On September 15, 2011, the Embassy of Poland co-hosted an event with the Carnegie Institution for Science & the Embassy of France to honor the centennial of the 2nd Nobel Prize awarded to Marie Sklodowska-Curie and the International Year of Chemistry. During the event, Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski of Carnegie Mellon University was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his outstanding contributions to the development of Polish-U.S. cooperation in science, as well as for his research and teaching. We sat down with Dr. Matyjaszewski after the event to learn more about his work and discoveries.