Chains of Opportunity: The University of Akron and the Emergence of The Polymer Age 1909–2007

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX E polymer science leadership After Maurice Morton stepped down in 1978, eight individuals have been the chair of the Department of Polymer Science. Three of them—Howard Stephens, Irja Piirma, and H. James Harwood—were profiled earlier in this book. The most recent five—Donald McIntyre, Roderic P. Quirk, William J. Brittain, Stephen Z.D. Cheng, and Mark D. Foster—have all served in this leadership position since the formation of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, and are profiled below. They have all played an important role in establishing the reputation of the polymer science program today. The governance structure of the Department of Polymer Sciences includes a rotating chair. Mark Foster, the current chair, has said that this is a critical component in the overall collegiality of the department and enhances the spirit of cooperation among the faculty. According to Foster, this “collaborative nature” and shared leadership structure is one of the key factors responsible for the “health and prominence” of the department. For example, those researchers who are skilled in synthesis can interact with those interested in technology or the physical sciences, and everyone can work together in an interdisciplinary fashion on polymer problems. One central reason is the physical structure of the department itself, its shared space in one building.7 After the formation of the polymer college, Donald McIntyre was the first to serve as department chair, a position he held from 1988 until 1994. He had earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1954 from Cornell University. Afterwards, he served for two years in the army medical corps and then joined what is now 283 Bowles.267-364 6/16/08 4:24 PM Page 283 the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1956 and worked there until he was hired by Maurice Morton in 1966. He said that his philosophy of departmental leadership was to “retain good people, hire additional solid individuals, and then work hard at interfacing with them to establish and maintain a productive, collegial atmosphere.”8 Roderic P. Quirk succeeded McIntyre and served as chair from 1995 to 1997. Quirk first became interested in science while a high school student in Southfield, Michigan. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, he earned his Ph.D., in 1967, in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois. He taught at the University of Arkansas, spending his 1976 sabbatical working with Maurice Morton at the University of Akron. He decided then to shift his academic focus to polymer research and, in 1983, became a professor at the University of Akron. He said that at Akron “you can become all you can be. It’s a very strong program, filled with exceptionally talented colleagues.”9 In 1995, he was awarded the university’s Outstanding Research Award.10 Quirk is currently the Kumho Professor and Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science. After Quirk stepped down, William J. Brittain served as chair from 1998 to 2001. Unlike many of the scientists and engineers in the polymer program who chose their careers at an early age, Brittain initially envisioned a much different life. An aspiring disc jockey, he eventually switched his studies to chemistry and earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1982. At Akron, among the goals he envisioned for students who passed through the department while he was chair was a professional transformation. Brittain said, “By the time students have completed their programs, they have been transformed from apprentices to colleagues.”11 He stepped down from the department in 2001 to become Adjunct Professor of Polymer Science and a vice president of Research at Bausch and Lomb headquarters in Rochester, New York. Stephen Z.D. Cheng took over leadership of the department in 2001 and remained chair until 2005. Cheng had been a physics and math undergraduate at East China Normal University (graduating in 1977) when his father, an electrical engineer, suggested he work with polymers in an applied field. Cheng took his father’s advice and earned his master’s in polymer engineering at DongHua University in 1981. He then began his doctoral work in polymers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he worked on the solid-state physics appendix e 284 Bowles.267-364 6/16/08 4:24 PM Page 284 of macromolecules. After earning his Ph.D. in 1985 in polymer chemistry, he took a position as...