The 2018 Award for Cooperative Research in Polymer Science and Engineering from American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering is given to Dr. John Rabolt and Dr. D. Bruce Chase. The extended collaboration between Rabolt and Chase has involved industry-academic interactions and the transition of scientific advances from the laboratory to commercially technologies, particularly in the development and subsequent widespread use of FT-Raman Spectroscopy. The two began interacting in the early 1980’s while Rabolt was at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA, and Chase at DuPont Central Research at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, DE. In 1996 Rabolt then moved to become the founding Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware. He is currently Karl W. and Renate Böer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Chase has since retired from DuPont and now holds a position as Research Professor at Delaware.
The ongoing, more than 30-year collaboration between Rabolt and Chase has yielded more than 69 joint publications, several patents, co-founding of a startup company (PAIR Technologies LLC), and the co-mentoring of 15 students (and counting). Their work has integrated polymer materials science, engineering, and education, and continues to have impact across many venues.
John Rabolt received the Bachelor of Science in Physics degree from the State University of New York in Oneonta in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 1974. He has more than 227 publications.
D. Bruce Chase received a B.A. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Williams College in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Princeton University in 1975. Along with Prof. Rabolt, he was the recipient of the 2013 Innovation in Materials Characterization Award from the Materials Research Society.
An award symposium to honor the 2018 winners will be held at the national ACS meeting in New Orleans, LA on Tuesday, March 20th. The award will be presented at the joint Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering and Division of Polymer Chemistry joint awards reception on Wednesday, March 21st.
For more information, contact Dr. Sadhan C. Jana, University of Akron, Akron, OH, Chairman, PMSE Cooperative Research Award Committee, Telephone: 330-972-8293, janas@uakron.edu.