James Mark

Background

Mark was born on December 14, 1934 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Education

Mark received his Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1957 in Chemistry from Wilkes College and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1962 in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing his doctoral work, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University under Paul J. Flory.

Career

Doctor Mark has made important contributions to understanding the physical chemistry of polymers. His contributions include models of the elasticity of polymer networks, hybrid organic-inorganic composites, liquid-crystalline polymers, and a variety of computer simulations. Mark entered academia as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

He later moved to the University of Michigan, where he became a Full Professor in 1972.

In 1977, he assumed the position of Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati, and served as Chairman of the Physical Chemistry Division and Director of the Polymer Research Center. In 1987, he was named the first Distinguished Research Professor, a position he holds at the present time.

He is the founding editor of the journal Computational and Theoretical Polymer Science, which was started in 1990, is an editor for the journal Polymer.

Achievements

• Mark has received many awards including the Whitby Award and the 1999 Charles Goodyear Medal (Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society), the American College of Surgeons Applied Polymer Science Award, the Flory Polymer Award (American College of Surgeons Division of Polymer Chemistry), the American College of Surgeons Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry.