The Department of Polymer Science was established as an autonomous division of the University of Southern Mississippi under the direction of Dr. Shelby F. Thames on July 1, 1970, offering B.S. and M.S. degrees in polymer science. In 1972 a Ph.D. program was added, making the program the first in the nation to offer B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in polymer science. In 1998, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning elevated the Department to the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials and allowed the School to offer graduate degrees in polymer science and engineering. Permission was granted to offer B.S. polymer science and engineering degrees in 2012, the IHL approved the name change to School of Polymer Science and Engineering in 2017, and ABET accreditation was granted in 2019. The department began with a green chemistry foundation, with research in sustainable coatings based on tung oil derivatives, to become the first federally funded research facility at USM. Today the school has 14 faculty and has graduated over 900 BS and more than 300 PhDs, with research in biodegradable and renewable materials, biomaterials, advanced composites, and optoelectronic materials, and hosts the International Waterborne Symposium (in its 49<sup>th</sup> year), directed to the science and technology of surface coatings, with a continued focus on sustainability.

Fifty-two years of polymer science and engineering at Southern Miss

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.