Dr. Alamgir Karim, Goodyear Chair in Polymer Engineering in The University of Akron's College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering and interim director of the Institute of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, and Dr. Chrys Wesdemiotis, distinguished professor of chemistry, have been elected as American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows.
Alamgir Karim
This honor recognizes AAAS members whose "efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.” Karim and Wesdemiotis will be honored at a Feb. 12, 2012, induction ceremony in British Columbia.
Dr. Alamgir Karim
Karim, a national expert in nanotechnology, came to UA in 2008 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md., where he was the group leader overseeing nanostructured materials in NIST's polymers division. Since he joined NIST in 1993, Karim also served as a physicist specializing in polymer thin-film blends and processing, and as National Nanotechnology Initiative liaison for the NIST director, among other roles. Karim received a Ph.D. in physics at Northwestern University.
“This is a great honor. I am extremely happy for Dr. Karim and for the quality of our college faculty members,” says Dr. Stephen Z.D. Cheng, dean of the UA College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, home to one of the largest concentrations of polymer expertise found anywhere in the world.
Chrys Wesdemiotis
Karim, also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, has received several honors for his research. A full list of his credentials is available at http://www.uakron.edu/polymer/faculty-research/profile.dot?id=9ba3e668-ab2c-4507-8b2c-6d71cf096be1.
Dr. Chrys Wesdemiotis
Wesdemiotis, who was granted a joint appointment in the Department of Polymer Science in 2009, is pioneering the use of ion mobility mass spectrometry in studying polymers. Over the last decade, Wesdemiotis created, with federal and state support, a mass spectrometry center at UA to promote interdisciplinary research in chemistry, polymer science, engineering and biology. He has authored more than 230 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and he is editor of the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry.
“The Department of Chemistry is very happy that Chrys was selected to receive this fellowship. He is an outstanding researcher who should be recognized in this way,” says Dr. Kim Calvo, department chair.
For more information about Wesdemiotis’ research, visit: http://www.uakron.edu/chemistry/faculty-staff/wesdemiotis.dot.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu, or Kelly Daw, 330-972-7225 or kdaw@uakron.edu.