2025 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation
Richard Spontak
Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
North Carolina State University
For his groundbreaking discovery that the anionic block polymers he developed—originally described as charged thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs)—possess inherent antimicrobial properties and can continuously self-sterilize. This innovation addresses a critical global need for effective microbial inactivation methods that do not contribute to antimicrobial resistance, a challenge that has grown more urgent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of drug-resistant pathogens. understanding basic mechanisms of antigen recognition and immunity, predicting immune activity, and developing interventions against cancer, infection, autoimmunity, and allergies.
Biography
Dr. Richard J. Spontak is a Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at NC State University. His primary research interests relate to the identification of key chemistry-structure-property-processing relationships in nanostructured polymers (e.g., block copolymers, especially thermoplastic elastomer [TPE] systems), polymer nanocomposites and coatings, and stimuli-responsive soft materials, as well as advanced electron microscopy.
His recent research innovation focuses on anionic TPEs as rapid, self-cleaning antimicrobial surfaces capable of killing bacteria, viruses and fungi to >99.9999% after short exposure times (typically 5-10 minutes). Besides expanding the use of these materials as solar cells, bipolar electrolyzers, and gas-separation membranes, he employs both experiments and simulations to elucidate the underlying physics regulating the morphological and mechanical behavior of oil-extended TPEs, including isothermal time-composition super¬positioning, network topology, and phase behavior. He has physically modified commercial TPEs to enable their 21st-century function as promising tunable electroactive media, shape-memory materials and giant-strain microfibers; and explored the interactions of polymers with carbon dioxide to enhance foaming/blending/reacting or generate high-permeability/selectivity carbon-capture membranes to mitigate carbon emissions.
He has served as a Fulbright specialist or visiting professor at universities around the globe, for which he received the NC State Outstanding Global Engagement and Jackson Rigney International Service Awards. In recognition of his research at NC State, Dr. Spontak has been awarded the Alexander Q. Holladay Medal for Excellence (the highest university faculty award), the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research & Extension (the highest engineering faculty award), the Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award, and the Alumni Outstanding Research Award.
An elected fellow of the American Physical Society, the IOM3, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the ACS (PMSE Division), and the SPE, Dr. Spontak was named the Lars Onsager Professor at, and received an honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa) from, the Norwegian University of Science & Technology, and is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.
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