NJIT's Mike Jaffe to be named fellow of the American Chemical Society

NJIT Research Professor Michael Jaffe, an expert in materials science and high performance polymers, has been selected to be a member of the 2012 class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society (ACS). These new Fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia on Aug. 20, 2012 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Most recently, Jaffe and his research team developed sugar-based materials in conjunction with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board in an effort to promote and create new, commercially attractive, sustainable chemistries from wider uses of corn. This new sugar derivative can be obtained from corn.

In 2009, Jaffe and team member received a patent (#7,619,056) for a chemical derived from sugar. The new material uses a corn byproduct, isosorbide, to create a derivative that can be used to replace bisphenol A (BPA) in epoxy resins. Such resins are used in a number of adhesives and coatings of consumer products, including those used in the lining of tin cans. The researchers received a related patent (#7,947,785) to complement the earlier one.

"This newer patent will create a less toxic epoxy resin," said Jaffe. Such resins are polymers widely used as adhesives, paints and coatings to protect food in cans.

Prior to joining NJIT in 1998, Jaffe spent more than 30 years as a research Fellow with Hoechst Celanese, which he joined upon completion of his doctorate in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

An active National Associate of the National Research Council, Jaffe is a member of the Army Research Board and from 1990-2000 sat on the National Materials Advisory Board. Jaffe is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); the ACS Science and Engineering Division (Polymeric Materials); North American Thermal Analysis Society; International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

In 1995 and 2010, Jaffe received the NJ Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. He has authored more than 75 technical publications, 18 book chapters and 17 patents. For more information about Jaffe, please visit http://www.njit.edu/news/experts/jaffe.php.

Provided by New Jersey Institute of Technology