ATLANTA, Ga., USA – This year’s recipient of the Pulp Manufacture Division Technical Award and Johan C.F. C. Richter Prize is Louis Edwards of the University of Idaho. The award will be presented at the opening session of the PEERS Conference on Sept. 14 in Tacoma, Wash., and is given to recognize outstanding accomplishments or contributions which have advanced the industry’s technology.

Dr. Edwards, a retired University of Idaho professor of chemical engineering, holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delaware. He began teaching at the University of Idaho in 1961 and won numerous awards for excellence in teaching during his career. In recognition of his 50 years of inspiring scholarship and service the University of Idaho’s College of Engineering created the Lou Edwards Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering. He’s a recognized international expert having authored nearly 120 publications and served as a consultant to more than 30 companies.

In the 1970s, Edwards led the development of a modular computer software simulation program that became one of the first technologies of its kind in the pulp and paper industry, later known as GEMS. Today, companies around the world use versions of the program to model and design papermaking processes that are more sustainable and energy efficient. A TAPPI member since 1974 he was awarded the TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Award in 1989, the highest honor the Association bestows on an individual.