Dow Chemical Scientists Receive Prestigious “Heroes of Chemistry” Award

Recognized for Breakthrough Plastics and Rubber Catalyst Technology

MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scientists from The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) who led the development of INSITE™ catalyst, a revolutionary technology that made possible highly-tailored materials bridging the properties of plastic and rubber, today were named among the 2015 “Heroes of Chemistry,” a prestigious award given by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

“True breakthroughs happen when we have a seat at our customer’s – and their customer’s – design table to inspire collaborative innovation. This highly coveted recognition is a testament to our scientists’ ability to foster that collaboration between industry, academia and consumers to deliver lasting solutions.”

“Innovation is a key driver of Dow’s growth strategy,” said A.N. Sreeram, Ph.D., Dow corporate vice president of research and development. “True breakthroughs happen when we have a seat at our customer’s – and their customer’s – design table to inspire collaborative innovation. This highly coveted recognition is a testament to our scientists’ ability to foster that collaboration between industry, academia and consumers to deliver lasting solutions.”

Polymer brands ENGAGE™ Polyolefin Elastomers, NORDEL™ EPDM and AFFINITY™ Polyolefin Elastomers from Dow, used in many of today’s growing consumer markets, including automotive, building and construction and consumer packaging, have been made possible by the breakthrough catalyst technology of INSITE™. These and other new-to-the-world polymer families derived from INSITE™ continue to revolutionize the plastics industry.

Scientists involved in the INSITE™ project include David Devore, Morris Edmondson, Pradeep Jain, George Knight, Brian Kolthammer, Shih-Yaw Law, Robert LaPointe, David Neithamer, Peter Nickias, Jasson Patton, Robert Rosen, James Stevens, Francis Timmers, Daniel VanderLende and David Wilson. Collectively, Dow’s research and development engine was responsible for more than 635 U.S. patents granted in 2014 — exceeding the previous year’s all-time record by more than 10 percent.

“Dow has a proven track record of disruptive, best-in-class innovations driven by our deep intimacy throughout the value chain – from monomer to market – to truly understand the needs of our customers and of consumers globally,” said Kim Ann Mink, Ph.D., business president, Dow Elastomers, Electrical and Telecommunications. “This recognition reflects great credit upon the many scientists and engineers at Dow and at companies around the world who have applied the latest in market-driven, technology-enabled solutions to move plastics and polymer innovation forward to meet some of our world’s most pressing challenges.”

Heroes of Chemistry are nominated by their respective companies to recognize talent, creativity and innovation. The program recognizes scientists whose innovative work in chemistry and chemical engineering led to commercial products that benefit the world. The commercial success of products in the marketplace is an important criterion for this honor, because Dow recognizes that good business results follow good science.

Other companies named 2015 Heroes of Chemistry include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, Gilead Sciences and Pfizer, Inc. The teams will be recognized in a ceremony on Aug. 16, during the Society’s 250th National Meeting & Exposition in Boston.

About Dow

Dow combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, marketdriven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high-growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than $58 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 product families are manufactured at 201 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

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