Princeton ACS Meeting Announcement

Recent advances in genetic engineering, composite science, and natural fiber development offer significant opportunities for new, improved green materials from renewable resources that are optionally recyclable, biocompatible and biodegradable, thereby enhancing global sustainability. When such biobased resins are combined with natural fibers (plant and poultry) starch and lignin, new low-cost composites, pressure sensitive adhesives, elastomers and foams are produced that are economical in many high-volume applications. These high performance composites can be used in wind turbines, solar integrated energy efficient housing, hydrogen storage, hurricane resistant housing, agricultural equipment, automotive sheet molding compounds, civil and rail infrastructures, marine applications, electronic materials, and sports equipment. The development of biobased materials is consistent with the principles of Green Chemistry and Engineering, which pertain to the design, commercialization and use of processes and products that are technically and economically feasible while minimizing the generation of pollution at the source and the risk to human health and the environment.

About the Speaker:

Richard Wool is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the ACRES Program and past Director of the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware. He was Chairman of the ASTM committee for Biodegradable Plastics and was PI of the DoE Project to develop new “Biobased materials from optimized plant varieties” in collaboration with industry, KSU and Sandia National Labs. He is the Chairman-Elect of the Gordon Research Conference on Composites. He is author of the books “Bio-Based Polymers and Composites” with XS Sun, and “Polymer Interfaces: Structure and Strength”. Professor Wool is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and member of the American Chemical Society and American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is President and founder of Cara Plastics Inc which manufactures bio-based polymers and composite resins from plant oils.

Reservations: The meeting will be held in Frick Laboratory, Kresge Auditorium (room 120), Princeton University (note: if the main door is locked, please enter by the side door on the right front of the building). The seminar is at 6 PM followed immediately by dinner at Triumph Brewery, 138 Nassau St. Princeton, NJ. The seminar is free and open to the public. Reservations are required for dinner, which is $20 for members and $10 for students. All reservations will be billed, for the section pays on the number of reservations, not the number of attendees.  Please contact Denise D’Auria at denised@princeton.edu or (609) 258-5202 or by Tuesday, September 22 to make or cancel reservations.