The Science and Technology Awards issued annually by the ACS Rubber Division represent the pinnacle of academic honors within the rubber product and tire manufacturing world. Indeed, the intellectual luminaries awarded at the group's 2025 Spring Technical Meeting March 5 have contributed foundational research to the understanding of polymer materials, processes and properties. The most prestigious award, the Charles Goodyear Medal, went to Gert Heinrich, senior professor at Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering at TU Dresden, and part of the Institute of Polymer Materials at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden. Heinrich's extensive accomplishments in the polymer space, namely in developing "rubberiomics", a pioneering, holistic approach to elastomers, will be featured in the March 31 issue of Rubber News, and online at rubbernews.com.

In addition to Heinrich, five other movers and shakers in the rubber sector were honored by the ACS Rubber Division.