Dr. Matthew Parkinson

As a Senior Manager at BASF Performance Materials, Dr. Parkinson leads the Application Development Engineering and Composite Technologies departments. Additional responsibilities include North American Technical Development lead point of contact for the Transportation market. Dr. Parkinson leads teams responsible for supporting customers from a technical perspective with their engineering plastic and polyurethane product development. The BASF’s Composite Technologies department develops high performance materials for the North American market with sustainability in focus. This team that Dr. Parkinson leads develops thermosets with resin sourced from sustainably harvested castor beans in combination with various natural and recycled fibers along with recycled thermoplastics. Prior to joining BASF, Dr. Parkinson held various product design engineering positions with increasing responsibility at automotive OEMs Toyota, Honda, and Chrysler with focus on thermoplastic and thermoset component design.  Dr. Parkinson received his Doctorate degree in Material Science and Engineering from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, his Master’s degree in Automotive Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his undergraduate degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University.