Dr. Jabarin is the founding director of the Polymer Institute and professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in Polymer Science from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He has fifteen years industrial plastic research and development experience, ranging from fundamental plastics R&D and product development to manufacturing start-up and support. Prior to joining the University of Toledo in 1987, Dr. Jabarin was manager of the Plastics Technology Department and Owens-Illinois There he served as the principal researcher and author of a number of patents and trade secrets which resulted in successful commercial products and licensed technologies for Owens-
Illinois.
Dr. Jabarin was the driving force in planning, organizing, and financing the 1987 establishment of the Polymer Institute. He initiated and coordinated industrial and university contributions and responsibilities. Since that time, as its Director, he has been responsible for planning, budgeting, staffing, directing, supervising and allocation of the Institute’s technical resources for conducting research and development projects for the industry on a contractual basis.
Dr. Jabarin is also the director and the lead investigator for the PET/Polyester Industrial Consortium and the Active Barrier Consortium which have enjoyed the support of national and international companies. The consortium research objectives are to discover new applications, improve barrier properties, as well as processing and property improvements for the versatile polyester materials.
Overall research income generated by the Polymer Institute since 1987 exceeds $12M. Dr. Jabarin has served as the principal and/or co-principal investigator for major projects. Funds generated from these projects alone total over $6M.
His research interests are in the areas of polymer science, technology and engineering with a special emphasis on the interrelationships among polymer processing and polymer structure and properties. He teaches courses in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. 36 M.S. and 16 Ph.D. students have completed their research under his direction. Dr. Jabarin is the author of more than 100 technical papers and presentations, and holds 35 U.S. and foreign patents.
Dr. Jabarin was elected Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers in 2007. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Blow Molding Division of The Society of Plastics Engineers in 2005, the 1991 International Institute’s “Key to the Golden Door” award, The University of Toledo’s “Outstanding Faculty Research Award” in 1995, Best Paper Presentation at the 1992 Annual Meeting of The Society of Plastics Engineers, Blow Molding Division, and the Outstanding Paper Presentation to the American Oil Chemists Society in 1987. He was designated a “University College Fellow” at The University of Toledo in recognition of outstanding cooperation and solid teaching in 1997 and became a member of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars in 1994.