Conference
Highlights
/// CoatingsTech Conference 2025
Conference Highlights
/// CoatingsTech Conference 2025
Coatings and Technologies for a Resilient Future
ACA’s 2025 CoatingsTech Conference was a remarkable success that brought together more than 200 members of the coatings industry and academia for three days to learn and share about the industry’s latest science and technology developments. The conference embraced the theme, “Coatings and Technologies for a Resilient Future,” with a series of specialized lectures and technical sessions. It also offered attendees an unparalleled opportunity to network with peers.
Keynote Address
Andrea Wagner Watts, building science education manager at GAF, delivered the keynote address titled, “Future-proofing Buildings: Pushing the Envelope Toward a More Resilient Future.” Watts shared insight on how critical coatings are to improving the overall performance of the building enclosures through application innovation.
With more than 15 years of industry experience, Watts holds multiple patents and has published on building science, assembly interfaces, durability and resilience. She serves as the Air Barrier Association of America’s (ABAA) first vice chair; co-chairs ABBA’s Technical Committee; and chairs the ASTM International’s E06 Task Group on air barrier systems and the ASTM D08 Task Group on Roof Air Barriers.
Short Courses, Technical Sessions, and More
Prior to conference kick-off, ACA hosted a series of four specially designed short courses addressing both the fundamentals and emerging developments in coatings technology. Short Course titles included Coatings “101”: An Introduction; Smart, Active & Multi-Functional Coatings; Scientific Approach to Formulating with Waterborne Additives; and Bio-based Materials and Sustainability. The conference then kicked off for attendees who were able to customize their learning experience and choose from more than 35 advanced technical sessions curated under numerous topical areas: Protective Coatings; Architectural Coatings: Functional Coatings; Analytical Methods & Artificial Intelligence; Industrial and Specialty Coatings; Bio-based and Renewable Materials; Durability; and Coating Application Technology. Additionally, the featured 35+ Posters displayed over the course of the first two days!
Supplementing the technical sessions, the second day of the conference featured a technical focus lecture on service life prediction of coatings from a vehicle manufacturer’s perspective. That lecture offered a preview of the conference’s third day, which focused on Service Life Prediction from a variety of angles.
Mattiello Award Lecture
On the second day of the conference, Dr. Lipiin Sung, research physicist and project leader in the Infrastructure Materials Group of the Materials and Structural Systems Division of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), delivered the Mattiello Memorial Lecture. Her lecture, titled “Measurement Science for Coatings: from Color Appearance to Long-Term Durability Assessment,” addressed a range of considerations, from color appearance measurement and rending; scratch and mar characterization; interface/interphase characterization; structure–property– performance relationship; long-term durability assessment; the linkage (methodology and data) of the material properties to long-term durability; as well as service life prediction.
She also shared her current research on circular economy (micro- and nano-plastics) and a commercially viable version of an accelerated weathering device, known as the Simulated Photodegradation via High Energy Radiant Exposure (SPHERE), for wide adoption in the future.
CoatingsTech Best Paper Award
The CoatingsTech Best Paper Award was presented to David Fairhurst, Ph.D., president of Colloid Consultants, Ltd. Fairhurst received the honor for his paper, “Low Field (LF)-NMR Relaxation – A Useful Technique for QC and to Determine the Equivalency of Materials for Coatings Formulations,” coauthored by Ravi Sharma, Ph.D., and principal research fellow at Mageleka Inc.; and Ralph Jan Wörheide, M.Eng., and president and founder of Metromation Inc.
Fairhurst and his co-authors’ paper presents the application of Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF-NMR) relaxation as a powerful, fast, and non-destructive analytical tool for evaluating and routinely characterizing the performance of aqueous and non-aqueous dispersions of colored materials, particularly in the context of coatings formulations. Utilizing a small, benchtop LF-NMR spectrometer, the case studies presented emphasize how meaningful physicochemical information and insights can be obtained under real-use conditions, without the need for dilution, extensive sample preparation or destructive testing.
The CoatingsTech Best Paper Award recognizes the best overall paper contributed to the CoatingsTech Conference and is accompanied by a cash prize.
Student Focus
Notably, the CoatingsTech Conference invited student participation and featured a dedicated Poster Session, during which students showcased their research and findings and had an opportunity to discuss their work with other conference attendees. Earlier in the day, students toured an industry company facility. On the final day of the conference, ACA presented Student Poster Awards to three students, recognizing the excellence of their posters and research.
Ayda Dadras, a student at North Dakota State University, received the first place Student Poster Award for her work, “Water Transport Mechanisms in Commercially Available Biobased Polymer Films.” Marcel Roy Domalanta, a student at North Dakota State University, received the second place Student Poster Award for his work, “Corrosion-resistant Soybean Extract containing Fluoropolymer Coatings.” And Jiayue Huang, a student at the University of Michigan, received the third place Student Poster Award for her work, “Wear-Resistant Bilayer Surface Design for Scale-Independent De-Icing.”
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