G. Odian (CUNY)

George Odian, The City University of New York (CUNY) received the Division of Polymer Chemistry Paul J Flory Polymer Education Award at the 2014 Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Dallas.

The award was presented to Professor Odian at the joint POLY/PMSE Awards Reception by Division of Polymer Chemistry Chair and by a representive of the Albemarle Corporation, the sponsor of the Flory Award.

This special award recognizes the promotion of undergraduate and/or graduate polymer education and is sponsored by ALBEMARLE. Professor Odian has made major contributions to advancing the polymer field by educating a large number of chemists to a basic understanding of what it takes to synthesize polymers with controlled structures and properties. Throughout all of his educational efforts, including the curriculum in the CUNY doctoral program, the ACS Short Courses, and the “Principles of Polymerization” text, the emphasis is on control of the polymerization process to achieve a desired set of final polymer properties. That is, what does one have to do synthetically to achieve a certain molecular weight, a certain microstructure (regio- and stereo-), a certain morphology, a certain set of physical properties, and so on. The awardeee had a full session in his honor at the ACS National Meeting in Texas. A special thank you goes to Nan-Loh Yang who organized the symposium and received the award in Dr. Odian’s honor, as he was unable to attend the ACS meeting.

The Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award was established in 1981 and is administered by the Polymer Chemistry Division to recognize, encourage, and stimulate outstanding achievements by an individual or team in promoting undergraduate and/or graduate polymer education. It is presented biennially in even years at the spring meeting of ACS.