Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science and Engineering
The Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science and Engineering recognizes the cooperative research between industrial and academic or industrial and national laboratory scientists
2023 Award Winner
Tyler Culp1, Enrique Gomez1, Manish Kumar2, Mou Paul3, Abhishek Roy3, Jeffrey Wilbur4
1 Penn State University, 2 University of Texas at Austin, 3 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 4 DuPont
The collaborative research team is represented by DuPont, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Penn State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.
This research team represents a successful collaboration between academia and industry over the past 6 years where the details of the structure and function of reverse osmosis membranes have been unraveled. Their research covered key innovations in x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy of reverse osmosis membranes that are the backbone of converting seawater into drinkable water for human consumption. Through the team’s development of new analytical techniques and deep insights into how the chemistry and processing of the materials creates the unique structure of these membranes, this team has identified new directions for understanding material performance and built the knowledge base for developing next-generation water purification technologies.
Some of their work can be found in “Nanoscale control of internal inhomogeneity enhances water transport in desalination membranes”, published in Science in 2021. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb8518
Award Details
This award can be an individual award or can be shared by a team comprised of an academic and an industrial scientist or a scientist from national laboratory and an industrial scientist. The award is composed of a $5000 prize and $3000 travel allowance shared between the team to present at the Spring ACS national conference.
History
The award was originally established in the fall of 1992 and is supported by a generous gift from the Eastman Kodak Company.
Nominations
Nominations are to be submitted by August 15 of each year to the Chair of the PMSE Cooperative Research Award Committee. Nominations will be reviewed by the PMSE Cooperative Research Award Committee. The 2023 Cooperative Research Award deadline will be on August 15, 2022.
Please forward applications to Dr. Howard Creel, 3M [Email]
Award Selection
The nominee(s) for this award must have a documented record (patents, publications, etc.) of sustained, intensive cooperative and collaborative research across the university/industry or national laboratory/industry interface.
Past Recipients
Award and Nomination Summary
Purpose
PMSE encourages the development of collaborations across various disciplines and companies. The Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science and Engineering is given to recognize the cooperative research between industrial and academic or industrial and national laboratory scientists. The cooperative research must be of importance to polymer science and technology.
Rules of Eligibility
The award is granted to emerging or established researchers, and nominations are welcome from all sectors of industry, government, and academia. This award can be an individual award or can be shared by a team comprised of an academic and an industrial scientist or a scientist from national laboratory and an industrial scientist. (Teams of more than two people may be considered.)
Award nominations include members of the PMSE Division.
Nominations Process
Nominations are to be submitted by August 15 for consideration for the award selection process awarding the next calendar year. Submissions should be sent to the Chair of the Committee.
The nomination should include a brief curriculum vitae of the candidate(s) and documentation or evidence of the collaborative research including supporting letter(s) explaining the significance of the research. If the research is carried out by a group of scientists from academia, national laboratory, or industry, the nomination should also highlight the contributions made by each researcher in the group.
The 2024 Cooperative Research Award deadline will be on August 15, 2023. Please forward applications or questions on nomination submissions to Dr. Howard Creel, 3M [Email]
Award Selection
Nominations will be reviewed by the PMSE Cooperative Research Award Committee. A award selection will be made based on the review by the award committee.
Award Announcement and Nature
The Cooperative Research Award is announced in December for the next calendar year. The awardee(s) is(are) expected to give a lecture with an associated symposium at the Spring ACS National Meeting. The award is composed of a $5000 prize, which will be split equally if there are two (or more) awardees. There will also be a plaque, and up to a total of $3000 travel allowance (not to exceed $1500 per person), which can be split equally if there are two (or more) awardees, to attend the meeting, give the lecture, and to be presented with the award.
Past Award Winners
1994
Jean M. J. Fréchet, Cornell University
Hiroshi Ito, IBM
C. Grant Willson, University of Texas at Austin, previously IBM
1995
Leo Mandelkern, Florida State University
C. Stanley Speed and Ferdinand C. Stehling, Exxon Corp.
1996
Ray H. Baughman, Allied-Signal
1997
Henry K. Hall, Jr., University of Arizona
1998
Lynda K. Johnson, DuPont
Maurice Brookhart, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1999
Jose E. Valentini, Sterling Diagnostic Imaging
Yee C. Chiew, Leslie J. Fina, John Q. Jiang, Rutgers University
2000
James A. Schwindeman, FMC Corporation
Roderic P. Quirk, University of Akron
P.S. Chum, Dow Chemical Company
Anne Hiltner, Case Western Reserve University
Benny Freeman, University of Texas at Austin
Ingo Pinnau, Membrane Technology and Research
Craig Hawker, IBM Almaden Research Center
Thomas Russell, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Carnegie Mellon University
Frank W. Harris, University of Akron
Bruce K. Winker, Rockwell International
Stephen Z. D. Cheng, University of Akron
Steven D. Smith, Proctor and Gamble
Richard J. Spontak, North Carolina State University
Alec Scranton, University of Iowa
Christopher Bowman, University of Colorado at Boulder
Joe Oxman, 3M Corporation
Michael Idacavage, Cytec Industries
John Woods, Henkel Corporation
Donald Herr, National Starch and Chemical
Frank S. Bates, University of Minnesota
Glenn H. Fredrickson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Edward J. Kramer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dennis A. Hucul, Dow Chemical Company
Stephen F. Hahn, Dow Chemical Company
2009
Robert M. Waymouth, Stanford University
James Hedrick, IBM Almaden Research Center
Nikos Hadjichristidis, University of Athens
David J. Lohse, ExxonMobil Co.
Timothy E. Long, Virginia Tech
Carl L. Willis, Kraton Polymers, LLC
Timothy Bunning, Air Force Research Laboratory
Timothy White, Air Force Research Laboratory
Nelson Tabiryan, BEAM Engineering
Emanuel Gianneliskern, Cornell University
Clois Powell, Texas State University
Gary Beal, Texas State University
Benjamin S. Hsiao, Stony Brook University
Andy H. Tsou, ExxonMobil Chemical Company
Brian Benicewicz, University of South Carolina
Gordon Calundann, Celanese Corporation
Edmund Elce, Promerus LLC/Sumitomo Bakelite Co. Ltd.
Paul A. Kohl, Georgia Institute of Technology
2018
Dr. John Rabolt, University of Delaware, Formerly IBM Almaden Research Center
Dr. D. Bruce Chase, DuPont
Dr. Christopher Stafford, NIST
Dr. Edwin Chan, NIST
Professor Michael Hickner, Penn State
Professor Coray Colina, University of Florida
Dr. James Sturnfield, Dow Chemical
Dr. Steven Rosenberg, Dow Chemical
Dr. Abhishek Roy, Dow Chemical
Professor Christopher Bowman, University of Colorado
Professor Timothy Scott, University of Michigan
Dr. Ahmed Abuelyaman, 3M
Dr. Peter Bissinger, 3M
Dr. Bradley Craig, 3M
Karsten Dede, 3M
Dr. Timothy Dunbar, 3M
Dr. Adrian Eckert, 3M
Dr. Babu Gaddam, 3M retiree
Dr. Guy Joly, 3M
Dr. Larry Krepski, 3M retiree
Dr. Joe Oxman, 3M
Eric W. Cochran, Iowa State University
Donald Sjogren, Seneca Petroleum
R. Christopher Williams, Iowa State University
Charles L.Liotta, Georgia Institute of Technology
Bharat I. Chaudhary, Dow Chemical Company
Jeffrey M. Cogen, Dow Chemical Company
Tyler Culp, Penn State University
Enrique Gomez, Penn State University
Manish Kumar, University of Texas at Austin
Mou Paul, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Abhishek Roy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Jeffrey Wilbur, DuPont