American Chemical Society honors PPG Collegium member with 2021 Roy W. Tess Award

February 4, 2021

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PPG (NYSE:PPG) announced today that PPG retiree and PPG Collegium member Shanti Swarup has been honored with the prestigious 2021 Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings. The award is presented by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (ACS PMSE).

The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to coatings science, engineering and technology to encourage interest and progress in coatings science technology.

“We are excited that ACS has recognized Shanti’s myriad accomplishments in the chemistry industry,” said David Bem, PPG chief technology officer and vice president, science and technology. “Over his 32-year tenure at PPG, Shanti made highly valuable contributions to our company and the larger, global coatings industry. We congratulate him for this well-deserved recognition.”

Swarup and his team developed 220 unique polymers. He is named inventor and author on more than 300 global patents and publications, including 89 granted U.S. patents and more than 20 U.S. patents pending review. The polymers described in these patents are used in commercial coatings and address important issues such as worker safety, reductions in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, waste minimization, improved productivity, performance and vehicle fuel economy.

Among his many achievements, Swarup was part of a team that received the 2008 PPG President’s Award for developing acid etch-resistant clearcoat technology. The President’s Award is the highest honor PPG grants annually to project teams among its global employees. He was also inducted into the PPG Collegium in 2016 as a lifelong member. Membership in this group of innovative PPG leaders is the highest honor given to an individual employee.

Throughout his career, Swarup has been recognized by SURCAR, R&D 100 Magazine, the ACS Heroes of Chemistry, Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association, and others. He received the 2018 ACS National Award in Applied Polymer Science and was named an ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) Fellow and an ACS PMSE Fellow in 2020. He has maintained active participation in ACS for more than 35 years at the local and national level and has served on the Industrial Advisory Board of the Polymer Division for 10 years. He co-chaired a symposium on new crosslink chemistry at the 2019 Spring National Meeting of ACS in the PMSE section.

Swarup will receive the Roy W. Tess Award from Tim Bunting, chair, ACS PMSE Division, in August 2021 during the 262^nd ACS national meeting in Atlanta.

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