Colleen McMahan

Dr. Colleen McMahan is a Research Chemist and the Lead Scientist of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service project on “Natural Rubber Producing Industrial Crops” in Albany, California. She completed her undergraduate Chemistry and M. S. Polymer Science degrees at The University of Akron, Ohio, and her Doctorate in Physical Chemistry at l’Université de Haute-Alsace in Mulhouse, France, under Prof. Jean-Baptiste Donnet. At the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, she worked in rubber compound science and later management of Physical Test Laboratories in support of tire compound development. At Advanced Elastomer Systems, L.P., an ExxonMobil company, Colleen led product development of thermoplastic elastomers. Since joining ARS her research interests include bio-based rubber and industrial oils, and the new and established crop plants that produce them, with emphasis on the biochemistry and molecular biology of rubber biosynthesis.