Celebrating a Lifetime of Achievement
March 14-15, 2009

Symposium presentations are free and open to the public.

SATURDAY MARCH 14, GDYR AUDITORIUM

• Dr. Edwin L. Thomas (MIT): A Random Walk in Polymer Morphology, 9:05 am
• Dr. Benjamin Chu (Stonybrook): Advanced Nanofiber Technology for Water Purification, 9:40 am
• Dr. Bernard Lotz (CNRS, France): Structural and Morphological Manifestations of Chain Folding and Associated Surface Stresses, 10:35 am
• Dr. Freddy Khoury (NIST): The Morphology of Crystallizable Polymers: A Retrospective, 11:10 am
• Dr. Phil Geil (UIUC): Fifty (Plus) Years of Polymer Morphology; Science and Art, 1:00 pm
• Dr. Jerold M. Schultz (Delaware): Braking Polymer Crystal Growth Velocity: Paths Toward Morphological Control, 1:35 pm
• Dr. Christopher Y. Li (Drexel): Polymer Single Crystal Meets Nanoparticle, 2:10 pm
• Dr. Hao Fong (SDSM&T): Continuous Nano-Scaled Carbon Fibers with Superior Mechanical Strength, 3:05 pm
• Dr. Jayesh Doshi (eSpin Tech. Inc): Bench-Scale To Store Front: An Insight Into Commercialization of Nano(fiber) Technology, 3:40 pm
• Drs. Eric Bair and Anne Hiltner (CWRU): Crystalline Polymer Systems by Forced Assembly, 4:15 pm

SUNDAY MARCH 15, GDYR AUDITORIUM

• Dr. Barry Farmer (Airforce): Computational Modeling of Interactions between Biopolymers and Inorganic Substrates, 9:00 am
• Dr. Benjamin S. Hsiao (Stonybrook): Synchrotron Research on Polymer Science, 9:35 am
• Dr. Yuris Dzenis (UNL): Nanofibers for Structural Applications, 10:10 am
• Dr. Vladimir V. Tsukruk (Georgia Tech): Assembled nanostructure hybrid materials, 11:05 am
• Dr. Darrell Reneker (Akron): Polymer Molecules and their parts (Atoms, Electrons, and Ions) Where they are and how they go?, 11:40 am

Download the program here.

The Goodyear Auditorium is located in the Goodyear Polymer Center at 170 University Ave., Akron, OH 44325-3909.

Brief Biography
Professor Darrell H. Reneker began working on electron microscopy of polymers at the Dupont Company in 1959, after receiving his Ph.D. degree in Solid State Physics from the University of Chicago. He earned his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (Ames). He is a recognized innovator, known for the description of the dispiration, a crystallographic defect in the helical symmetry of polymer crystals, which transports and rotates a polymer molecule along its axis, through a crystal.

His pioneering studies of dispirations began at DuPont and continued at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST). He was manager of the Center for Materials Science, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He has a Silver Medal Award from the Department of Commerce, and a Senior Executive Service Bonus. He was Executive Secretary of the Committee on Materials of the White House Science Office.

Reneker became Professor of Polymer Science and Director of the Institute of Polymer Science of the University of Akron in 1989 and on the Board of Directors of the Edison Polymer Innovation Corporation. Of his approximately 160 publications, over 50, published in the past 15 years lead the worldwide growth of interest in electrospinning and nanofibers. He was named "Outstanding Researcher" of The University of Akron in 2002. His patents are licensed to Industry, including some that contributed to the creation of SNS, Nanofiber Technology, LLC, a manufacturing company in Ohio.