Gerard Ring, chair of the Department of Paper Science and Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP), has been named a Fellow of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, and converting industries.

The honorary title is given to individuals who have made extraordinary technical or service contributions to the industry and/or the association and is bestowed upon less than three percent of TAPPI’s membership, the largest international group of technically experienced people in the industry.

A TAPPI member since 1982, Ring has been active in the Lake States Local Section and been a member of the Lake States Executive Committee since 1987, serving as secretary, treasurer, vice chair, and chairman of the local section. In addition, Ring was the Lake States Representative to the Local Section Operations Committee from 2000 – 2002 and chaired the LSOC Leadership Committee in 2001 and 2002. Ring was a member of the Local Section Transition Team in 2002 and a member of the TAPPI Operating Committee. Ring has served on the board of directors since 2002.

A faculty member in the College of Natural Resources since 1986, Ring became a full professor in 1997 and was named department chair in 2006. He was named a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow in 1992 and has been listed three times in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Author of the award-winning "Paper Quest" videotapes on various paper properties, Ring also has been awarded three patents on super absorbent technology. In 2007, Ring was awarded the WiSyS Technical Innovation Scholar award for his invention of a pulp preprocessor to improve the manufacture of paper.

In 2003 he wrote the foreword and was the lead editor for "Colloid Chemistry of Papermaking Materials," an in-depth study of the aspects of colloid chemistry that are key components in papermaking. Ring has edited or contributed to fourteen publications, including the best-selling "Colloid Chemistry of Papermaking Materials" textbook published by TAPPI PRESS in 2003.

Ring also is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Paper Industry Management Association. He spent five years with Kimberly-Clark prior to joining the UWSP faculty. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany, and master’s and doctorate degrees from the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton.

-30-

tm/vc/Ring TAPPI award 08