Dr. Clifford K. Schoff formerly of PPG Industries and now a private consultant will receive the Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings for 2008. The announcement was made by the Officers and the Award Committee of the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) of the American Chemical Society.
Dr. Schoff is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in the area of coatings defects, electropaint-substrate interactions, paint flow and rheological measurements, mechanical properties and cure of coatings. He has contributed over 40 papers, articles and chapters to the coatings literature and recently published his 40th one-page “Coatings Clinic” in JCT Coatings Tech. Dr. Schoff has led ASTM Subcommittee D.01.24 on Physical Properties of Liquid Paints for over 20 years, has written numerous ASTM test procedures and has championed the use of ASTM standards. He currently is Secretary of ASTM Committee D01 on Paints and Related Coatings, Materials and Applications. Dr. Schoff is Chair of the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology (FSCT) Publications Committee, a member of the Editorial Review Board, one of the technical editors of the Journal of Coatings Technology and Research and is active in the Pittsburgh Society for Coatings Technology.
Dr. Schoff began his college education in Engineering at the College of Marin, Kentfield, California. He then transferred to the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho where he received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry in 1962 and 1964, respectively. From 1964-1967, he served in the United States Peace Corps as a secondary school science teacher and sports coach in Ibadan, Nigeria. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland in 1971 with a thesis on photodegradation of methacrylates. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Glasgow University, 1970-72, studying thermal degradation of polymers. He returned to the U.S. to be on the Research Staff in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University from 1972-1974 and led research on thermal and mechanical properties of polymers of interest to the military, NASA and the aerospace industry. From 1974 to 2002, Dr. Schoff worked for PPG Industries Inc. at the Allison Park, PA Coatings & Resins Research Center in the Physical Chemistry Group. Since 2002, he has worked on special projects for PPG Industries and has done private technical and legal consulting.
Dr. Schoff’s main research interests have involved physical testing and measurement and their application to solving product and process problems and to developing new products, primarily in industrial and automotive coatings. Late in his career at PPG, he gained valuable practical experience in working to improve appearance and reduce dirt and other defects at automobile and motorcycle plants. He has developed lectures on surface defects, failure analysis, cure, rheological measurements, corrosion, pigment dispersion, surface preparation, optical microscopy and other related topics and presented these lectures world-wide (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) for PPG Industries Inc., FSCT and privately. He has taught short courses for FSCT, the Sociedad Argentina de Technólogos en Recubrimientos and at many universities including University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kent State University, University of Southern Mississippi, University of São Paulo and North Dakota State University.
Dr. Schoff has received numerous awards for his research and development efforts. He has received the ASTM William T. Pearce Award for outstanding contributions to the science of testing paint and paint materials (1987) and the ASTM Award of Merit for distinguished service to ASTM and the cause of voluntary standardization (1992). From the FSCT, Dr. Schoff has received the 1998 Mattiello Lecture Award, FSCT’s highest technical award.
Dr. Schoff will receive the Tess Award from Dr. Dean Webster Chair of the PMSE Division, on Monday, August 18, 2008 during the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Schoff will present an Award Address at that time. An evening reception sponsored by the PMSE Division will follow the Award Symposium.
The Tess Award is presented annually by the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering in recognition of outstanding contributions to coatings science and technology. It is funded by a grant to the Division from Dr. and Mrs. Roy W. Tess. The purpose of the award is to encourage interest and progress in coatings science technology and engineering and to recognize significant contributions to the field. The Award consists of a plaque and a $3000 cash prize.