Regional Industrial Innovation Awards Recipients
2005 Recipients
Middle Atlantic Region
New Brunswick, NJ
May 22 – 25, 2005
Honorees:
Willie Lau
Rohm & Haas Company (Spring House, PA)
Developing the phase transport catalyst, cyclodextrin, that allows polymerization of hydrophobic monomers
Michael Spera, Andrew Daly, Navin Shah, Casmir Ilenda, Richard Haley, Gordon Tullos, Edward Nicholl, Joseph Kozlowski, Paul Horinka, Eugene Reinheimer, Greg Mill, Grant Schiegel, and John Petro
Rohm & Haas Powder Coatings (Reading, PA)
Development of Lamineer®, the first low-temperature cure powder coating technology for coating medium density fiberboard
Donald Nuzzio
Analytical Instrument Systems, Inc. (Ringoes, NJ)
Development and successful commercialization of instrumentation for in situ voltammetic analysis which has been used for study of chemical processes from lakes to the deep-ocean hydrothermal vents.
Northwest Region
Fairbanks, AK
June 15 – 18, 2005
Honorees:
Mary Bliss and Ned Wogman
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA)
The development of PUMA (Pu Monitoring and Analysis), a revolutionary radiation monitoring system that uses glass fibers to detect the presence of radionuclides such as plutonium
Allison Campbell
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA)
The development of a bioceramic coating for implants that will mimic bone growth and extend artificial implant life
Northeast Region
Fairfield, CT
July 14 - 18, 2005
Honorees:
Arthur Nagel, John Lowe, and Harry Howard
Pfizer Inc (New London, CT)
Synthetic and medicinal chemistry leading to the discovery of Geodon®, a novel atypical antipsychotic that has reduced side effects for the treatment of schizophrenia
Michael Gilbert
EIC Lab., Inc. (Norwood, MA)
Inventor of an electrically debonding, high strength epoxy adhesive
Midwest Region
Joplin, MO
October 26 – 29, 2005
Honorees:
Ivan Javni
Kansas Polymer Research Center (Pittsburgh, KS)
Development of intelligent gels and unique biobased polyols for use in polyurethanes
Southeast/Southwest Regions
Memphis, TN
November 1 – 4, 2005
Honorees:
Thomas Puckette
Eastman Chemical Company (Longview, TX)
Improved hydroformyulation processes and the invention of numerous phosphorus ligands for the low pressure oxo process
Johnny Reynolds, James Swanson, Walter Meisner, Randy Cush, John Hott, William Itterly, Elray Roper, Leah Rosenheck, Clay Scherer, Ian Shirley, Thomas Truncellito, Philip Wege, Karen Westcott, Michael Bean, and Melvin Witcher
Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. (Greensboro, NC)
Development of The Impasse™ Termite Product which is designed to improve pest management practices and to provide a new line of products for the protection of building materials
2004 Recipients
Central Region
Indianapolis, IN
June 2 - 4, 2004
Honorees:
Hamid Kia and Harry Mitchell
General Motors R&D Center (Warren, MI)
Developing the industry's first low density sheet molding compound without compromising properties and cost
David Henton
The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, MI)
Inventions in the area of polymer chemistry to include ABS, ABS Blends with PC, and polylactic acid PLA process chemistry
Northwest/Rocky Mountain Regions
Logan, UT
June 6 - 9, 2004
Honorees:
Robert Wardle, R. Scott Hamilton, H. Gene Johnston, and Vincent Mancini
ATK Thiokol Propulsion (Brigham City, UT)
Development of a production scale synthesis of CL-20, a new high-energy energetic material
Novella Bridges, Darrell Fisher, and Anna Gutowska
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA)
Development of RadioGel ™, radiolabeled composites as therapeutic agents for cancer treatment
Southwest Region
Fort Worth, TX
September 29 - October 2, 2004
Honorees:
Ashutosh Misra1, Bill Morrison2, Kyle Hunt2, Jennifer O'Brien2, Leif Olsen2, and Lindsey Hall2
Air Liquide America Electronics1 ( Houston, TX) /Texas Instruments, Inc.2 (Dallas, TX)
Development of a novel additive for use in chemical mechanical planarization of integrated circuits
Great Lakes Region
Peoria, IL
October 17 - 20, 2004
Honorees:
Sumita Mitra
3M Company (St. Paul, MN)
Inventing 3M™ ESPE™ Filtek™ Supreme Universal Restorative, a revolutionary dental restorative material based on nantechnology
Northeast Region
Rochester, NY
October 31 - November 3, 2004
Honorees:
George Ellestad, Philip Hamann, and Janis Upeslacis
Wyeth Research (Pearl River, NY)
Isolation and structural elucidation of the calicheamicin family of enediynes, including calicheamincin, the antitumor antibiotic that formed the basis of Mylotarg™
Jay Kunzler and Yu-Chin Li
Baush & Lomb Inc. (Rochester, NY)
Invention of Soflens 66™ contact lens material
Southeast Region
Raleigh, NC
November 10 - 13, 2004
Honorees:
Brian Looney
Savannah River Technology Center (Aiken, SC)
A method for supplying a volatile, nontoxic, nonflammable vapor-phase organic phosphate as a nutrient to contaminated soil for in situ bioremediation
Ben Yerxa
Inspire Pharmaceuticals (Durham, NC)
Identified the role that P2Y2 receptors play in tear secretion; designed and synthesized P2Y2 receptor agonists, including INS365 Ophthalmic, for the treatment of dry eye; and led the development of this program through to its current stage
2003 Recipients
Great Lakes Region
Honorees:
Andrew J. Ouderkirk
3M Co.
Invention of the 3M Multilayer Optical Film technology platform and related products that use polymer chemistry to manage light.
Middle Atlantic Region
Honorees:
Malli Rao, Terence Rensi, George Heinsohn, Charles Blaisdell, Larry Haight, and John Carberry
DuPont and Co.
Innovation process design for the production of methomyl while simultaneously creating and using methyl isocyanate as a raw material.
Northwest Region
Honorees:
Richard P. Haugland
Molecular Probes, Inc.
Advancements in the field of fluorescence technology.
Dean Matson
Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Development of the Ultra Barrier Coating, which provides superior protection against moisture and oxygen, which may allow plastic to replace glass in displays.
Northeast Region
Honorees:
William C. Pfefferle
Precision Combustion, Inc.
Invention of the RCL catalytic combustor & the Microlith catalytic reaction system.
Steven Brickner, Michael Barbachyn, Douglas Hutchinson, and Peter Manninen
Pfizer Inc
Discovery of Zyvox® (linezolid), the first member of the oxazolidinone class of antibacterial agents.
Western Region
Honorees:
Kenneth Edwards
Dunn-Edwards Corp.
Development of the Tint Base that accomplishes precise color matches; the development of polyester coatings for specialty applications; and the development of continuous slurry methods for economically advantageous computer controlled processing of paint manufacturing.
Central Region
Honorees:
Sudarsanan Varaprath
Dow Corning Corp.
Contributions in understanding the environmental and biological fate of silicones.
Daniel Connor
The Procter and Gamble Co.
Development of a highly soluble alkyl sulfate that provides a breakthrough in mainframe surfactant technology for detergent applications.
Southwest Region
Honorees:
Brendan Murray, David Singleton, and Louis Kravetz
Shell Chemical, LP
Development of a new class of high solubility, biodegradable alcohol-based surfactants with selective and controlled degrees of branching for use in cold water washing processes.
Southeast Region
Honorees:
Saul Furstein
Georgia-Pacific Corp.
Israel Wachs
Lehigh University
Developing a process and catalyst to convert pulp mill gases into valuable products.
2002 Recipients
Middle Atlantic Region
Honorees:
Robert DiCosimo, Susan Fager, F. Glenn Gallagher, John Gavagan, Eugenia Hann, Susan Hennessey, Neal Perkins, Amy Sigmund, and Barry Stieglitz
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc, Wilmington, DE
Development of Biocatalytic Synthesis of 5-Cyanovaleramide for production of the herbicide Milestone.
Jawahar Parekh
Reheis, Inc., Berkeley Heights, NJ
Outstanding contribution to the science of antiperspirants and for developing the first non-HOV antiperspirant.
Shun Fung
ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., Annandale, NJ
Conducting career-ling research that has greatly enhanced the understanding of the fundamental processes occurring during the regeneration and redispersion of deactivated noble metal catalysts, which are widely used in the petroleum and petrochemical industries.
Great Lakes Region
Honorees:
Michael Shawn Allen, Tom Campbell, Sanjay Chemburkar, Jinhua Chen, Brian Fohey, Anthony Haight, Francis Kerdesky, Denton Langridge, Bikshandarkoil Narayanan, William Owens, Ketan Patel, Timothy Robbins, Harry Spiwek, Eric Stoner, Jien-Hen James Tien
Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL
Development of a process for the commercial production of a common intermediate for the HIV-1 protease inhibitors Ritonavir and Lopinavir, and an optimized commercial process for the production of Lopinavir.
Dharma Kodali and Scott Nivens
Cargill, Inc., Minneapolis, MN
Modifying the chemical structure of vegetable oils to improve their oxidative stability and low-temperature fluidity.
Northwest Region
Honorees:
Adam T. Pauli
Western Research Institute, Laramie, WY
Developing the Automated Flocculation Titrimeter, a tool useful for improving operations efficiency for the petroleum industry.
Central Region
Honorees:
Ellen Lee and Deborah Mielewski
Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, MI
Developing a method to enhance the exfoliation and dispersion of polymer-clay nanocomposites using in situ ultrasonication of the melt during processing.
Paula Fasulo, David Okonski, Robert Ottaviani, Tadeusz Pietrzyk, and William Rodgers
General Motors Research & Development Center, Warren, MI
Developing three commercial grades of thermoplastic olefin-based nanocomposites and implementing them as the materials for the 2002 M-Van Step Assist.
Southwest Region
Honorees:
James Chien, I-Ching Chiu, William Heilman, and Wei Song
Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, The Woodlands, TX
Invention of PENNSYN™ fluids - a new type of synthetic base oil.
Southeast Region
Honorees:
Clair Claiborne
ABB Inc., Raleigh, NC
Invention and development of BIOTEMP® - a vegetable based electrical insulation fluid for use in transformers to replace mineral based insulation fluids.
Neal Boaz
Eastman Chemical Company, Kingsport, TN
Creativity and leadership in the discovery and development of BoPhoz™ - ligands for asymmetric reactions.
2001 Recipients
Middle Atlantic Region
Honorees:
Edwin A. Chandross
Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ
Discovery of an elegant photochemical process to efficiently remove trace amounts of intolerable hydrogen-bearing impurities from commercial tetrachlorosilane and germane precursors, enabling a substantial reduction in transmission loss, due to OH absorption, in the 1.3-mm wavelength region used in communications fiber.
James M. Balkovec, Regina M. Black, F. Aileen Bouffard, and James F. Dropinski
Merck and Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ
Discovery of Cancidas®, a new life-saving therapy for the treatment of severe fungal infections.
Central/Great Lakes Regions
Honorees:
Craig A. Bonda
The C.P. Hall Co. Bedford Park, IL
Development of a new sunscreen additive, Hallbrite TQ™, which dramatically improves the efficacy and lifetime of sunscreen formulations, especially in the UVA range.
Steven E. Lentsch
Ecolab, Inc., Mendota Heights, MN
Contributions to the development of the GeoSystem 9000 program, which advanced the cleaning and sanitation efforts of the food service system for the industrial and institutional marketplace.
Peter H. Markusch
Bayer Corp., Pittsburgh, PA
Contributions in the business of prepolymers to develop the product Desmodur W, an aliphatic isocyanate for light-stable coatings and elastomers. Also, for research and development efforts in the use of polymeric MDI for encapsulation and subsequent timed release of fertilizers applied to plants, lawns, and golf courses.
Ronald T. Sleeter (retired)
Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur, IL
Development of a low-cost catalytic method of conjugating the double bonds in vegetable oils, making possible the large-scale production of
low-cost drying oils.
Northwest Region
Honorees:
John F. Schabron and Susan S. Sorini
Western Research Institute, Laramie, WY
Development of the Diesel Dog® portable soil test kit used for screening soils for fuels containing aromatic components, particularly diesel or heavier fuels.
Igor V. Kutyavin, Sergey Lokhov, Eugene A. Lukhtanov, and Michael W. Reed
Epoch Biosciences, Inc., Bothell, WA
Discovery of a new class of DNA probes for genetic analysis, which are synthetic strands with attached minor groove binder ligands (MGB probes) that improve nature's code for DNA recognition.
Northeast Region
Honorees:
S. Randy Holmes-Farley and W. Harry Mandeville
GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Waltham, MA
Invention and successful commercialization of a new class of polymer-based drugs used as human therapeutics for unmet or inadequately met medical needs (Renagel® to treat late-stage kidney disease and WelChol™ to treat coronary disease).
Ching W. Tang and Steven A. Van Slyke
Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, NY
Invention and development to commercialization of a new efficient, low-power, high-quality, and full-color display technology-organic light-emitting diodes (OLED).
Southeast Region
Honorees:
Brian L. Bray
Trimeris, Inc., Durham, NC
Creation of innovative chemical synthesis technologies for large-scale commercial manufacturing of complex peptides, such as T-20, a 36-amino acid peptide used to treat HIV-positive patients.
Shawn Marie Dougherty and Sharon D. DeBord
Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN
Development of an improved process for the preparation of dialkyl aromatic hydroxyl compounds that unexpectedly demonstrates that the use of these catalysts in combination provides significantly better performance than the use of either catalyst alone.
Charles R. Morgan, William P. Roberts, and Drew V. Speer
Sealed Air Corp., Cryovac Division, Duncan, SC
Pioneering work on controlled initiation technology for polymer-based oxygen scavenging systems, which have been introduced commercially for packaging applications.
Joseph R. Webster
Clariant Corp., Charlotte, NC
Enhanced processing and stabilization of natural and pigmented thermoplastic polyesters for end-use applications that involve high temperature and exposure to UV and high-energy photon radiation.
Southwest Region
Honorees:
Patricia B. Smith
Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, TX
Patents relating to the use of hydrogen plasmas to remove photoresist and post-etch polymeric residues from semiconductor wafers containing oxygen-sensitive materials, such as copper and some low dielectric constant insulators.
Garland Brignac, Bruce Cook, Richard Demmin, John Greeley, Thomas Halbert, Jeffrey Kaufman, Mark Lapinski, Steven Mayo, Craig McKnight, and Kenneth Riley
ExxonMobil, Baton Rouge, LA
Akzo-Nobel Catalysts, LLC, Houston, TX
Creative research enabling the rapid development and commercialization of several SCANfiningSM Processes for the selective hydrodesulfurization of fluid catalytically cracked naphthas, the primary blending component of motor gasoline.
Western Region
Honorees:
Pamela Marrone, Sherry Heins, Jennifer Ryder Fox, Stephen Flanagan, Denise Manker, and Jimmy Orjala
AgraQuest, Inc., Davis, CA
Discovery and development of Bacillus subtilis strain (QST 713) into the highly effective commercial biofungicide Serenade®.
Tim Taylor, Dr. Earl Phil Seitz, Ms. Priscilla Fox, and Mr. Greg Konishi
Dial Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ
Discovery and development of Dial Complete Antibacterial Foaming Hand Wash.
2000 Recipients
Southeast/Southwest Regions
Honorees:
Susan M. Daluge
Glaxo Wellcome, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC
Synthetic contributions and inventions that contributed significantly to the development of the anti-HIV
drug Ziagen®.
James R. Hall, III (retired)
DSM Elastomers Americas, Addis, LA
Contributions to the science and technology of making EPDM synthetic rubbers.
Donald Wm. Kelemen
Ensolve Biosystems, Inc., Raleigh, NC
Development of the bioreactor (the PetroLiminator™), a pollution prevention device used to protect the marine environment.
Clifford G. Venier and Edward W. Casserly
Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., The Woodlands, TX
Development of a new class of hydrocarbon lubricating fluids called multiply alkylated cyclopentanes (MACs).
1998 Recipients
Southeast Region
Honorees:
Bobby Bassi, Amechi Chukwudebe, Adora Clark, Carol Hayworth, Lee Hubbard, Philip Manuli, Mary Moore, Lisa Phelps, Leah Rosenhek, Rick Ross, Van Starner, Bill Swain, Allison Tally, Madan Verma, Jim Warren, and Tim Wilson
Novartis Crop Protection, Inc., Greensboro, NC
Commercial development of Actigard®, a new class of chemical compounds with a unique mode of action in the control of plant pathogens.
John Monnier
Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN
Discovery of a silver-catalyzed process to convert the chemical compound butadiene to the compound epoxybutene, using oxygen.
Andrew Bleadon, Brian Failon, and Bob Gabriel
Albright & Wilson Americas, Richmond, VA
Development and commercialization of a new class of corrosion inhibitors, phosphonocarboxylate mixture (PCM).
Melanie Brown, Mike Costello, Lamberto Crescentini, Ed Duffy, John Hermes, Ted Jenczewski, Alan Levy, Stylios Sifniades, and Susan Van Ness
AlliedSignal, Petersburg, VA
Work on a novel process to recover a high-quality monomer, the basic building block of many plastic-based products, from post-consumer waste nylon carpet.