SOLON, OH - Dr. Gordon P. Bierwagen of North Dakota State University’s Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials will receive the Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings for 2013.

Bierwagen began his career in the coatings industry in 1969 working initially as a Research Chemist in the Electrochemical Engineering Department of Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH, labs. In 1969, he joined Sherwin-Williams Co. in Chicago as a Senior Chemist and later became Laboratory Director while gathering practical experience in industrial and architectural coatings. In 1987, he joined Avery Decorative Films Division as Director of R&D in Schererville, IL, where the focus was on industrial processes for continuously applying coatings and films on a variety of substrates. In 1989, he joined the Polymer and Coatings Department of North Dakota State University as a professor. He was Chair of the department for 10 years and is currently Director of the Center for Surface Protection