​AkzoNobel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Chemistry

            The 2011 AkzoNobel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Chemistry was presented to Dr. Rong Tong at the ACS National Meeting in Denver August 27 – September 1. Dr. Tong completed the Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering in 2010 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Prof. Jianjun Cheng. His research on growth of polylactide from active drugs for polymeric nanomedicine particles and subsequent uses appears in sixteen refereed journal articles and two pending patent applications.  Dr. Tong is now a postdoctoral researcher with Profs. Robert Langer and Daniel Kohane at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The award was presented during a symposium in honor of Dr. Tong in the Division of Polymer Chemistry.