Ali Dhinojwala announced as keynote speaker for Spring Technical Meeting

Akron, OH – The Rubber Division, ACS, announced that Professor Ali Dhinojwala, the University of Akron Gerald W. Austen Endowed Chair and H.A. Morton Professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, will be the keynote speaker for the Spring Technical Meeting being held in Warrensville Heights, Ohio this starting this April 14.

Professor Dhinojwala received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Chemical Engineering. Thereafter, he was a Research Scientist at the Department of Materials Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for two years. He then joined GE Plastics, where he designed new carbonate-based materials for DVDs. In 1997, he joined the Department of Polymer Science at the University of Akron. Professor Dhinojwala has served as Department Chair, Interim Dean of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, and the Director of the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. He is currently the Gerald W. Austen Endowed Chair and the H. A. Morton Professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. Professor Dhinojwala’s research interests are in interfacial science and understanding properties such as adhesion, friction, and wetting. He is the co-PI of the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center at the University of Akron, where he leads efforts in the nature-inspired design of new materials.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Interfacial Contact and Adhesion Between Rough Surfaces in Dry and Wet Conditions

Surface roughness and wetness strongly influence interfacial bonding, adhesion and friction, with implications for diverse biological and engineering systems. This Keynote Address presents new experimental approaches to study contact between rough surfaces, enabling direct measurement of true contact area and interfacial separation. The effects of surface roughness will be discussed in the context of modern contact mechanics theories that account for broad roughness distributions. Inspired by natural adhesive systems, new strategies for enhancing adhesion on wet and rough surfaces will be introduced, along with their application to biomedical and engineering technologies.

Visit www.rubber.org for all the details about the Spring Technical Meeting.