ATLANTA, Ga., USA, – TAPPI is pleased to announce the 2016 TAPPI Nanotechnology Division award winners. Alain Dufresne, Grenoble Institute of Technology is the recipient of the 2016 TAPPI Nanotechnology Division Technical Award, and Theodore (Ted) Wegner, Assistant Director at Forest Products Laboratory, has been named the 2016 TAPPI Nanotechnology  Division Leadership and Service Award winner.

Alain Dufresne received his PhD in 1991 from the Department of Electronics at the National Institute of Applied Science in Toulouse (France). He was then Postdoctoral Research Associate at Polytechnique Montreal (Canada), and Temporary Lecturer and Research Assistant at the National Institute of Applied Science in Lyon (France). He was appointed Associate Professor in 1993, and then Professor in 2001, at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble (France). Dufresne has been Professor at Grenoble Institute of Technology since 2003 and has been a visiting Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), at National University of Malaysia (Malaysia), and at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in Fortaleza (Brazil).

Dufresne's main research interests concern the processing and characterization of polymer nanocomposites reinforced with nanoparticles extracted from renewable resources. He has published over 230 peer-reviewed papers related to these topics. He and his students have given many conference presentations and he has been invited numerous times as a speaker in conferences, universities and research centers worldwide.

Ted Wegner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and Master's from University of Illinois.  He continued his studies and received his PhD in chemical engineering in 1972.    He joined E.I. DuPont in 1972.   In 1977, he joined the USDA Forest Service where he continues to serve as Assistant Director.

Wegner co-chaired the first U.S. Conference on Nanotechnology for the forest products industry in 2004.  He either co-chaired or served on the organizing committees for TAPPI International Nanotechnology Conferences from 2006 - 2011.  In 2011, when TAPPI's International Nanotechnology Division nanotechnology was officially was launched, Wegner was elected as Secretary, continuing in that role until 2015.  Since 2006, he has also served as a USDA Forest Service representative on the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. He serves as Forest Service representative on the U.S. paper industry's Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance. Wegner is a 2007 TAPPI Fellow and a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science. He is the recipient of the 2011 Andrew Chase Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in 2013.

TAPPI congratulates both award winners and will honor them  at the opening session of the 2016 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials in Grenoble, France this June.