Gerald G. Fuller - 1997 Bingham Medalist

Chemical Engineer

Awarded Bingham Medal 1997

Fellow, Elected 2015

Gerald “Gerry” G. Fuller was born on April 7, 1953. He graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary in 1975. He then attended the California Institute of Technology, studying under L. Gary Leal, and graduated with an M.S. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1980, both in Chemical Engineering. While still a student, Fuller worked for ATCO Research and Development, Calgary, as a laboratory assistant (1972), Imp Oil Ltd., Edmonton, as a gas plant operator (1973), and Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, as an assistant engineer (1974). After obtaining his PhD in 1980, he served as a visiting scientist at the Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolecules in Strasbourg, France before accepting the position of Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University in 1981. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1985 and Professor in 1990. He has held sabbatical and visiting professor positions at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ (1987), Katholieke University in Leuven, Belgium (1989) as well as at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland (1992) and Ecole des Mines de Paris in Nice, France (1994). He became Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford in 1996, a position he held until 2001. Additionally, he was the Holtz lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 2003, Julian C. Smith lectureship honoree at Cornell University in 2004, and Pearson lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2004. He held a Visiting Professorship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kings College in London from 1999 to 2004. Fuller became the Fletcher Jones II Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University in 2006.

Fuller has pioneered many experimental techniques in the broad area of optical rheometry. These include simple, inexpensive methods for high-speed, time-resolved simultaneous measurements of extinction angle and birefringence, with analogous methods for measuring light scattering, infrared dichroism and Raman scattering. His group has clearly demonstrated the power of the various optical techniques for understanding molecular orientation of a wide variety of complex fluids and flow fields. The range of complex fluids is vast and includes linear polymer melts and solutions, gels, block copolymers, liquid crystal polymers, rodlike polymer solutions, polymer blends, emulsions, suspensions, as well as – in more recent years – complex surface flows in thin Langmuir films.. These rheo-optical techniques are nicely summarized in Fuller’s book, Optical Rheometry of Complex Fluids and two of these techniques were developed into commercial rheometers. The Rheo-Optical Analyzer measured birefringence and conservative dichroism of fluids in a variety of linear and nonlinear shear flows. The RFX Extensional Rheometer measured the birefringence and pressure drop in low-viscosity viscoelastic fluids in an uniaxial extensional flow centered between two opposing jets. Examples of the complex fluid physics where Fuller’s group furthered our understanding include the conformation of flexible polymers in flow, alignment of rodlike polymers in flow, the structure and evolution of liquid crystal defect textures, and the dynamics of miscible polymer blends. In each of these areas, Fuller chose particular rheo-optical methods aimed at testing specific ideas about how such materials should behave. In many cases, the experiments uncovered new aspects of complex fluid physics that had not been anticipated in advance. He continues to lead innovations in the field through his ongoing work on interfacial rheology of complex fluids that can assemble at surfaces to form viscoelastic films.

Fuller is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering as well as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1993), The Society of Rheology (2015), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016). He has served the rheological community extensively through roles such as President of The Society of Rheology (1999-2001), President of the International Committee on Rheology (2008-2012), and General Secretary of the International Committee on Rheology (2016). Among many other honors, Fuller was awarded the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1985), Cox Medal for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research at Stanford (2006), The Society of Rheology Distinguished Service Award (2009), and Milton van Dyke Award from the APS Division of Fluid Mechanics (2015). He holds honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Crete (2009) and KU Leuven, Belgium (2014).

Sources

Fuller, Gerald G. American Men and Women of Science, 29th ed.; Gale: Farmington Hills, MI, 2011; Vol. 2.

Gerald G. Fuller . Fuller Research Group, Chemical Engineering, Standord University (accessed Aug 21, 2019).

Note: This biography is an adaptation of the following article previously published by The Society of Rheology.

Gerry Fuller 1997 Bingham Medalist. Rheology Bulletin 1997, 66(2) .

Photo Credit

AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.