Dr. William Landis
The University of Akron Board of Trustees approved the appointments of Dr. William J. Landis and Dr. Abraham Joy to UA’s renowned College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.
Landis was appointed as the G. Stafford Whitby Chair in Polymer Science. Landis comes from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, where he served as a professor of biochemistry and molecular pathology. His research interests include mineral-matrix structure and interaction in vertebrate tissues; bone, cartilage and tendon biochemistry; and tissue engineering and study of calcified tissues. Landis obtained his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Abraham Joy
Joy was appointed as an assistant professor of polymer science. He comes to UA from the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials. Joy obtained his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry at Tulane University.
“Drs. Joy and Landis will have a significant presence among the college’s faculty,” says Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.
“Both of these outstanding scientists will build upon the University’s increasing national prominence in biomaterials and biopolymer research,” adds Cheng.
The University of Akron’s College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering is the world’s first, and the nation’s largest, academic program devoted to the study of polymers. With 34 faculty members, five endowed professorships and chairs, and 300 graduate and postdoctoral students, the college's distinguished faculty and student body represent one of the world’s largest concentrations of polymer expertise. In late 2010, the college will open its fifth campus facility, the 42,750-square-foot National Polymer Innovation Center.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.