TAPPI recently announced that it has awarded the 2014 Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal to Professor Art Ragauskas. The award will be presented at the annual meeting this spring.

The TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award is the highest honor that the Association can bestow upon an individual. Established in 1928, the Gold Medal is granted to those "who have made preeminent scientific and engineering achievements of proven applied benefit to the world’s pulp, paper, board, and forest product industries. The forest product industries include forestry, derived products, their process technology, and their applications."

Dr. Art Ragauskas has spent his career immersed in two passions—wood chemistry and green chemistry.

Dr. Ragauskas’ group focuses on the green chemistry of biopolymers including cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Through the use of green chemistry, biotechnology, and cold plasma, his research looks at new ways to synthesize novel biomaterials, biocomposites, and biofuels from nature's renewable biopolymers.  A particularly exciting aspect of this research is the development of new nano-cellulose-based and hemicellulose-based materials. Such innovative research approaches may allow researchers to synthesize new biomaterials for applications in health care, security, and packaging.  An important piece of the Ragauskas group’s work is the study of lignin and pseudo-lignin chemistry.  Understanding this complex chemistry will advance the use of cellulose-based materials in biofuels.

On his web site, Dr. Ragauskas posts his three goals for his research and for his mentoring of students:

• Develop a challenging and enriching undergraduate educational and research experience that facilitates intellectual development of the students and supports the mission of the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Recruit, educate, and develop the next generation of scientists that will be nationally/internationally recognized leaders in green chemistry of biomaterials, biochemicals, biopower, biofuels and biological systems
• Develop a nationally/internationally recognized research center for sustainable green chemistry of biopolymers and their conversion to innovative biomaterials, biochemicals, biopower, biofuels and biological systems

Professor Ragauskas says “IPST and Georgia Tech is a wonderful environment to find and to develop young scientists.  I have fine physical facilities and worthy colleagues here.”

Currently, 8 students are studying under Dr. Ragauskas including Fan Hu who will receive his PhD next spring. Currently, Dr. Ragauskas manages a research group of 25 graduate students, postdoctoral research fellows, a research scientist, and visiting scientists. 

Prior to being awarded the Nicholson Gold Medal, Professor Ragauskas had previously been recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the paper industry and in alternative energy applications.  He held the first Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Wood Science, and TAPPI. His research has been sponsored by NSF, USDA, DOE, the Georgia Traditional Industry Program, and several fellowship programs. His Fulbright-sponsored activities at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden were focused on the forest biorefinery and new biofuel conversion technologies for lignocellulosics.  He was also nominated to the National Commission on Energy Policy and has won many prizes and awards from national and international organizations.

Ragauskas has served on several advisory boards and review panels in North America including the J. Paul Getty Trust, National Science Foundation, USDA, USDOE, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Natural Sciences and Engineering-Research Council of Canada, Biofuel Advanced Research and Development, TAPPI Research Management Committee, and in numerous countries including Austria, China, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland.

After receiving his PhD from the University of Western Ontario, Professor Ragauskas accepted two postdoctoral fellowships, first at the University of Alberta and then at Colorado State University.  After two years as a research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada, Dr. Ragauskas joined IPST in 1989.  Since then, he has advanced the academic ladder becoming a Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2007.

For a complete curriculum vitae, see http://www.ipst.gatech.edu/faculty/ragauskas_art/art_cv.pdf

For more information on research by the Ragauskas group, see
http://www.ipst.gatech.edu/faculty/ragauskas_art/ragauskas_research_studies.html