UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 2025 Richard E. Tressler Lecture in Materials will be held at 3:05 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building on the Penn State University Park campus. Arthur Martin, vice president of research and development for North America at Arkema, will deliver the lecture, “Arkema: Innovative Materials for a Sustainable World” and receive the 2025 R.E. Tressler Award.
Martin's lecture will focus on Arkema’s sustainable research and development activities in an ever-changing world where innovation must be able to address energy and technology challenges. Arkema is a leading specialty chemicals and advanced materials company.
Martin has more than 25 years of experience in strategic global research and development. At Arkema, he is responsible for leading sustainable growth markets in advance materials, specialty adhesives and coatings
Martin is a gold sponsor of the Chemical Innovation Exchange; a member of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Engineers, the American Chemical Society, and the Scientific History Institute; and a board member of the Innovation Research Interchange and several renowned academic research institutions.
He received the Black Engineer of the Year and Minorities in Research Science Emerald Award for Research Leadership in February 2012. Martin previously held research and development leadership positions at Corning, Daikin America and Dupont. He has been granted 22 U.S. patents and has led the commercialization of many products.
Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York and a master’s degree in polymers science and engineering and a doctoral degree in material chemistry both from New York University Tandon School of Engineering.
The R.E. Tressler Award will be presented to Martin during the lecture. Named after Richard E. Tressler, who was an international leader in the development of high temperature materials and served as head of Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 1991 to 2001, the award honors Tressler's significant contributions to the field.
The lecture is free and open to the public.