gulf Coast funding for new aerospace and advanced manufacturing facilities in Panama City, generating significant economic impact for the region.

Dr. McCullough holds 16 U.S. patents. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and in 2021, he was inducted into the Advanced Materials Journal Hall of Fame. He is also the recipient of the Carnegie Science Center Award for Excellence as a Start-Up Entrepreneur.

Dr. McCullough received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas. He went on to complete a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.

A MENTION ABOUT INVENTION – 3 Questions for the Inventor

Q1. Of your patents/inventions, which one is your favorite and why?

My first patent, “Method of forming poly (3-substituted) thiophenes,” is my favorite because I think it had the most impact on science and innovation and really opened up new fields for inquiry. We discovered a very simple way to make regioregular polythiophenes by a new method that had never been used before. It was very simple, very easy, didn’t require low temperatures and basically provided a method to manufacture electronic plastics for the first time on a scalable level. This breakthrough led to a host of discoveries in my lab related to printable electronics. Regioregular polythiophenes have since become one of the most extensively studied conductive polymer materials in the world.

Q2. What inspired you to become an inventor/innovator?

My favorite part of science is to create new things. With chemistry, you can create molecules and materials that have never existed. It’s profound and humbling to design new materials that could advance and impact society. I wanted to design a material that would have very high electrical conductivity, very high mobility, and excellent electronic properties. It also needed to be easy to make and process to create plastic films and produce in large quantities. That had not been done before, and it was a big challenge.

Q3. What is your process when developing new inventions/innovations?

My process is to start by thinking about what problem I’m trying to solve. Two-thirds of my patents are the result of trying to understand how to make a plastic material that conducts electricity, has great electronic properties, and would be easy and cheap enough to make but also have the performance needed for various applications. To solve the problem, I had to design a molecule to optimize its electronic properties. I knew the polymer had to be as flat as possible, but it also had to be soluble. I made a drawing of what we wanted the polymer to look like, and then we had to go back and figure out synthetic ways of making that material. I found that to be a lot of fun. My process with my patents on making metal alloys from molecular inks was similar. It starts by trying to figure out what the end piece will be.