DuPont Names 2024 Lavoisier Medal, Pedersen Award Recipients

DuPont has named the recipient of the 2024 Lavoisier Medal for Lifetime Technical Achievement and three recipients of the prestigious Pedersen Award.

At a ceremony this November, the 2024 Lavoisier Medal will be conferred on Brad Taylor, Ph.D., Technical Laureate, Printing & Packaging. The Lavoisier Medal for Lifetime Technical Achievement recognizes scientists and engineers who have demonstrated a career of creative technical contributions with significant business impact. It’s named in honor of the 18th century French chemist, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, considered the father of modern chemistry.

Three Pedersen Award recipients will be recognized at that same ceremony: Yi Guo, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, Advanced Cleans & Slurry Technologies; Martin Heijnen, PES Ultrafiltration R&D Leader, Water Solutions; and Mansour Mirdamadi, Technical Laureate, Auto Adhesives.

The Pedersen Award is chosen by a select team of Laureates, a group of DuPont’s highest technical professionals. This year’s recipients’ deep technical knowledge, skill, achievements, and commitment in their respective areas have resulted in important new products and other advances for DuPont customers.

The Pedersen Award is named in honor of DuPont’s Nobel Laureate, Charles J. Pedersen, who received the 1987 Nobel Prize for his discovery of a novel class of chemical compounds called macrocyclic polyethers, which he dubbed the “crown” ethers because of their molecular shape.

“It’s a privilege to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of Brad, Yi, Martin, and Mansour, and an honor to call them colleagues,” said Alexa Dembek, DuPont chief technology and sustainability officer. “The dedication these award winners have shown in bringing innovations to life has led to transformative outcomes not just for our company, but also for our customers and the world at large. They truly embody our purpose of empowering the world with the essential innovations to thrive.”

Learn more about DuPont’s 2024 Lavoisier Medalist and Pedersen Awardees:

Lavoisier Medalist

• Brad Taylor, Ph.D., Technical Laureate, Printing & Packaging; Wilmington, DE. Dr. Taylor has been instrumental in key technical transformations that have enabled advancements in the flexographic printing industry, having led the development of the first Cyrel Digital Imager and accompanying Cyrel digital plates.

Over his more than 30-year DuPont career, he’s advanced digital flexography through the FAST thermal technology which delivers sustainability and productivity benefits. Dr. Taylor also pioneered new printing form concepts like Cyrel Round and new screening technologies such as Cyrel EASY BRITE screens. Today, more than 90 percent of the Cyrel portfolio benefits from his innovations.

Pedersen Award Recipients

• Yi Guo, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, Advanced Cleans & Slurry Technologies; Newark, DE. Dr. Guo has contributed to innovation and business growth in multiple slurry families for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) in semiconductor fabrication. Dr. Guo’s expertise in particle technology, colloidal science, interfacial chemistry, and commercialization skills has led to many key formulation breakthroughs, product innovations, and industry advancements.

His most noteworthy invention was the formulation chemistry for Klebosol 1730 alkaline slurry for polishing silicon oxide substrates, as well as next-generation product extensions. Dr. Guo’s passion for product development has motivated others into becoming successful formulation scientists.

• Martin Heijnen, PES Ultrafiltration R&D Leader, Water Solutions; Greifenberg, Germany. Heijnen supports advancements in ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for water filtration, with a primary focus on membrane development. Heijnen’s key impact has been the development of the legacy DuPont Multibore UF products and the solvent recovery system associated with the production to reduce emissions and enable capacity increases. The innovation reduced NMP and glycerin emissions by 3.5 million kg and 2.0 million kg, respectively, since 2017.

• Mansour Mirdamadi, Technical Laureate, Auto Adhesives; Auburn Hills, MI. Mirdamadi has successfully combined his expertise in material science, applied engineering mechanics and virtual modeling to create novel solutions for automotive customers.

Leading a multi-disciplinary team, Mirdamadi has been instrumental in applying advanced engineering methodologies to determine effective and efficient DuPont adhesive technologies suited for vehicle body substrates and electric-vehicle battery assemblies. Widely regarded as an industry expert, Mirdamadi’s multiple patents, awards, and demonstrated results have consistently confirmed his outstanding technical leadership.