H. N. Cheng (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is currently a research chemist at Southern Regional Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Orleans, where he works on projects involving improved utilization of commodity agricultural materials, green chemistry, and polymer reactions. Prior to 2009 he worked for Hercules Incorporated, where he was involved at various times with new product development, team and project leadership, new business evaluation, pioneering research, and supervision of analytical research.

Over the years, his research interests have included green polymer chemistry, agro-based materials, biocatalysis, pulp and paper chemistry, functional foods, polymer characterization, and NMR spectroscopy. He was elected an ACS Fellow (2009), a POLY Fellow (2010), and an AGFD Fellow (2018). He received the ACS Volunteer Service Award (2016), Tillmans-Skolnick Award for Outstanding Service from the ACS Delaware Section (2006), and Distinguished Service (2005) and Special Service (2015) Awards from ACS Polymer Division. He has authored or co-authored over 250 papers, 26 patent publications, co-edited 20 books, and organized or co-organized 33 symposia at national ACS meetings since 2003. Richard A. Gross (Ph.D., Polytechnic University) holds Constellation Chaired Professorship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and is also a member of RPI's Departments of Chemistry and Biology as well as Biomedical Engineering.

Previously he was on the faculty of University of Massachusetts (Lowell) (1988?1998) and occupied the Herman F. Mark Chair Professorship at Polytechnic University (1998-2013). His research is focused on developing biocatalytic routes to bio-based materials, combining chemical methods with cell-free and whole-cell biocatalytic systems to produce a large number of new biobased materials. He has over 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals with approximately 26,000 citations, has edited 7 books, and has been granted or filed 26 patents. He has received numerous awards, including Presidential Green Chemistry Award in the academic category (2003), induction into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2007), Turner Alfrey Visiting Professor (2010), POLY Fellow (2015), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bio-Environmental Polymer Society (2017), and the 2018 recipient of the Affordable Green Chemistry Award from the ACS. He founded SyntheZyme, LLC (where he serves as Chief Technology Officer) in 2009 to commercialize technologies developed in his laboratory. Patrick B. Smith (Ph.

D., Michigan State University) is an Adjunct Professor at both Michigan State University and Central Michigan University. He joined the Dow Chemical Company in 1974, rising to the rank of Fellow prior to his retirement in 2007. At Dow, he served with Cargill Dow Polymers, which launched the IngeoTM PLA line of products. After his retirement from Dow, he consulted with Archer Daniels Midland, acting as ADM's R&D leader for their joint venture with Metabolix, which commercialized MirelTM PHA biopolymers. He also supported ADM's bio-based propylene glycol product launch. He received the Sigma Xi Midland Chapter Award in 1987 and the ACS Midland Section Award for Outstanding Achievement and Promotion of the Chemical Sciences in 1998. He was named an ACS Fellow in 2013 and received the ACS E.

Ann Nalley Award in 2014. He is also the recipient of Dow Analytical Science's V.A. Stenger Award in 1984 and the Dow Michigan R&D Scientists' Award in 1994. He has co-authored nearly 500 Dow technical reports, 90 publications, and 3 patents.