The Editorial Board of Polymer International and the IUPAC Polymer Division are delighted to announce that Dr Zachary Hudson (The University of British Columbia, Canada) is the winner of the 8th Polymer International-IUPAC award for Creativity in Applied Polymer Science.
The award celebrates the outstanding contributions that Dr Hudson has made to polymers for optoelectronics, as well as in working with industry to develop polymer technologies to confront global plastic waste. Dr Hudson’s creative discoveries have disrupted industries and gained international recognition.
Dr Hudson’s research develops light-emitting materials for the electronics, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries. He develops luminescent polymer nanoparticles, or ‘Pdots’, for bioimaging and analysis, with sufficient brightness to be detected by a handheld smartphone camera. This technology has the potential to improve healthcare in remote or low-income communities, where smartphones are ubiquitous but lab equipment is scarce. He has also developed technology for photopatterning thin films for polymer electronics at extremely low cost, creating multilayer device structures in a beaker on the benchtop.
A rising leader in the field of polymer science, Dr Hudson’s work has been featured in prominent peer-reviewed journals. He has also worked with local industry to help confront the global crisis caused by single-use plastic. He served as Chief Scientific Officer of NEXE Innovations, developing fully compostable single-serve coffee pods for commercial brewers. In 2020, he worked with CTK Cosmetics (Korea) to develop biodegradable materials for cosmetics packaging. [Link to Hudson’s homepage @ubc.ca]
Dr Hudson will give a lecture and receive this award at the World Polymer Congress, which will be held in Winnipeg, Canada from July 17 to 21, 2022. The award includes $5,000, plus up to $3,000 travel and hotel accommodation expenses to attend MACRO 2022.
The winner was selected by members of the scientific committee representing Polymer International and the IUPAC Polymer Division:
Professor (Melissa) Chin Han Chan (Polymer International/IUPAC)
Dr Dick Dijkstra (Polymer International/IUPAC)
Professor Jiasong He (Polymer International/IUPAC)
Professor Igor Lacik (IUPAC)
Professor Tim Long (Polymer International)
Professor Christine Luscombe (Polymer International/IUPAC)
Dr Carmen Scholz (Polymer International)
Professor João Soares (IUPAC)
The selection committee and the Editorial Board of Polymer International extend their congratulations to Dr Hudson!
> Announcement published in Chem Int July 2022, p. 26
See originating call or link to PI https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10970126
reprinted from <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10970126/8thpiiupacaward>