PMSE division of ACS selects five for the Fellows class of 2006.

The American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Science and Engineering (PMSE), Washington D.C., has selected its class of Fellows for 2006. 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 seventh class of PMSE Fellows will take place at the ACS National Meeting on Monday, March 27 in Atlanta, GA. The Fellows class of 2006 includes the following five individuals.

Richard S. Stein is the Emeritus Goessmann Professor of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Stein joined the university in 1950 as an assistant professor. He initiated its polymer program and started the Polymer Research Institute, which has evolved into the Polymer Science and Engineering Department. The bulk of his professional work has been focused on the development and use of rheooptical techniques for studying orientation and phase transition phenomena in amorphous, crystalline, and liquid crystalline polymers.

Anne Hiltner is the Herbert Henry Dow Professor of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Dr. Hiltner is a world-renowned expert in the field of polymer creep/deformation/crack propagation/failure and has contributed to the development of a host of new materials. Dr. Hiltner has authored approximately 300 scholarly papers.

Robert Weiss is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. His work has included a focus on the use of ionomers to compatibilize blends, and the effect of ionomeric groups and shear on miscibility. Dr. Weiss was the editor of Polymer Engineering and Science for many years.

Robert D. Miller works for the IBM Research Division and currently manages the Advanced Organic Materials group at the IBM Almaden Research Laboratory. Dr. Miller serves on the editorial advisory boards of Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Advanced Functional Materials. He is a co-inventor on more than 50 patents and patent publications and has published more than 325 articles in referred technical journals.

Donald J. Plazek is Emeritus Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Carnegie-Mellon University since 1987. His research interests focus on the rheology and viscoelastic properties of polymers and other organic glass-formers in addition to the structure-property relations of polymers. Dr. Plazek was an associate editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology from 1993-1998 and was a member of the Advisory Board for the Journal of Polymer Science from 1991-1999.