ACA Science & Technology Committee Initiatives

Background & ACA Action

The members of the Science &Technology Committee direct the outreach and programming for research and development (R&D) and innovation-management professionals. The committee supports ACA technical publications, scientific education, and professional development programs, and spearheads efforts to enhance relationships with academic institutions supporting the education of new coatings technology professionals. Importantly, the committee continually explores new services that can provide value to the technical community. The committee will have its next in-person meeting on May 1, 2024 at the Coatings Show.

The work of the Science & Technology Committee is organized into five subcommittees: conference programs, STEM education, technology roadmaps, R&D management and publications. Recent accomplishments and initiatives include:

• STEM student outreach – A short-form video featuring members of industry talking excitedly about what a career in the coatings industry offers anchors the association’s new Explore Coatings hub at www.Paint.org/explorecoatings. This effort highlights the coatings industry as an attractive post-graduate prospect for STEM students, with a call to action to Explore Coatings! The web hub also offers points of connection for this target audience with an online Career Center job board; complimentary association membership; profiles of universities with programs for coatings science; and numerous examples of myriad applications of coatings and how they support sustainability. ACA’s outreach effort is ramping up on its social media platforms and synergies with it’s CoatingsTech magazine inaugural Education issue planned for later this year.

• Technology Roadmaps – Building on the momentum of the first ACA Technology Roadmap published in August on “Sustained Use of Critical Materials,” a second was published in February on “Lightweighting and Novel Substrates.” The R&D Management Subcommittee is considering advancing suggestions from the roadmaps. The series of technology roadmaps point to where future “open innovation,” pre-competitive research may be needed to aid industry-wide advances. The third technology roadmap on “Durability and Water-resistance of Waterborne Systems” has been released on paint.org, and work has begun on developing the next technology roadmap. The ACA technology roadmaps are not intended to promote or advance any product, practice, solution, or technology over or to the exclusion of others, nor to restrain in any fashion the individual competitive efforts of any member or non-member.

ACA Staff

Riaz Zaman
Senior Counsel

Suzanne Chang
Counsel