Insights into polymer behavior help products work better
Chemist J. Larry Duda, head of chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University, will be honored on March 28 by the world's largest scientific society for insights into polymer behavior that help products work better - from making plastic food wrap stickier to purifying a new material for compact discs. He will receive the E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society at its national meeting in San Francisco.
Duda said he tends to "go along with what's interesting, or what comes up" in his research rather than following a direct career plan. "That may not be optimum," he explained, "but it's fun."
His contributions have a common theme, however. "In general, we look at how small molecules migrate or diffuse through polymers," he summarized. Manufacturers of plastic food wrap, for example, want to keep oxygen from passing through the film. Others want to purge their polymer products of leftover starting materials.
The chemical engineer left industry for academia in 1971, but still enjoys collaborating with company chemists and engineers to solve problems. His specialties are analyzing how multiple solvents and multiple layers of polymers affect processing - the making of photographic films and adhesive coatings, for example.
Duda, who grew up among the steel mills of Pennsylvania, said he "became a chemical engineer because I loved chemistry. I had a super chemistry teacher in high school who became almost my private tutor."
Nevertheless, Duda said he had trouble in school for years because of undiagnosed dyslexia. "But you know, I do think there was something positive in that when it came to my research and teaching," he added. "You have to be able to handle mistakes, to pick up and keep going. I made so many mistakes growing up that it didn't bother me later as much as it might have otherwise."
The E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry is sponsored by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. of Florham Park, N.J.
A nonprofit organization with a membership of 161,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society (www.acs.org) publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.