College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

CBE alum Determan receives Industrial Progress Award at AIChE Annual Meeting

Determan with award and Juan de Pablo
Determan (right) receives the Industrial Progress Award from AIChE’s Juan de Pablo.

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering alumnus Michael D. Determan was honored with the Industrial Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) at the organization’s Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.

He received a B.S. from Iowa State in 2001 (with a double major in economics) and his PH.D. in chemical engineering from Iowa State in 2006, under the guidance of Dr. Surya Mallapragada.

The AIChE Industrial Progress Award recognizes significant contributions to industrial practice by an individual working in industries served by chemical engineers. The selection of this early-career award is based on the impact of the contributions, the magnitude of the challenges involved, and innovation and creativity.

Determan is a senior technical manager with 3M Company’s Corporate Research Materials Laboratory. He leads a team of 3M researchers responsible for developing the company’s portfolio of sustainable, bio-based materials; high performance coatings; and new adhesive materials for a variety of industrial, electronic, and health care applications. This includes the development of a new pressure sensitive adhesive technology for health care products that reduce the risk of medical adhesive-related skin injury. He was the primary technical leader for the initial commercialization of this technology — which was recognized by Popular Science magazine with a “Best of What’s New” award in 2011, and an Edison Award in 2012. 3M also honored Determan with its Circle of Technical Excellence and Innovation Award in recognition of his work on Gentle-to-Skin Silicone Adhesive technology. He received the Professional Progress in Engineering Award (PPEA) from Iowa State’s College of Engineering in 2015.

Determan is an inventor on 13 granted patents, co-author of seven journal articles, and a book chapter.

A summary of all the awards and honors presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting can be found here.

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