Kenneth Wynne, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, has been named a Distinguished Career Professor by the Office of the Provost of Virginia Commonwealth University.

The Distinguished Career Professor program was created to honor VCU’s tenured, long-term faculty members with sustained records of excellence in teaching, research and/or service and outstanding contributions to the university and college.

Wynne, an American Chemical Society Fellow, retired this spring from VCU after 19 years. “My teaching, mentoring graduate students, research and professional service have been very rewarding,” he said. “With this award, I look forward to teaching polymer science and sharing with my students new research in silicone surface science, especially developing an understanding of characteristics that minimize the adhesion of ice for applications such as wind turbines in cold climates.”

Wynne, whose research focus includes soft surface science, has pioneered processing technology for silicones, polyurethanes and fluoropolymers. After a career with the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Wynne joined the just-forming VCU School of Engineering in February 2000 and helped to build up its graduate program.

In 2016, he founded his own business, WynnVision LLC, based in VA Bio+Tech Park in Richmond, Virginia. The objective for this company is to prevent infections from medical devices. WynnVision was recently awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health to continue developing antimicrobial biomedical devices such as endotracheal tubes. Wynne said he will focus on securing intellectual property rights and U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for the company’s first product.

Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering, said Wynne’s many outstanding accomplishments have brought national and international visibility to the college and university.