Polymer scientists are chemists that manipulate polymers to create useful materials that have unique properties. Undergraduate work in chemistry followed by graduate work in polymer science, organic or materials chemistry is good preparation.
Its goal is to provide the basis for the creation and characterization of polymeric materials and an understanding for structure/property relationships. Polymer science is of increasing importance for everyone's daily life. Many modern functional materials, gears, and devices have polymers as integral parts.
A polymer is a very large, chain-like molecule made up of monomers, which are small molecules. It can be naturally occurring or synthetic. What's a mer? - you might ask. Well, it means "part," and it works only as a suffix.
Organic polymers play a crucial role in living things, providing basic structural materials and participating in vital life processes. For example, the solid parts of all plants are made up of polymers. Starches, important sources of food energy derived from plants, are natural polymers composed of glucose.