November 2025

Danuta Liberda-Matyja, a Post-Doctoral Associate with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Danuta Liberda-Matyja has joined the University of Maryland all the way from Kraków, Poland. Originally working at the Synchrotron SOLARIS Facility in Kraków building infrared (IR) beamline, she now works at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) applying Optical Photo Thermal InfraRed (OPTIR) microscopy for the nonspherical pristine and weathered micro and nanoplastics particles standards characterization and development.

    Danuta received her PhD in Chemistry from Jagiellonian University in Kraków “the oldest university in Poland, and also one of the best,” according to Liberda-Matyja. However, the research Danuta completes is so interdisciplinary, that it was hard to make a choice. “In the beginning it was possible that I would defend my PhD thesis in Biology since I was working on development of machine learning models for human tissue sample classification based on IR imaging.” But she was always closer to Chemistry. Starting with her MSc in Chemistry and then her first job at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ) in Kraków. “At the IFJ I started work in the project devoted to pancreatic tissue classification based on IR imaging using machine learning, and I developed my passion for IR microscopy application for sample characterization.”

Now, the Post-Doctoral Associate, sponsored by UMD, continues her research in partnership with NIST. “All of my experiences at the University have been really great.” The campus is one of the highlights of her experience. “The place, the support, and also ISSS. University training was very helpful and very interesting! They gave a lot of information about local birds, and other fun things. The campus is totally different from Jagiellonian University campus in Poland. I like the style of UMD buildings, and I really enjoy walking around.”

For other J-1 scholars, Danuta has a piece of advice before arrival: “It was tough in the beginning to find out how the health care system works because it is totally different in Poland.” So she recommends asking more questions. If you are a scholar with health insurance concerns, ISSS keeps detailed insurance information available for all J-1 visa holders on its website, and an ISSS case advisor is available for more information.