Southern Miss Polymer Professor Lochhead Wins Award for Best Paper

Dr. Robert Lochhead, director of the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at The University of Southern Mississippi, can offer living proof that a voice alone is enough to produce an award-winning presentation.

Lochhead and his Southern Miss colleagues were recently honored with the Allan B. Black Award for the best paper on makeup technology presented by the Board of Directors of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. Lochhead's paper titled “High Performance Color Cosmetic Coating for Prevention of Skin Injury Due to Thermal Insult” was delivered at the Society's annual meeting last December despite his absence.

Hospitalized at the time, Lochhead was unable to attend the meeting in New York. Concerned about a message that might be sent by a ‘no-show' presenter, he adjusted the power-point slides to tell the story and arranged a voice-over on the presentation.

“And we wound up winning, even though I wasn't there to give the presentation,” said Lochhead. “Isn't technology wonderful?”

Lochhead points out that ‘make-up technology' is usually used to beautify but the technology outlined in his presentation represents a camouflage paint designed to protect military men and women from the ballistic thermal blast of an improvised explosive device (IED).

“The technology is now in the process of scale-up and commercialization,” said Lochhead. “The Allan B. Black Award is not given every year – it is handed out only when there is a truly deserving recipient. We are elated that the Society of Cosmetic Chemists chose to honor us with this award.”