Richard J. Spontak

Richard John Spontak (born 1961, Pottsville, Pennsylvania) is an American chemical engineer and polymer materials scientist. He is a Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at North Carolina State University.^[1]

Spontak has collaborated extensively with researchers at international institutions, including the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).^[1]

In March 2024, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from NTNU.^[2]

Spontak was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1961 and resided with his parents (Peter and Helen D. Spontak) in Saint Clair, Pennsylvania.^[3] In 1975, he was the Pottsville Republican Spelling Bee champion and participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.^[4][3] In 1976, his poem celebrating the U.S. bicentennial was entered into the U.S. Congressional Record.^[5] He earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1983 from the Pennsylvania State University.^[4][6] Later supervised by Michael C. Williams, Spontak received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988.^[7][8]

He subsequently pursued post-doctoral research in liquid crystalline polymers with Alan H. Windle at the University of Cambridge (UK)^[9][10] and in small-angle scattering with Tormod Riste and Jon Samseth at the Institute for Energy Technology (Norway).^[11]

In 1988, Spontak was a Research Scholar at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom.^[9] In 1989, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Energy Technology in Kjeller, Norway.^[12]

Spontak began his career as a researcher in the Corporate Research Division at The Procter and Gamble Company, where he remained from 1990 until 1992.^[1] In 1992, he joined the faculty at North Carolina State University.^[4] He is currently an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate and Graduate Professor, Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at North Carolina State University.^{[13][14][15][16]}

He has also held visiting appointments at various universities around the world, including the Lars Onsager Professor at NTNU in Norway,^[17] Erudite Professor at the Mahatma Gandhi University in India,^[18][19] Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Freiburg in Germany, and Tewkesbury Fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia.^[20]

He has sat on the advisory boards of more than 20 international journals and holds editorial positions in three of them as of 2023.^[1]

Spontak's research includes over 300 peer-reviewed journal publications, including:^[1]

• Jinnai, Hiroshi; Nishikawa, Yukihiro; Spontak, Richard J.; Smith, Steven D.; Agard, David A.; Hashimoto, Takeji (2000-01-17). "Direct Measurement of Interfacial Curvature Distributions in a Bicontinuous Block Copolymer Morphology". Physical Review Letters. 84 (3): 518–521. Bibcode:2000PhRvL..84..518J. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.518. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 11015953.
• Merkel, T. C.; Freeman, B. D.; Spontak, R. J.; He, Z.; Pinnau, I.; Meakin, P.; Hill, A. J. (2002-04-19). "Ultrapermeable, Reverse-Selective Nanocomposite Membranes". Science. 296 (5567): 519–522. Bibcode:2002Sci...296..519M. doi:10.1126/science.1069580. ISSN 0036-8075.
• Shankar, R.; Ghosh, T. K.; Spontak, R. J. (2007-09-03). "Electroactive Nanostructured Polymers as Tunable Actuators". Advanced Materials. 19 (17): 2218–2223. Bibcode:2007AdM....19.2218S. doi:10.1002/adma.200602644. ISSN 0935-9648.
• Peddinti, Bharadwaja S. T.; Scholle, Frank; Vargas, Mariana G.; Smith, Steven D.; Ghiladi, Reza A.; Spontak, Richard J. (2019). "Inherently self-sterilizing charged multiblock polymers that kill drug-resistant microbes in minutes". Materials Horizons. 6 (10): 2056–2062. doi:10.1039/C9MH00726A. ISSN 2051-6347.
• Sandru, Marius; Sandru, Eugenia M.; Ingram, Wade F.; Deng, Jing; Stenstad, Per M.; Deng, Liyuan; Spontak, Richard J. (2022). "An integrated materials approach to ultrapermeable and ultraselective CO 2 polymer membranes". Science. 376 (6588): 90–94. doi:10.1126/science.abj9351. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 35357934.

• 2006 – Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science & Engineering, American Chemical Society (PMSE Division)^[21][22]
• 2007 – Ernst Ruska Prize, German Electron Microscopy Society^[23][24][25]
• 2008 – Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award, American Chemical Society (Rubber Division)^[20]
• 2011 – Colwyn Medal, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining^[26][20][27]
• 2022 – Global Award Winner: Research Project of the Year, Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK)^[28][29]
• 2022 – SPSJ International Award, Society of Polymer Science (Japan)^[30]
• 2022 – Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings, American Chemical Society (PMSE Division)^[27]
• 2022 – Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, North Carolina State University^[31]
• 2023 – Underwood Medal, Institution of Chemical Engineers^[32][20][33]
• 2024 – Medal for Excellence, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (UK)^[34]
• 2025 – Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society^[35]
• 2025 – Hollomon Award for Materials and Society, Acta Materialia, Inc^[36]

Spontak is currently a fellow of the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society (PMSE Division), Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, International Association of Advanced Materials,^[37][38] Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Society of Plastics Engineers.^[11][39] He is also a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.^[4]

Since 1987, Spontak has been married to Josephine U. Spontak, with whom he has two children, Danielle and Joshua.^[4]

• Official faculty page (North Carolina State University)