CINCINNATI (Oct. 10, 2012)—The ACS Rubber Division will honor Russell Livigni, retired form GenCorp Inc., with the 2013 Charles Goodyear Medal, the association announced during its Rubber Expo in Cincinnati.
The division also selected four other winners of technical honors: William Hergenrother of Bridgestone Americas; Ali Dhinojwala of the University of Akron; Wilma Dierkes of the University of Twente in the Netherlands and Tampere Technical University in Finland; and Stuart Cooper of Ohio State University.
Livigni was chosen for the organization's highest technical award for his pioneering work with high trans rubbers, the Rubber Division said. He was the principal scientist in the discovery and development of barium-based catalysts for the polymerization of butadiene and its copolymerization with styrene to give high trans rubbers with low vinyl content.
Livigni started his rubber industry career in 1952 at Firestone's control laboratory at its synthetic rubber development facility. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1956 from the University of Akron and a doctorate in polymer chemistry from the school in 1960.
Livigni then joined Ford Motor Co.'s scientific laboratory. In 1961 he moved to General Tire as a senior research chemist, and held a variety of positions at General and GenCorp (its subsequent name) before becoming vice president and director of GenCorp Research from 1988-95. He became vice president, corporate technology in 1995 and retired in 1996 to consult for Omnova, a spin-off of GenCorp. He currently is a consultant in polymer and rubber chemistry and R&D organization.
Livigni has received 27 U.S. patents and has been published in numerous technical publications
Hergenrother, a research fellow for Bridgestone Americas, will receive the Melvin Mooney Award, honoring a person who has made significant and repeated contributions to rubber science technology.
Dhinojwala, a professor at UA in the Department of Polymer Science, won the George S. Whitby Award for his success in teaching chemistry and polymer science.
Dierkes will receive the Sparks-Thomas Award, given to a younger scientist, technologist or engineer.
Cooper is chairman of OSU's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and is the winner of the Chemistry of Thermoplastics Award, given for contributions to the advancement of chemistry of TPEs.
The awards will be presented at the Rubber Division's spring meeting next April in Akron