Costas G. Gogos, who co-founded the Polymer Processing Institute at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, won the Society of Plastics Engineers' International Award at Antec 2005 in Boston.
Under Gogos' leadership, PPI has expanded over the years to include plastics process development, product design, recycling and polymer characterization. PPI also developed custom software for manufacturing and research and development.
SPE said one of his outstanding technical achievements at PPI was to lead the industry-sponsored Polymer Mixing Study.
After graduating from Princeton University, Gogos joined the Chemical Engineering Department at Stevens Institute of Technology in 1965. During his 34-year tenure, Gogos taught and conducted research on polymer processing, injection and reactive injection mold filling, reactive polymer processing and the mixing of polymer blends to create microstructured polymer systems known as ``designer pellets.''
Gogos co-authored, with Zehev Tadmor, Principles of Polymer Processing. He has written more than 100 technical papers.
Today he is chairman of the board of trustees at New Jersey Institute of Technology, as well as president emeritus and a member of the school's technical board.
Gogos won SPE's 2002 Plastics Engineering/Technology Award and its Extrusion Division's Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
Brookfield, Conn.-based SPE named other award winners:
* Shriram Bagrodia, research associate at Eastman Chemical Co., who earned the Engineering/Technology Award. SPE recognized the 20-plus-year plastics veteran for his broad research interests in polymeric materials and his prolific inventions, which have yielded 51 U.S. patents.
* Dominick Rosato won the Education Award posthumously. In a 60-year career, Rosato wrote 28 technical books about plastics. During World War II, he worked as a mechanical engineer in the plastics laboratory at the government's Wright Air Development Center. Rosato was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2003. He died July 26, 2004, at age 83.
* Garth Wilkes, who is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, earned the Research Award. Research during his 34-year career as a chemical engineering professor has yielded more than 285 research papers, nearly 40 book chapters and 30 publications. He has eight U.S. patents.
* The Consumer Product Award went to Water Heater Innovations Inc. for its Marathon water heater, which uses a polyurethane resin system for high energy efficiency. SPE said the all-plastic tank eliminates the need for an anode rod.
* Spencer Industries won the Industrial Product Award for the design of a twin-sheet thermoformed back cover for a 54-inch Toshiba projection television. SPE judges said the design could not have been made via the traditional method, injection molding.