Rubber Division award winners announced.

The Rubber Division, American Chemical Society, held its 164th Fall Technical Meeting and Rubber Expo 2003 in Cleveland, OH, on October 14-17, and one of the events included the selection of three individuals to receive the Rubber Division Science and Technology Awards.

Oon Hock Yeoh, senior staff engineer, Mechanical Products Division, Lord, was selected to receive the Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award. This award is presented to Rubber Division members who have exhibited exceptional technical competency by making significant and repeated contributions to rubber science and technology. Yeoh has 38 publications in refereed journals and books, holds one U.S. patent and served as a member of the Working Group for the Rubber Products Manufacturing Industry. He has made numerous contributions to understanding the mechanical and failure properties of elastomers, particularly in the context of rubber engineering design, such as developing one of the standard hyper-elastic models widely used in commercial finite element analysis, known as the Yeoh Model. Other areas of note include his devising a novel method for routine measurement of the compression modulus of rubber and his many contributions towards fracture mechanics and nonlinear finite element analysis in the design of robber compounds. Yeoh also serves on the Rubber Division's Editorial Board of Rubber Chemistry and Technology, and is internationally recognized as a leader in rubber engineering mechanics and test methods.

Roderick P. Quirk, professor of polymer science, Maurice Morton Institute of Polymer Science, University of Akron, was selected to receive the George Stafford Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research. Quirk has over 200 refereed scientific publications and holds 22 patents. He is co-author of the standard textbook, Anionic Polymerization Principles and Practical Applications, and is co-editor of the standard textbook, Thermoplastic Elastomers. Quirk is a leader in the field of anionic polymerization, with original research into areas such as developing reliable procedures for the anionic synthesis of chain-end functionalized polymers and his demonstration that chain-transfer reactions of enolate anions take place during group transfer polymerization. He has served as a distinguished visiting professor for eight major universities worldwide. He has given over 400 lectures in various countries and has directed 57 graduate students to the completion of masters and doctoral degrees and 23 postdoctoral associates. He is widely respected for his contributions in research and teaching, receiving such awards as the Outstanding Researcher Award in 1995 from the University of Akron Alumni Association and the Cooperative Research Award in 2000 from the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering.

Andy H. Tsou, senior staff engineer, Butyl Polymers Technology, ExxonMobil Chemical, was selected to receive the Sparks-Thomas Award. This award is presented for outstanding scientific contributions and innovations in the field of elastomers by younger scientists, technologists and engineers. Throughout his career, Tsou continually provided innovative research that helped move the rubber industry forward. His contributions in developing tapping phase and force modulation atomic force microscopy techniques and his image processing techniques are the mainstay characterization methods for quantification of polymer blends and composites, most importantly for examining rubber compound morphologies and filler phase distribution. He has over 60 technical publications, holds 22 patents, with an additional 18 pending, and has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences. He has received many honors for his work, including his election into the Research Council of Kodak in 1994-1996, Industrial Fellowship at the University of Minnesota Center of Interfacial Engineering in 1995 and 1997 and the Netzsch Instruments Frank Giblin Memorial Award in Polymer Analysis in 2000.

These winners will receive their awards at the Rubber Division's 165th Spring Technical Meeting in Grand Rapids, MI. The awards will be presented during a special Awards Banquet on May 17.