Kevin J. Edgar, professor in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, has been named associate dean at the Virginia Tech Graduate School.

Edgar will assist with the academic enterprises at the Graduate School, including the graduate teaching assistant workshop and professional development. He also will work in concert with associate deans William Huckle and Kenneth Wong and with Vice President and Dean for Graduate Education Karen P. DePauw on projects supporting the school’s signature Transforming Graduate Education initiative.

“It is a great privilege to become part of the extraordinary team of talented, collaborative individuals that make up the Graduate School at Virginia Tech,” Edgar said. “I am looking forward to working with them to make our graduate programs even stronger and to even more effectively serve our students, the university, the commonwealth, and our nation.”

“Dr. Edgar has been a strong supporter of graduate education and it is a pleasure to have him join the Graduate School,” said DePauw. “His experience mentoring graduate students and his commitment to helping students succeed and thrive during their education experience will benefit graduate students and programs.”

Edgar’s research interests include the synthesis of novel derivatives of natural, renewable, benign, diverse, abundant, and sustainable polysaccharide derivatives, based on the belief that their potential to replace unsustainable fossil-based materials is vast and largely untapped, as is their potential to create high-performance materials that will serve society.

Edgar is an active member of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute, with its macromolecular science and engineering interdisciplinary graduate program, and has also been active in the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, known as ICTAS, and now is a leader of the Center for Engineered Health. Additionally, he has been active in the Fralin Life Science Institute, where he serves on the executive committee of the Center for Drug Discovery and Delivery.

He is an editor of the journal Carbohydrate Polymers, associate editor of the journal Cellulose, and a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for which he currently serves in ACS governance as a councilor. Edgar was named one of the inaugural class of Fellows of the ACS, is a Fellow of the ACS CELL Division, and received the Anselme Payen award CELL in 2016. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been awarded more than 20 U.S. patents.

Edgar received his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University, and his Ph.D. in from Duke University. 

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