John West
Dr. John West has been director of the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University since January 1997 and played a major role in the growth of the Institute under the directorship of Dr. J. William Doane. He was appointed a Senior Research Fellow in 1984 and concentrated on the development of polymer dispersed liquid crystals. He became Associate Director for Applied Programs in 1988. He participated in the preparation of the proposal for the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials (ALCOM). He initiated its Industrial Partnership program, which has attracted over 30 North American companies. In parallel with his administrative duties, Dr. West maintains an active and productive research program, publishing more than 75 articles and is named inventor on 10 U.S. patents owned by the university related to liquid crystal materials. He concentrates research on the development of PDLC and cholesteric materials for use in electro-optic devices and on photoalignment of liquid crystals.
JOHN L. WEST Research and Graduate Studies Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 Tel: (330) 672-2851 Fax: (330) 672-2658 e-mail: johnwest@lci.kent.edu
Current Position Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies* * On Leave 7/2006-6/2007 as NorTech Fellow Professor of Chemistry
Education 1980 Ph.D. (Chemistry) Carnegie Mellon-University 1979 M.S. (Chemistry) Carnegie Mellon-University 1976 B.S. (Chemistry) College of William and Mary
Experience 1997-2003 Director, Liquid Crystal Institute 1997-2002 Director, NSF Science & Technology Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials (ALCOM) 1997-2003 Director, Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program 1997-present Professor, Chemistry, Kent State University 1990-1996 Associate Director, Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University 1984-present Senior Research Fellow, Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University 1981-1984 Director of Research, Digital Recording Corp., Salt Lake City, Utah 1980-1981 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Utah
Professional Societies American Chemical Society American Association for the Advancement of Science Society for Information Display SPIE - Society of Photoelectric and Optical Engineers Sigma Xi International Liquid Crystal Society
Awards Doolittle Prize of the American Chemical Society, 1989 Goodyear Corporate Inventor Award, 1997