PMSE Division of ACS selects four for the Fellows class of 2007.

The American Chemical Society's Division of Polymeric Science and Engineering (PMSE), Washington, D.C., has selected its class of Fellows for 2007. The Fellows Program honors a small number of PMSE members for specific technical achievements, overall advancements of the field, and service to the Division.

Induction of the eighth class of PMSE Fellows will take place at the ACS National Meeting on Monday, March 26 in Chicago, IL. The Fellows class of 2007 includes the following four individuals.

Mohamed El-Aasser is the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of Lehigh University.

Dr. El-Aasser received his undergraduate and Master's degrees from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, and his Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal. Dr. El-Aasser is internationally known for his research in polymer colloids and emulsion polymerization processes.

Over the past 30 years at Lehigh University, he has produced 343 technical articles, nine patents, and edited five books based on his research efforts. His principal research interests are associated with kinetics and mechanisms of hetero-polymerization processes, which includes modeling and control, the thermodynamic and kinetic phenomena involved in developing morphological features in latex systems, and the colloidal and surface interactions in latexes and their film formation.

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He is the Director of the Emulsion Polymers Institute, which interacts with industry via a successful liaison program. He and his research group at the Institute pioneered the field of mini-emulsions. Dr. El-Aasser has been the principal and co-principal investigator on many research grants and contracts with funding from NASA, NSF, DOE, and numerous industrial companies. Founder of the NSF/IUCRC Polymer Interfaces Center at Lehigh, he was its first director.

He has also organized and chaired several meetings and symposia, most notably the Gordon Research Conference on Polymer Colloids, and the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Future Directions in Polymer Colloids."

James Crivello is a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

He received his B.S. in chemistry from Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI, in 1962 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1966. Dr. Crivello joined the General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center in 1966, where he served as a research project manger for a number of years.

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His fields of activity include organic nitrations, oxidations, and arylations, polyimides, silicones, and new photo and thermal initiators for cationic and free radical polymerizations.

He joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1988 and currently directs a number of graduate students and postdoctoral associates in various aspects of research in the synthesis of polymers and copolymers by cationic, free radical, and transition metal catalysis.

James O. Stoffer is the Curators' Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR).

He received his B.S. from Mount Union College, his Ph.D. from Purdue University, and did postdoctoral studies at Cornell University. Dr. Stoffer's research activities are centered in the area of polymers and coatings science. For over 40 years, he has taught Organic Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry at UMR. He has also taught in UMR's paint short course program and the ACS Coatings short course.

Dr. Stoffer authored some of the earliest papers on microemulsion polymerization, ultrasonically initiated free radical catalyzed polymerizations, and microwave initiated polymerizations. With fellow co-workers, he prepared the first transparent composites for use as aircraft windows.

Recently, he and colleagues developed rare earth materials, known as Rare Earth Primer, as replacements for highly toxic chromium as the corrosion inhibitor for aluminum. Chromium VI is toxic and must be removed from the workplace and in/on products of commerce. Deft, Inc., Irvine, CA, has licensed the Rare Earth Primer technology from UMR and it meets military specifications.

Dr. Stoffer is a member of the St. Louis Society for Coatings Technology. A member of the Editorial Review Board of the JOURNAL OF COATINGS TECHNOLOGY for many years, he also served on FSCT's Education Committee. Dr. Stoffer was a member of the PMSE executive committee for several years.

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He has received five outstanding teacher awards and two faculty excellence awards from UMR.

Wen-Li Wu is a NIST Fellow and the Senior Scientist in the Polymers Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1967 at the National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in 1972 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After working for Monsanto for six years, he joined NIST in 1979.

His research interests include the applications of x-ray and neutron scattering/reflectivity to probe polymer interfaces and thin films. Dr. Wu has over 190 publications on topics including scattering theory, molecular network structure, wear behavior of dental composites, molecular dynamics in confined geometry, and electronic application of polymers.

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He was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 1992, Samuel Wesley Stratton Award in 1997, and William P. Slichter Award in 2001. He became a fellow of the American Physics Society in 1992.