Brian Makowski leads development of new polymer technologies for Sherwin-Williams with key focus on polymer synthesis and manufacturing. His primary expertise is in acrylic, polyurethane, and alkyd synthesis. He has a B.S. in Chemistry (2005) from Oakland University, Rochester MI and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science (2011) from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH. During his graduate work at Case Western, Brian worked in the Polymer Optics field and split research time between labs at Case Western, Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics (Halle, Germany), Fraunhofer Institute for Material Mechanics (Halle, Germany), and Adolphe Merkle Institute for Applied Nanoscience (Fribourg, Switzerland). Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., he worked as a Weathering Technologist for Exatec, LLC, Wixom, MI measuring degradation of coatings for polycarbonate. Brian's primary interest is generating and validating new polymer concepts that address key fundamental technical hurdles for all divisions of Sherwin-Williams.