PMSE Distinguished Service Award

2026 Award Winner

Eileen Ernst
PMSE Executive Coordinator

Eileen Ernst

The PMSE Distinguished Service Award is given to recognize extensive, sustained contributions and service to the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division.  The first awardee was recognized in 1993, and the award has continued to be presented on a yearly basis.
 
It is with enormous joy and deep appreciation that we announce the winner of the 2026 PMSE Distinguished Service Award, Eileen Ernst, PMSE Executive Coordinator. This accolade is a testament to her outstanding and sustained services to the PMSE Division for more than thirty years, and it is very well-deserved.
 
Eileen is the heart and soul of PMSE and the glue that makes everything work within the division. She has been the steady heartbeat of PMSE — shaping its growth, sustaining its excellence, and enriching the experience of every member she has touched. Her contributions cover every corner of PMSE: orchestrating the technical program, supporting countless volunteers and officers, streamlining communications, and transforming the membership desk into an energetic hub that draws in new generations of polymer scientists and engineers. Eileen’s contagious enthusiasm, unwavering commitment, and extraordinary dedication have elevated PMSE into the vibrant, welcoming, and highly respected community it is today.
 
We are grateful for Eileen’s outstanding and sustained services to the PMSE Division, and we look forward to congratulating her on this well-deserved award in person in Atlanta. 

Below is a statement from the awardee, Eileen Ernst.

The typical biography of the Distinguished Service Awardee contains a list of degrees, places of employment, awards, and research accomplishments.  I do not have any of those things to share, so I would like to tell you about how my job at PMSE came to be and a little bit about myself.
 
I began my career in “chemistry” at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey in 1979, a seventeen-year-old girl fresh out of high school and placed in the steno pool.  It was an amazing place filled with world-class scientists, and I am still in awe that I was able to work there and be among those great minds.

My first job at Bell Labs was for the Head of the Analytical Chemistry Department.  In 1983, I was promoted and worked for the Director of Chemistry. In 1986, I left the labs when my daughter was born and then went on to have my son in 1988.  I did, however, have the itch to continue working in some capacity, and to that end I convinced my former supervisor to allow me to come in once a week to fill in for secretaries who were absent.  During that time, I spent a day working for Larry Thompson, a Department Head in the Chemistry Division. I told him that I wanted to find a job that I could do from home.  He had a great idea – PMSE needed a constant presence in a part-time capacity, and he thought he could convince the powers that be to hire me.  He took it to PMSE, and the answer was a resounding NO.
 
Quite some time later, I received a call from Elsa Reichmanis, who worked in my hallway at Bell Labs and was a Supervisor in the Chemistry Division at that time. Elsa was also the Chair-Elect of PMSE and convinced the Executive Committee to hire me.  A few days later, I strapped two kids in the back seat of my station wagon, drove to Bell Labs, and Elsa lugged a very bulky surplus computer out of the front door and into my car.  That was 1993 and the start of my tenure at PMSE.  I am eternally grateful to Elsa for her pivotal role in making my dream of an “at-home” job become a reality; telecommuting was unheard of at that time.
 
During my time at PMSE, I have had the privilege to raise two phenomenal children, Allison, a high-school English teacher, and Stephen, who works in finance in New York City.  I welcomed two amazing in-laws, Jason and Stephanie, and had the joy of spending treasured time with my grandchildren, Evan, Avery, and now our newest, Theodore.  I’ve been married for 43 years to my high-school sweetheart, Rick, and we are appreciating all the fruits of our labors, traveling, and simply enjoying each other’s company.
 
What was once “just typing” has transformed into a career rather than a job.  A career where I get to interact with wonderful people, implement ideas, make decisions, put plans into place, have a voice, and be a part of a phenomenal community. It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside such wonderful people over so many years.  You have been more than colleagues; you have been friends.  To be valued and appreciated in such a profound way is a true gift.  I am so humbled and touched by the honor you have bestowed on me.