2008 FSCT Heckel Award to be Presented to past-president Frederick (Fritz) Walker.

The Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology is pleased to announce that FSCT past-president, Frederick ("Fritz") H. Walker, has been named the 2008 recipient of the organization's highest honor--the George Baugh Heckel. Award. Dr. Walker is the Intellectual Asset Manager for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., in Allen-town, PA.

Presentation of the Heckel Award will be made during the FSCT Annual General Meeting Luncheon, on Tuesday, October 14. The AGM will be held in conjunction with FutureCoat! 2008, offered on October 15-16, at the Hyatt McCormick Place, in Chicago, IL.

Considered the most prestigious of FSCT awards, the George Baugh Heckel Award honors an individual whose contributions to the organization have been outstanding.

Established in 1951, the award is dedicated to the memory of George Baugh Heckel, who served as temporary chairman when the Federation was organized in 1922, and as secretary for many years thereafter.

Federation Contributions

Dr. Walker served as president of the FSCT from 2004-2005. His contributions to the organization include serving as chair of the FSCT's Structure and Governance Task Force and the Professional Development Committees, and as a long-time member of the Publications Committee and the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Coatings Technology and Research.

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Dr. Walker has been selected to present the Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture at FutureCoat! 2008. The Lecturer, chosen from among select individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the science and/or technology of coatings, is invited to deliver a paper at the FSCT's major technical conference. His presentation will be a focal point of the FutureCoat! 2008 Conference. He is a member of the Philadelphia Society.

Career Highlights

Dr. Walker received the B.A. Degree in Behavioral Biology from Bloomfield College, and the M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees in Physical-Organic Chemistry from Yale University.

Dr. Walker has broad experience in the synthesis and development of novel polymeric materials for use in coatings and related products. His efforts at Air Products have focused on the development of new amine curing agents for high solids and water-borne epoxy coating applications, the study of the process of film formation in waterborne epoxies, the synthesis of acrylic/urethane hybrid dispersions, and the development of new methods for the polymerization of epoxy resins.

Dr. Walker began his industrial career in 1982 with the Pioneering Research Group at Rohm and Haas, where he developed a number of novel polymer-related products, including nonaqueous colloidal dispersions for coatings-related applications, block copolymers for stabilization of colloidal dispersions, and a series of room temperature stable non-basic epoxy curing agents that thermally rearrange to generate amines. His work in these areas resulted in three patents.

In 1988, he became director of the Michigan Polymer Laboratory for Akzo Coatings. There, he directed programs aimed at a variety of coatings applications, including automotive, aerospace, and industrial maintenance. Much of this work was groundbreaking, patented technology which resulted in several highly successful commercial products.

Dr. Walker joined Henkel Corporation's Corporate Research Lab in 1991. While at Henkel, he focused on developing novel emulsifiers for use in emulsion polymerization of resins for autophoretic coatings.

He moved to Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in 1993, where he rose to the position of Research Associate for the Performance Materials Technology Division. His accomplishments spanned an even broader range of polymer science and coatings technology. He led multidisciplinary teams developing cost-effective new amines suitable for 100% solids coatings and new epoxy resin dispersions. He developed highly novel, new polymer chemistry for copolymerization of water and epoxy resins, which can be conducted in either aqueous emulsion or single-phase solution media. This work has been documented in several patents and publications, including a first place in the prestigious FSCT Roon Awards competition in 2001.

Dr. Walker also was responsible for leading development of a new line of hybrid acrylic/urethane dispersions, which experienced tremendous commercial success. He developed novel oligomeric amine curing agents for use in waterborne, high solids, and 100% solids epoxy coatings, much of which was commercialized, including a self-emulsifying waterborne curing agent technology that offered excellent, cost-effective corrosion protection. He invented a novel staining technique that allows for the determination of the morphology of waterborne epoxy coatings. In addition, he developed a computer program that used state-of-the-art theory of network formation to model curing agent performance.

Throughout his career, Dr. Walker has focused on polymer research and development for use in a wide spectrum of coatings-related applications. His work has resulted in successful commercial products and, in a broader sense, it has been the basis for providing notable advancement and understanding of polymer synthesis, structure, and performance. These advancements have been recognized by the coatings technical community.

Industry Contributions

Dr. Walker has authored over 14 papers and publications and holds 17 patents in diverse areas of coatings technology. He has authored chapters in two ACS Symposium Series and is the author of the monograph "Introduction to Polymers and Resins," published by the FSCT. In addition, he has lectured frequently, including presentations at the Gordon Research Conference on Coatings Science, and the Athens Conference on Coatings Science and Technology.

He is a member of the American Chemical Society and SSPC: the Society for Protective Coatings.