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Dr. James E. McGrath Named Recipient of the George Stafford Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research

(May 1, 2009)   Dr. James E. McGrath, distinguished professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, is the recipient of the George S. Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research. The award, sponsored by Cabot, honors outstanding international teachers of chemistry and polymer science, and recognizes innovative research, as well as outstanding contributions to the integration of chemistry and polymer science into our educational system.

Dr. McGrath is a native of the Adirondacks in New York, earned his first degree in chemistry from Siena College, near Albany. He worked in cellulose chemistry for about three years at Rayonier, which included service in the U.S. Army in Texas. He joined Goodyear Tire and Rubber in 1959, where he conducted research on synthetic rubber. After earing his Master's in 1964 at The University of Akron and his Ph.D. research (completed in 1967) involved structure/physical property relationships in rubbers, as well as in organolithium anionic living polymerization, with a particular focus on block copolymers.

Dr. McGrath spent eight years at Union Carbide, working in the area of engineering thermoplastics, polyurethanes, siloxane chemistry and gas phase polyethylene processes. In 1975, he joined Virginia Tech as an assistant professor, and was named full professor five years later. He was instrumental in starting the undergraduate and graduate polymer chemistry programs at that institution. He was appointed director of the Materials Institute there in 1987. In 1989, he and colleagues in chemistry and engineering at Virginia Tech established the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for High Performance Polymeric Adhesives and Composites. This changed his focus to phosphorous-containing polymers, and thermoplastic toughened adhesives and structural composites, particularly for aerospace.

Dr. McGrath has 50 patents and over 400 publications, has graduated 107 MS and Ph.D. students, mentored over 70 post doctoral fellows, and has literally given hundreds of lectures worldwide. He remains one of the leaders in polymer science and engineering.

More information in Dr. McGrath and this award can be found at http://www.rubber.org/awards/lists/whitby.htm.

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