St. Louis — The Society of Plastics Engineers honored several members for service to the organization at SPE Antec 2024 in St. Louis.
Six SPE members received the Fellow of Society Award. The program was established in 1984 and 365 SPE members have been awarded with the title since its inception. The Fellow of Society program honors SPE members for outstanding contributions in the field of plastics engineering, science/technology or in the management of such activities.
SPE's Fellow of Society Award recipients for 2024 are:
• Peter Frenkel, technology vice president at Galata Chemicals, nominated by SPE vinyl division.
Frenkel has more than 30 years of experience in polymer additives focusing on product development, innovation and process improvement, with an emphasis on PVC. Frenkel's work concentrates on sustainable technologies related to bio-based plasticizers, heat stabilizers, polymer modifiers and catalysts. He has co-authored over 40 patents, several book chapters and dozens of scientific journal and conference papers.
• Wenyi Huang, principal research scientist at DuPont Co., nominated by SPE thermoplastic materials and foams division.
Huang's expertise covers reactive extrusion and specialty compounding, breathable membrane, die design and nanotechnology. He has contributed to 56 external publications including 11 book chapters and a book, and over 40 US patents along with more than 100 patent publications in other countries.
• Harry Mavridis, product development director at LyondellBasell, nominated by SPE extrusion division.
Mavridis has 35 years of experience in plastics, 32 of that at LyondellBasell and its legacy companies. He has made contributions in polyethylene product development and rheology and polymer processing. Mavridis is the author or co-author of more than 25 technical papers, has 2,000 Google Scholar citations and is inventor or co-inventor of 27 granted patents.
• Jeff Munro, senior research scientist at Dow Inc., nominated by SPE thermoplastic elastomers technical interest group.
Munro joined Dow in 2007, where he worked on a range of polymer science issues involving polyurethanes, composites and block copolymers. Since 2010, he has been in the polyolefin elastomers product research and development group, focusing on polymer science and formulation projects relating to polyolefin elastomers.
• Srikanth Pilla, professor and director at the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, nominated by the SPE injection molding division.
Pilla is founding director of AIM for Composites, a U.S. Department of Energy funded energy frontier research center. He has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed archival publications. Pilla has supervised more than 50 graduate students, postdocs and many undergraduate students. His efforts in research and engineering education have won numerous awards, including the U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.
• Li-Ying Tammy Yang, research fellow at GAF. Nominated by SPE building and infrastructure division.
Yang has more than 25 years of industry experience in polymer blend materials, engineering, innovation and building product development and commercialization. She has 60 granted patents, 30 new patent applications and more than 10 publications.