INDEPENDENCE, Ohio—The ACS Rubber Division gave out its six top awards at its Science & Technology Awards Banquet during its spring technical meeting today in Independence.
The top honor went to Roderic Quirk, a professor emeritus with the University of Akron, who was awarded the Charles Goodyear Medal. Much of his career in academia was devoted to anionic polymerization. More than 20 of his former students traveled from as far away as South Korea and South Africa to attend the ceremony.
The other awards winners included:
• Manfred Klueppel, professor of polymer materials and rubber technology and head of the Material Concepts and Modeling Department at the German Institute of Rubber Technology in Hanover, Germany, received the Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award;
•Ulrich Giese, professor and managing director and head of the Elastomer and Analytical Chemistry, also at the German Institute of Rubber Technology, was honored with the George Stafford Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching & Research;
• Pamela Martin, who works in advanced materials and product development at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, took the Sparks-Thomas Award for young scientists;
• Timothy Long, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech, received the Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award; and
• Charles Herd, director of rubber carbon black technology at Birla Carbon, was honored with the Fernley H. Banbury Award.
The Rubber Division's spring meeting wraps up May 2.