James E. Mark, Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati will receive the 2000 Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award of the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry, sponsored by the Du Pont Company. The Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual in promoting undergraduate and/or graduate polymer education.

James E. Mark was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1957 from Wilkes College and his Ph.D. degree in 1962 in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow from 1962 to 1964 at Stanford University under the direction of Professor Paul J. Flory, Dr. Mark joined the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn as Assistant Professor from 1964-1967. He then moved to the University of Michigan, where he became Full Professor in 1972. In 1977, he joined the University of Cincinnati as Professor of Chemistry and served as Chairman of the Physical Chemistry Division until 1984, and Director of the Polymer Research Center until 1988. In 1987, Prof. Mark was named the first Distinguished Research Professor.

Professor Mark is considered to be one of today's most outstanding polymer scientists. He is an internationally recognized authority on the physical chemistry of polymers with specific pioneering contributions in the areas of rubber-like elasticity, properties of networks, strain-induced crystallization and the statistical and conformational properties of chain molecules. Professor Mark is an extensive lecturer in polymer chemistry and has published over 500 research papers and co-authored or co-edited eighteen books. Professor Mark has trained approximately 10 MS students, 40 Ph.D. students and 35 postdoctoral associates. He is the editor of the journal "Computational and Theoretical Polymer Science", and currently serves or has served on at least 15 additional editorial boards of polymer science journals. Mark is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Other awards include the Dean's Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Rieveschl Research Award, and the Jaffe Chemsitry Facutly Excellence Award from the University of Cincinnati, the Whitby Award, the Charles Goodyear Medal from the ACS Rubber Division, and the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award.

In addition to his organization and presentation of highly acclaimed lecture courses in polymer chemistry, Professor Mark has contributed in a major way to polymer education outreach programs. In particular, he has helped organize and has served as a major participant in the ACS Short Course on "Polymer Chemistry" which has been ongoing for nearly 30 years. To date, several thousand students have benefited from research, lecture courses, and ACS Short Courses developed and taught by this outstanding scientist and educator.

The Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award will be presented to Professor Mark during the American Chemical Society National Meeting in SanFrancisco, CA on March 26-30.