Each year the AOCS Governing Board has the honor of approving long-term members for Emeritus status. Emeritus Members are those members who either meet qualifications for Retired Member and have completed 35 years of membership in the Society or are Retired Members who have served as a past President, won the AOCS Award of Merit winner or A.R. Baldwin Distinguished Service Award winner, and have been accepted as an Emeritus Member with the approval of two-thirds of the Governing Board.
AOCS membership dues are free for the rest of Emeritus members' lives.
In 2022, 23 AOCS members achieved Emeritus membership. We will be spotlighting many of them throughout January.
Meet John Massingill
John's doctoral work at Texas Christian University focused on the discovery, identification and synthesis of novel alkaloids as potential drugs. His 25 years at Dow Chemical included projects in basic research, exploratory research, process research, and math modeling processes, plus interaction with customers in technical service and development.
John was Director of the Eastern Michigan University Coating Research Institute for 7 years and Executive Director of the Paint Research Associates Laboratory 2 years. During this time, worked on projects in biobased resins for paints and coatings, including 1 year as Acting Director, NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center in Coatings.
His 11 years as Director of the Center for Coatings and Biobased Technology at Texas State University continued projects in biobased resins/paints and projects using nanoparticles to improve a variety of coatings. During this time, three companies were founded to pursue commercial applications funded by SBIR/STTR grants. Advanced Materials and Processes (2004), Fiber Reactions LLC (2007) and CHEMTOR, LP (2009) developed ultra-efficient fiber reactor technology with SBIR/STTR grants from the US Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense.
A portfolio of patents was developed covering vegetable oil processing, biodiesel processing, technical metals processing (rare earth, rhenium, etc., extraction and separation) and nanoparticle manufacturing. CHEMTOR merged with Tomorrow Holding LLC in 2019 and Visionary Fiber Technologies, Inc. was founded to commercialize fiber technologies.
How has your membership and involvement with AOCS influenced your career?
My involvement with AOCS influenced my career in numerous ways, including
- proving access to journals for developing research topics,
- meeting colleagues doing similar research,
- presenting innovative new resins at the national meetings, and
- publishing papers on my research.
Attending the Expo at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo exposed inefficient processes being used by vegetable oil processors, which lead to fiber process development and patents.
What advice do you have for early-career scientists/researchers who are at the start of their careers?
Read the literature outside your specialty to see if it applies to your projects. Develop a broad range of research interests. Participate in your professional organizations. Present your research at professional meetings. Publish your research.
Congratulations, John, and thank you for your contributions to AOCS and the scientific community! Learn more about the different types of AOCS membership.
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