Adel F. Halasa is an American scientist (originally Jordanian) noted for his contributions to the development of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

, particularly in the area of tire tread polymers for the Goodyear AquaTred tire. In 1997, he won the

Charles Goodyear Medal The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society#Organization, American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, ...

, bestowed by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

, Rubber Division to individuals who "have been the principal inventor(s), innovator(s), or developer(s) of a significant change or contribution to the rubber industry".

Education

Halasa attended the Bishop's School in Amman, Jordan. In 1955, Halasa received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. He continued his studies and in 1959 completed his master's degree in organic chemistry at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

in Indianapolis, Indiana. Halasa completed his Ph.D. at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1964. He later completed additional studies in polymer chemistry at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

Career

Halasa worked as a research associate, and group leader in materials development at

Firestone Tire & Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey S. Firestone (18681938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, carriages, and other form ...

, starting in 1963. In 1979, he accepted an assignment with the Kuwaiti Government to establish a polymer program at the

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. From 1983 to 2009, Halasa served as R&D Fellow at

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, recreati ...

in Akron, OH. His most cited works treated the subject of polar-modified alkyllithium

polymerization In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many fo ...

s and

copolymerization In polymer chemistry, a copolymer is a polymer derived from more than one species of monomer. The polymerization of monomers into copolymers is called copolymerization. Copolymers obtained from the copolymerization of two monomer species are som ...

s, and the subject of the effect of

crosslinking Cross-linking may refer to *Cross-link In chemistry and biology, a cross-link is a bond or a short sequence of bonds that links one polymer chain to another. These links may take the form of covalent bonds or ionic bonds and the polymers ca ...

on changes in free volume in elastomers.

Honors and awards

*1997

of the ACS Rubber Division *2004 Purdue University College of Science Distinguished Alumni award.

External links

Audio interview
with Adel Halasa.

References

Living people American polymer scientists and engineers Year of birth missing (living people) University of Akron faculty Place of birth missing (living people) University of Oklahoma alumni Jordanian chemists Tire industry people Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company people Arab chemists {{US-scientist-stub