Dr. Alamgir Karim, a national expert in nanotechnology and Goodyear Chair Professor in the Department of Polymer Engineering at The University of Akron, has been appointed as the Section Chair of the Physics Evaluation Group of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for a one-year term ending June 30, 2013.
Dr. Alamgir Karim
Karim, also the interim director of the Institute of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering and Fellow of the American Physical Society, came to UA in 2008 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He was the group leader overseeing nanostructured materials in NIST's polymers division. He joined NIST in 1993, serving as a physicist specializing in polymer thin-film blends and processing, and as National Nanotechnology Initiative liaison for the NIST director, among other roles.
"Dr Karim is one of the most renowned and well-established polymer scientists and engineers in the United States. His work in nanosciences and technologies has been widely cited and greatly respected. We are extremely happy that Dr. Karim was able to join the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering (CPSPE) four years ago," says Dr. Stephen Z.D. Cheng, dean of CPSPE and R.C. Musson and Trustees Professor of Polymer Science. "This important appointment from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada emphasizes the quality of our faculty members and recognition of the science and engineering researches in this college and at the University."
Karim's role as Section Chair will involve coordinating the comprehensive evaluations and deliberations of the numerous proposals received by NSERC for soft matter and polymers. The international panel of experts will then meet in Ottawa, Canada, in February 2013 to deliberate the finalization of proposal reviews.
Story by Katey Kimpel
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.