Samulski Honored with ACS
Herman F. Mark Award
Carolina Chemistry Professor Emeritus and former Chair
of the Applied Sciences Department, Edward T. Samulski,
has been awarded the Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemis-
try award for 2017. This award is one of the highest hon-
ors bestowed by the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry
and recognizes outstanding research and leadership in
polymer science.
Samulski’s major advances include adapting nuclear
magnetic resonance to map the stress in elastic net-
works, sheared polymer melts, “RheoNMR,” and the dis-
covery of a biaxial nematic, a phase with implications for
fabricating ultra-high strength polymers. He cofound-
ed two startups, Allotropica Technologies, 2008, which
makes “extreme materials for extreme conditions,” and
Carbon, 2013, which pioneers a new 3D printing method
based on oxygen-inhibited free radical polymerization.
He served as a senior science advisor to the State De-
partment from 2005 to 2006.
Hogan Receives Gates
Foundation Scholarship
Research Assistant Professor Brian Hogan, who is also
the Director for Carolina Covenant and Achieve Schol-
ars Program, was selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to participate in the 8th Annual ASU GSV
Summit, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1989, through judicious hiring and the development of
curricula integrated with traditional chemistry courses,
Professor Samulski established UNC’s internationally
recognized polymer chemistry program, while simulta-
neously maintaining his top research program, spanning
a range of topics based on the interplay of basic poly-
mer physics, and inherent molecular orientational order
found in liquid crystals.
This past year and a half, Professor Samulski returned
from retirement to lead a Task Force, creating the De-
partment of Applied Physical Sciences, Carolina’s first
new science department in forty years. He subsequently
served as the Department’s first Chair.
Through this highly competitive Scholarship Program,
the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation are convening over
one-hundred presidents, provosts, academic officers,
and other institutional leaders to participate in the Sum-
mit alongside 3,500 other leaders from across the edu-
cation ecosystem; all of whom care deeply about scaling
innovation in education in order to improve outcomes for
all students.