Center News
CCMR 2007 Green Materials Symposium
CCMR Staff :: Sep 26, 2007
ITHACA, NY (CCMR Staff) -- On September 24, 2007, the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) hosted the Green Materials Symposium. The program provides a unique networking and learning opportunity for scientists in industry, Cornell students, and faculty seeking to develop collaborative research activities in green chemistry, green composites and related areas. The Symposium gathered 100 attendees with 74 off campus guests from industry and state agencies.
The 2007 program highlighted CCMR’s capabilities in green materials. Professor Anil Netravali, Fiber Science and Apparel Design, led CCMR’s efforts. He opened the meeting by giving an overview of the emergence of green processes, their importance in the economic and social context of the depletion of oil reserves, of the growth of the population and developing economies and the increasing oil consumption. He gave several examples of new ‘Green’ composites developed in his laboratory, made using plant-based fibers and resins with characteristics similar if not better of traditional composites.
A keynote lecture by Dr. Russ Egbert, of Archer Daniels Midland, addressed current challenges and recent advances in green alternative industrial product opportunities from agricultural commodities, emphasizing the range of products that could benefit from the application of green processes. The commercialization potential of the technologies developed at Cornell by CCMR faculty was illustrated in the presentations of Patrick Govang, from e2e Materials and Dr. Scott Allen, from Novomer. These presentations addressed the technological and economic impact of the use of green materials. The co-founders of these two companies are respectively Professor Netravali and Professor Geoffrey Coates, Chemical Biology and Chemistry.
CCMR Faculty members involved in research on green materials and composites such as Professors Netravali, Coates, Margaret Frey, Fiber Science and Apparel Design, and Uli Wiesner, Materials Science and Engineering, presented the research conducted in their labs during the symposium and during the final poster session. The students of Professors Hinestroza, Fiber Science and Apparel Design, and Itai Cohen, Physics, joined the poster session.
The organization of the Green Materials Symposium was a team effort on the part of the CCMR staff: Robin Nichols, LiLynn Graves, Ken Smith, David Jung, Lynda Keister, and Radhika Arora and was led by Dr. Michèle van de Walle, Industrial Partnerships Director.
