David A. Dillard, who holds the Virginia Tech Adhesive and Sealant Science Professorship endowed by the Adhesive and Sealant Council, will receive the 2013 Wake Memorial Medal  at the Society for Adhesion and Adhesives' international conference, Adhesion '13, in September 2013, at the National Science Learning Centre at the University of York, United Kingdom.

The Wake Medal is awarded triennially to a person in the field of adhesion or adhesives who has made outstanding contributions over a substantial period of time. There are only eight previous recipients.

Dillard is active in the area of characterizing, designing, and predicting the durability of polymeric materials, having industrial, academic, and government laboratory experience in the field. His special interest is in the area of adhesive bonding, and he has worked on a range of structural, microelectronic, and pressure sensitive adhesive applications. He has also worked in the area of sealants and other elastomeric systems. Recently, he has engaged in applying polymer principles to the time, temperature, and humidity dependent properties of fuel cell membranes and sealants in order to develop appropriate models for characterizing and improving system durability.

A major thrust of Dillard's research work is the development of appropriate test methods for the evaluation of adhesive bonds, analysis and design procedures for adhesive joints, and studies of the durability of such systems when exposed to a variety of environmental conditions. Recent efforts include durability of fuel cell materials and behavior of adhesives under impact conditions.

Dillard served for five years as director of Virginia Tech's Center for Adhesive and Sealant Science and served as founder and interim director of the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute at Virginia Tech. 

Dillard is a past president of the Adhesion Society, and is a Robert L. Patrick Fellow of that organization. In 2010, he received the 3M Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science.

Dillard has co-authored more than 160 referenced journal articles and several books and numerous book chapters and has received best paper awards from the Society for Experimental Mechanics and the Society for Wood Science and Technology.

He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly the University of Missouri at Rolla) in engineering mechanics in 1976 and 1978, respectively. He received his doctorate in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech in 1981.

Share this story