Purpose

The Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering is given to recognize a graduate student or recent graduate who has completed an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in polymeric research.

Nature

The award consists of a plaque, $2,000 honorarium, and travel support to attend the Fall ACS National Meeting in the year of the award. The award winner is invited to participate in a half-day symposium co-organized by the primary nominator and Prof. Mahesh K. Mahanthappa (maheshkm@umn.edu). In addition, the award will be presented at the joint POLY/PMSE awards presentation, typically on Wednesday evening.

History

The award was first awarded in 1991 and is operated under the Polymer Education Committee (POLYED), sponsored by the Polymer Chemistry Division and Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division. The award has been previously sponsored by Unilever (1991-2003), National Starch (2006-2008) and AzkoNobel (2008-2013). It has since been sponsored by Henkel.

Eligibility

A nominee must be a member or affiliate of the POLY division of ACS and must currently be a PhD candidate or have earned their PhD during the three years prior to January 1 of the award year.

Nominations

Nominees are judged on the basis of their contribution to the thesis research, the quality and level of innovation demonstrated, and the impact of their research on the science and technology of synthetic polymers or biopolymers. Preference will be given to nominees who have not already been recognized by two or more ACS Awards with associated honorary symposia.

Nominators must be a member or affiliate of the POLY division and must be the nominee’s thesis supervisor or someone familiar with the nominee’s work. Nomination packages should be sent by email to Prof. Jessica Kramer (jessica.kramer@utah.edu). The title of the email should be “2020 Henkel Graduate Award” and the following items should be included as a single PDF file by January 25, 2020:

• Nominee’s biography (or curriculum vitae)
• Synopsis of nominee’s work
• Letter of recommendation from thesis advisor
• Optional: relevant publications based on thesis work
• Optional: supporting documents and testimonials

About the Sponsor

Henkel values highly the development of outstanding scientists in the field of polymer science and engineering. Progress in the field is vital for the future development of high performance materials that will enhance current technologies and enable future ones. Thus, Henkel is proud to sponsor this award to demonstrate their commitment recognizing outstanding young scientists.

2020 Award Winner: Dr. Jeffrey Lopez

Advised by: Prof. Zhenan Bao, Stanford University

Jeffrey Lopez earned his Ph.D. in 2018 from Stanford University under the supervision of Prof. Zhenan Bao. He was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a NDSEG Fellowship to fund his graduate work, which focused on molecular design of new self-healing polymers and elastomers with novel mechanical properties for improving the stability of lithium ion batteries. Jeffrey is currently an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working with Prof. Yang Shao-Horn where he is studying fundamental mechanisms of electrochemical instability and ion transport in polymer electrolyte materials.  Jeffrey has received multiple awards for his research including the ACS Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science in 2018 and the AIChE Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Award 1^st Prize in 2016. Jeffrey was involved with the Stanford Polymer Collective as President from 2013-2016 supporting the polymer research community on Stanford’s campus, and has worked with various programs at Stanford and MIT to promote improved access to higher education among students from underrepresented minority groups.

The 2020 Henkel award will be presented during a symposium in honor of Dr. Lopez at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco, CA, August 16-20, 2020 in the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry. Award nominations are administered through PolyEd, the joint polymer education committee of the ACS Divisions of Polymer Chemistry and Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering, with generous financial support from the Henkel Corporation.