This program provides an overview of the many different families of commercially available polymeric materials. It also examines the basic concepts of polymerization through structure/property relationships and post-reactor modification, value-added compounding, important thermomechanical properties, design considerations, fundamentals of the various processing schemes, and material selection criteria for commercial end-uses. Individual polymers such as commodity plastics, engineering resins and specialty polymers will be contrasted for end-use functional properties and processability. More than 15 major families will be discussed for commercial applicability, competitive positioning and marketplace opportunities. The commercially popular members of each polymeric family will be examined for basic chemistry, polymerization challenges, key functional properties, design considerations, processing options and pricing histories as well as end-use markets.