The American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) has selected a new class of PMSE Fellows for 2024. The following distinguished PMSE members have been chosen:
- Professor Jaime C. Grunlan, Texas A&M University
- Professor Enrique D. Gomez, The Pennsylvania State University
- Professor Joseph B. Schlenoff, Florida State University
PMSE will honor at the next ACS Meeting during the joint PMSE/POLY Awards Reception. PMSE is pleased to welcome this distinguished group of polymer scientists and engineers to the ranks of fellows. Here is a short description of each of their careers and accomplishments:
Professor Jaime C. Grunlan
Texas A&M University
For outstanding contributions toward protective polymer and nanocomposite coatings, especially environmentally benign flame retardancy, along with consistent support of PMSE
Dr. Jaime Grunlan is the Leland T. Jordan ’29 Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on thermal and transport properties of polymer nanocomposites. He is a world leader in organic thermoelectric materials, super gas barrier layers, and environmentally-benign, flame retardant nanocoatings. He holds 15 issued U.S. patents and several EU patents that have been licensed to numerous companies. He has published more than 200 journal papers, with more than 25,000 citations. Dr. Grunlan has graduated 29 PhD students and has mentored more than 50 undergraduate students in his research laboratory. His work has been highlighted in Smithsonian Magazine, Nature, and the New York Times. He is an Editor of the Journal of Materials Science and Progress in Organic Coatings, and Associate Editor of Green Materials. In 2018, Prof. Grunlan became a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and was awarded a doctorate honoris causa (i.e. honorary doctorate) from the University of South Brittany (Lorient, France). In 2019, he became a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). In 2023, he became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Professor Enrique D. Gomez
The Pennsylvania State University
For pioneering contributions to the molecular level understanding of polymer structure and properties through creative combination of advanced microscopy and scattering techniques
Enrique D. Gomez received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida in 2002 and received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. Afterwards, he spent a year and a half as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. Dr. Gomez joined the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University in August of 2009, where he is now a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. He was appointed the Associate Head for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 2021 to 2023, and has served as the Interim Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion in the College of Engineering since July of 2023. Research activities of Dr. Gomez are focused on connecting the chemical structure of soft materials to macroscopic properties for the advancement of a sustainable society. To this end, the Gomez group pushes the limits of X-ray scattering and electron microscopy to refine descriptions of the microstructure of soft materials. The current emphasis of his research group is on the relationship between microstructure and electrical properties in the active layers of organic thin film transistors and photovoltaics, on elucidating the key factors that govern aqueous transport through water filtration membranes, and in the development of microstructure control to enable sustainable materials. Enrique has received multiple awards, including a Visiting Scientist Fellowship from the National Center for Electron Microscopy, the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award, the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Outstanding Research Award, the Arthur K. Doolittle Award of the American Chemical Society, the Cooperative Research Award from the American Chemical Society, and the National Science FoundationCreativity Supplement Award. He was also elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021.
Professor Joseph B. Schlenoff
Florida State University
For seminal contributions to the technology and fundamental science of complexes of charged polymers and their saloplasticity
Joe Schlenoff is Robert O. Lawton Professor of Chemistry and Mandelkern Professor of Polymer Science at Florida State University. After a brief stint at Polaroid Corporation (Cambridge, MA), he completed a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1987. He joined the faculty of FSU in 1988. With support from various Federal and State agencies, he has researched the fundamental chemistry of polyelectrolyte complexes as thin films and bulk solids. He has co-edited a volume on layer-by-layer assembly, published by Wiley-VCH, now in its second edition (2011). He holds ca. 42 U.S. patents. He was Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FSU from 2007-2011 and oversaw the construction of FSU’s new $72M Chemistry building. He held the Gutenberg Chair at the University of Strasbourg in 2011, won the Florida Award of the American Chemical Society in 2013, and was a U.S. Fulbright Fellow in France in 2019. From 2014-2020 he was Senior Associate Editor of Langmuir, the ACS journal of colloid and surface science.