Hello
Sydney Gladman, Ph.D. is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Terra Mater Consulting LLC. She is passionate about sustainable materials and manufacturing, and believes that we can work together to achieve ambitious goals for mitigating the effects of climate change, pollution, and waste accumulation that plague the materials we use today. From tweaks to our current systems and materials, to bringing entirely new materials to market, Sydney is well versed in the complexity and technical challenges facing these solutions, and is here to help.
Sydney's Experience
Sydney is a technical expert in materials science and engineering with a focus on polymers, textiles, and composites. Sydney holds her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Harvard University, with her other materials education stemming from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Florida. Her academic research focused on the design and formulation of bioinspired materials systems - including plant-inspired shape-changing 3D and 4D printed structures, microencapsulated biomaterials capable of self-healing, and anti-fouling surfaces inspired by shark skin. Her academic research has been cited over 5000 times and was covered by major outlets such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, MIT Technology Review, and Yahoo News.
Since obtaining her Ph.D., Sydney has spent over 8 years solving tough engineering challenges and providing research and insights to industry stakeholders. Sydney was a Manager at Exponent, a global technical consulting firm, where she provided professional services on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and start-ups across a wide-range of industries including consumer products, packaging, medical & dental devices, bioprocessing, textiles, footwear, military/aerospace, industrial systems & components, food contact materials, and sustainable innovation. Her projects were wide ranging, including product & process development, materials formulation, failure analysis investigations, intellectual property litigation & due diligence, risk assessments, and bespoke research investigations. Examples of some of Sydney's projects at Exponent included an international intellectual property dispute surrounding the design of plastic beer containers, technical market research for valorization of textile and rubber waste for a major apparel and footwear company, critical failure analysis of filtration equipment used to process the COVID-19 vaccines, and technical guidance for a risk assessment surrounding 3D printed appliance parts on behalf of a foreign government.
Most recently, Sydney was the Chief Scientific Officer at the Material Innovation Initiative (MII).
MII was a non-profit think tank accelerating the development of sustainable, animal-free textiles for the fashion, home goods, and automotive industries ("next-gen materials"). As a core member of the MII team, Sydney helped build the next-gen material ecosystem, engaging with all core stakeholders and delivering thought leadership and insights to the industry. Sydney conducted scientific and industry analysis, prepared reports, engaged in public speaking at conferences/podcasts/webinars, and interviewed for print media
(Backpacker Magazine, Forbes, Fast Company, Vogue, Business of Fashion, Sourcing Journal). She also provided bespoke guidance and network connections to startups working on sustainable textile products, components, or manufacturing services (scientific & go-to-market strategy) and tracked 300+ innovators via curated databases. In addition, she advised other supply chain stakeholders including fashion/automotive brands (trends/insights, technical explainers), investors (industry landscape, due diligence), and researchers (white spaces, scientific targets). Sydney continued to work with MII as a Scientific Advisor until its closure in 2024.