Howard A. Colvin is an organic chemist and consultant to the

tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

and

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 ...

industries noted for developments in rubber chemicals and polymers, and for his DOE-funded work on using guayule rubber in tires.

Education

Colvin earned his BS in chemistry from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

in 1975. He completed a doctorate in chemistry at

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1979.

Career

Colvin began his career at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in 1979 in the Chemical Division. In 2001, he joined Solvay Engineered Polymers, where he worked on thermoplastic

polyolefins A polyolefin is a type of polymer with the general formula (CH2CHR)n where R is an alkyl group. They are usually derived from a small set of simple olefins ( alkenes). Dominant in a commercial sense are polyethylene and polypropylene. More specia ...

for automotive applications. In 2005 he joined Cooper Tire and Rubber Company working on tread compounds as an advanced chemist. From 2007 to 2011 he was a professor of chemistry at

Florida College Florida College is a private Christian college in Temple Terrace, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1946. Although it draws its staff, faculty, and most of its students from non-institutional churches of Christ, it is not legally or ...

. He returned to Cooper in 2011 to lead a successful $6.9 million DOE-funded Biomass R&D Initiative grant to produce and test an all-guayule tire. Following his retirement from Cooper Tire in 2017, he has taken consulting roles with the USTMA, Silpara, Kengos, and Smithers.

Awards

* 2021 -

Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award The Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award is a professional award conferred by the ACS Rubber Division. Established in 1983, the award is named after Melvin Mooney, developer of the Mooney viscometer and of the Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic ...

from

ACS Rubber Division ACS or Acs may refer to: Aviation * ACS-3, the military version of Raybird-3, a Ukrainian UAV * Aerial Common Sensor, a Lockheed Martin reconnaissance aircraft airframe for the US Army and Navy * Air Cess, a cargo airline based in Sharjah, Uni ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, Howard A. American polymer scientists and engineers Tire industry people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Houston alumni Georgia Tech alumni Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company people 20th-century American chemists 21st-century American chemists Academics from Florida