July 21, 2015

Shortly before joining the faculty in the School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue as Associate Professor, Dr. Vilas Pol worked on a project at Argonne National Laboratory that has been selected as Finalist for a 2015 R&D 100 Award.

"Versatile Hard Carbon Microspheres Made from Plastic Waste" was selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine as a finalist under the Mechanical Devices/Materials category. Dr. Pol's project resulted in the creation of hard carbon microspheres that can be used for a variety of applications. This process has the potential to help rid the Earth of large amounts of plastic waste.

An R&D 100 Award recognizes the 100 most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. The winners of the 2015 R&D 100 Awards will be announced at the annual meeting on November 13, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada.