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American Chemical Society
Applied Polymer Science Award in Honor of
Andrew J. Lovinger
Dr. Andrew J. Lovinger
Andrew
J. Lovinger, winner of the 2010 American Chemical Society Award in Applied
Polymer Science, is recognized "for his research contributions,
particularly through structure-property elucidation, to the development
of polymeric materials for electronic and other technological applications".
Andy
Lovinger is currently the Polymers Program Director in the Division
of Materials Research of the National Science Foundation, where he has
served since 1995. He spent most of his career (1977-1995) at Bell
Laboratories, where he was Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and
Head of the Polymer Chemistry Research Department (1985-1994). Since
moving to NSF in 1995 he continued part-time research at Bell Labs through
2007 when the parent Company (Alcatel-Lucent) discontinued all research
in chemistry and materials. He started at Bell Labs in 1977 right after
receiving his doctorate in chemical engineering and applied chemistry
from Columbia University. His BS and MS degrees are also in chemical
engineering and applied chemistry from Columbia.
Lovinger's
research has been focused on discovering and controlling the structure,
crystallization, morphology, and phase transitions of important polymeric
materials and correlating these with properties aimed at both fundamental
understanding and optimized performance. His research has been recognized
by a number of other major distinctions, including election to the National
Academy of Engineering (2004), the Polymer Physics Prize of the American
Physical Society (2003), Fellowship in the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (1988), and the Dillon Medal of the American
Physical Society (1985).
His
research is very widely cited. According to the ISI Web of
Knowledge (1985-2009) he has an h-index of 54 (meaning that
54 of his publications have been cited at least 54 times). More
than 30 of his papers since 1985 have been cited over 100 times each
(8 of these more than 200 times each).
Lovinger's
most recent research has been in the area of "plastic electronics"
where he provided the first structural and morphological evidence for
their substrate orientations, explained their charge transport properties
on that basis, and contributed to the tremendous growth in "electronic
paper" applications. In 1996, together with Z. Bao and A.
Dodabalapur, they published the first report on regioregular poly(3-hexyl
thiophene) (P3HT) and its molecular orientation on device substrates
[Appl. Phys. Lett. 1996, 69, 4108]. This
paper has been cited over 700 times and regioregular poly(3-hexyl thiophene)
is now the major workhorse of polymeric semiconductors for "plastic
electronics". His research also provided the first visualization
of conducting pathways in one such organic semiconductor. With
Z. Bao and H. E. Katz they developed and studied many families of organic
semiconductors, both p-type and n-type. Two highly promising soluble
and air-stable n-type organic semiconductors with high electron mobility
were reported in 1998 and 2000 and have jointly garnered over 700 citations
[JACS 1998, 120, 207 and Nature
2000,404, 6777].
A second
major research area that is closely associated with Lovinger is the
area of ferroelectric polymers ("smart materials") where he
made some of the most seminal contributions and discovered new phenomena.
His work on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with T. Furukawa, G. T.
Davis, and M. G. Broadhurst proved that this was the first ferroelectric
polymer and demonstrated its Curie transition. He provided the first
morphological studies of this polymer and explained its phase transformations.
He also discovered a number of unprecedented phenomena. One of
these was ferroelectric-to-paraelectric transformations in PVDF copolymers
induced not by heating but by electron irradiation [Macromolecules
1985, 18, 910]. This new effect of electron irradiation
was used by subsequent researchers to demonstrate "giant electrostriction"
in this polymer. Other phenomena he discovered that have not been
seen in any other materials so far are "backwards-growing"
solid-state polymorphic transformations [Polymer 1980,
21, 1317] and inhomogeneous thermal degradation based on crystallographic
phase [Macromolecules 1980, 13, 989]. Lovinger
also wrote the definitive reviews on ferroelectric polymers: His article
in Science 1983, 220, 1115 [over 300 citations]
and his book chapter in Developments in Crystalline Polymers
(D. C. Bassett, Editor), Applied Science Publishers 1982 [over
400 citations] still continue to be quoted extensively.
A third
major field that Lovinger opened up in collaboration with B. Lotz was
the solid-state structure and properties of syndiotactic polypropylene.
They discovered that the decades-long universally accepted crystal structure
dating from the classic studies of Natta and Corradini was inapplicable,
demonstrated the correct structure, discovered that it involves fully
antichiral chain packing, interpreted this on steric reasons, and explained
the existence and type of structural disorder [Macromolecules
1988, 21, 2375 and Macromolecules 1993,
26, 3494]. These papers have been cited about 200 times each.
Lovinger and Lotz also produced the first regular crystals of this polymer,
elucidated their morphology, and explained their highly anisotropic
thermal expansion which leads to extensive transverse fractures.
Another
major area that has grown primarily as a result of Lovinger's contributions
involves his development of the directional solidification technique.
With C. C. Gryte he showed that essentially infinitely long and unidirectionally
oriented spherulites of crystalline polymers can be grown by crystallization
within an imposed sharp temperature gradient [Macromolecules
1976, 9, 247]. Moreover, through this technique
he was able to produce for the first time limitless oriented films of
polymorphic forms that had up to then been inaccessible because of their
low nucleation compared to the dominant polymorph. He demonstrated
this through the creation of large films of directionally solidified
beta-phase isotactic polypropylene in a classic paper [J. Polym.
Sci.-Polym. Phys. Ed. 1977, 15, 641] that has over
200 citations.
Other
areas in which Andy Lovinger has contributed through many publications
are silicon-backbone polymers (polysilanes), high-temperature and high-strength
polymers (e.g., PEEK and PPS), liquid-crystalline polymers, and epitaxial
effects.
At
NSF Andy is in charge of the Polymers Program. For three years
he also served as Senior Staff Scientist in the Directorate for Mathematical
and Physical Sciences, and he frequently serves as Acting Director of
the Division of Materials Research. He has contributed to and
managed many NSF-wide activities, including leading the current Solar
Energy Initiative of the Divisions of Chemistry, Materials Research,
and Mathematical Sciences. In the Polymers Program one of his
top priorities has been to increase the participation of new and young
faculty and underrepresented groups. His accomplishments were
recognized by the 2006 NSF Director's Equal Opportunity Achievement
Award "for his proactive efforts to enhance diversity in his Program,
and for his continuous attention to diversity issues and education in
the community with outstanding results." Other top NSF awards
he has received are for Program Management Excellence (2000), for Superior
Accomplishment (2003), for Collaborative Integration (2005 and 2009),
and the Meritorious Service Award (2009).
Andy
has also been serving the American Chemical Society as Associate Editor
of Macromolecules since 1988 (and is currently the longest-standing
editor). He is also on the Editorial Advisory Boards of J.
Macromol. Sci. Phys., J. Polym. Sci. Phys., and Polymer.
He is very active in outreach activities and gives lectures about polymers
to community groups, high schools, and middle schools.
Past Applied Polymer Science Award Winners
, Number of access since November 07, 2000 
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