The American Coatings Association announced Stuart G. Croll, chair of the Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials at NDSU, will deliver the Mattiello Memorial Lecture at its American Coatings Conference, May 7-9, 2012, in Indianapolis in conjunction with the American Coatings Show, May 8-10. The Joseph J. Matiello Lecture Award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to science, technology and/or engineering related to the coatings industry.
Croll joined NDSU's coatings and polymeric materials department in 2000. He became chair of the department in 2006. Prior to joining NDSU, Croll worked in research and development at Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, concerned with many of the aspects of titanium dioxide pigments.
At NDSU, he teaches courses on coatings materials science, including film formation, color and appearance, coating and polymer characterization, and polymer physical properties. His research interests include the durability of polymers and coatings, adhesion, corrosion protection, bio-based materials and art conservation.
Croll earned a degree in physics from the University of London (U.K.) and his doctoral degree in polymer physics at the University of Leeds (U.K.). He worked in England, and later moved to the Division of Building Research in the National Research Council Canada, where he first worked on coatings. After periods in the construction chemicals and telecommunication cable industries, he moved into the coatings industry with the Sherwin-Williams Co., where he worked on a wide range of research and development and troubleshooting projects, including those involving film formation, application rheology, weathering durability, adhesion, dispersion stability and polymer characterization.
Croll is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society and the Institute of Physics (in the U.K.). He is a member of the editorial review board of Progress in Organic Coatings and ACA’s Journal of Coatings Technology and Research. Croll has published articles in the coatings, polymers, mechanics and corrosion literature, has presented papers at many meetings and symposia, and has been an instructor in short courses given to a variety of audiences.
The leading scientific event for the coatings industry, the American Coatings Conference provides a world-class, high-level technical and research forum, rallying leading industry experts from coatings manufacturers, their suppliers, universities and government partners across the nation and around the world. More than 6,100 participants from 61 countries attended the previous conference in 2010.
The American Coatings Association, co-host of the American Coatings Conference and Show, is a voluntary, nonprofit trade association working to advance the needs of the paint and coatings industry and the professionals who work in it.