Rigoberto Advincula has earned the Frank Tiller Award from the American Filtration and Separations Society for leadership in engineering and education. A polymer researcher at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a Governor’s Chair Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Advincula was honored during an awards presentation at FILTCON26, held May 12–15 in Pittsburgh.
Named for Frank Tiller — a founding American Filtration and Separations Society member widely regarded as the father of modern filtration theory — the award recognizes lifetime scientific and engineering achievement in fluid-particle separation technology. Advincula was cited for work spanning new materials, 3D printed membranes and smart separation surfaces.
At ORNL, Advincula leads the Macromolecular Nanomaterials Group at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, where his research centers on the design, synthesis and characterization of polymers and nanomaterials.
Advincula is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining; the Royal Society of Chemistry; the Materials Research Society; and the American Chemical Society. His record includes 513 published works and 15 issued patents, with four additional patents pending. His many accolades most recently grew to include the Roy W. Tess Award for outstanding individual achievements and noteworthy contributions to coatings science, technology, and engineering from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering.
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