Katie Burdette-Trofimov Recognized with Honorable Mention for Innovation in Removable Adhesive Technologies
June 17, 2025 — Chicago, IL — The Pressure Sensitive Tape Council (PSTC) is proud to announce Edward Lee, Ph.D., of Dow Chemical, as the recipient of the 2025 Carl Dahlquist Award, the organization’s highest honor for technical contributions in the pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) industry. The award was presented after PSTC’s Tape Week 2025 for Lee’s outstanding Technical Track presentation showcasing groundbreaking research into nanoparticle dispersions and film morphology in waterborne acrylic PSAs.
Lee, an Applications R&D Research Scientist in Dow’s Acrylic Adhesives business, was recognized for his presentation titled “Property Enhancements with Experimental Nanoparticle Dispersions and Film Morphology of High Performance Waterborne Acrylic Pressure Sensitive Adhesives.” His work — co-authored with Joseph Binder, Kylie Kennedy, Johnpeter Ngunjiri, Michael Mallozzi and William DenBleyker — addresses one of the industry’s critical challenges: enhancing the cohesive strength and heat resistance of waterborne PSAs while maintaining their inherent environmental and processing advantages.
Lee’s innovative study demonstrated how incorporating various experimental nanoparticles into a high-solids, waterborne PSA system can significantly modulate adhesion and thermal resistance properties. Advanced microscopy revealed how film surface morphology impacts adhesive performance, offering insight into structure–property relationships vital for next-generation PSA formulations.
PSTC also presented an Honorable Mention for the first time to Katie Burdette-Trofimov, Ph.D., Senior Product Development Chemist at Franklin International, for her Tape Week 2025 presentation titled “Adhesive Formulations Utilizing Microspheres for High Adhesion but Long-Term Removable Applications.”
Burdette-Trofimov’s research explored the increasingly important role of water-borne microsphere adhesives in emerging PSA markets, including linerless labels and removable graphics. Her work examined how microsphere integration into adhesive formulations can achieve the dual goal of strong adhesion and clean removability — key to meeting market demands in logistics and decorative applications.
The Carl Dahlquist Award is named after the pioneering scientist known for establishing the Dahlquist Criterion, a foundational principle in PSA design. PSTC presents this award annually to the most outstanding technical paper delivered at Tape Week, based on peer evaluation for innovation, technical merit and practical impact.
