Faith A. Morrison - 2015 Distinguished Service Awardee

In a surprise presentation by SOR President Greg McKenna at the Bingham Banquet in Baltimore, Maryland, the Distinguished Service Award of The Society of Rheology was bestowed on Faith A. Morrison of Michigan Technological University. Faith is the tenth recipient of this award, which is given infrequently at the discretion of the Executive Committee in recognition of exceptional service to the Society. The announcement was greeted with a thunderous round of applause, as everyone in the banquet room had no doubt noticed Faith’s dedicated, ubiquitous, and admirable service to the Society. Faith began her formal service to SOR as chair of the ad hoc Committee on Constitutional Reform in the late 1990’s and then as chair of the Membership Committee from 1999-2003. Faith was elected Vice President from 2007 to 2009, President from 2009 to 2011, and Past President from 2011 to 2013.

Perhaps Faith’s most lasting legacy to the Society began in late 2003, when she followed Rakesh Gupta as editor of the Rheology Bulletin. The January 2004 issue boasted a completely revamped format and color printing. The Bulletin quickly expanded from around 12 to 24 to 32 pages, and now includes articles of general 10 interest to members, such as “Biofluid Rheology,” “Fun with Bubbles,” and “Dimensional Analysis of Free Surface Flows.” Through the Bulletin, Faith also introduced a rich photographic legacy to the SOR, including the annual group portraits of Bingham medalists and Metzner awardees, and an extensive archive of candid photos from plenary lectures, banquets, receptions, and poster sessions. A measure of how indispensible we now consider this photographic record – and Faith as photographer – was apparent when Greg had to recruit a volunteer to document Faith’s receipt of the Distinguished Service Award and, subsequently, her induction into the Society’s Inaugural class of Fellows.

In addition to her continuing service as Rheology Bulletin editor, Faith currently serves the Society as SOR Designee to the AIP Governing Board and is a vigorous and articulate participant in SOR business meetings. She has taught several rheology short courses and is the author of the popular rheology text Understanding Rheology (Oxford, 2001) and the recent An Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (Cambridge, 2013). She maintains an active online teaching presence through iTunesU, where her rheology course can be watched in its entirety, and through her YouTube channel “DrMorrisonMTU.”

Faith received her BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 1983, and her PhD in 1988 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she studied under Henning Winter. Following postdoctoral research at AT&T Bell Laboratories and École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI), Faith joined the faculty of Michigan Technological University, where she is now full professor. Faith has received numerous teaching awards at Michigan Tech and has spent sabbaticals at 3M, Korea University, and Princeton University. She and her husband Tom Co (also a professor of chemical engineering, and an artist who designed the ink wash version of SOR’s hourglass logo), run an informal film series for friends, and enjoy travel, hiking, winter sports, and fine dining.