Procter & Gamble and CEMAS celebrate decade-long partnership
Since The Ohio State University Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS) opened in 2013, a research partnership with Procter & Gamble (P&G) has helped analyze and characterize distinct materials to drive superior consumer products.
On March 4, a 14-person delegation of P&G senior scientists visited CEMAS to present the aptly named Making the Invisible Visible Award to mark the decade-long partnership and future collaborations on the most pressing materials engineering and science challenges.
“The first 10 years of this partnership with CEMAS has helped P&G deliver superior products,” said Gerard Baillely, P&G senior vice president of research and development, global corporate functions. “Every day we are motivated to address the science and engineering problems for the next decade and electron microscopy will help get us there. Our partnership with CEMAS is crucial to help us address these grand challenges.”
The relationship between CEMAS and P&G began right after the center opened its doors in 2013 with research that has since spanned multiple projects related to seven different P&G leading brands, including Pampers®, Pantene® and Gillette®. Collaborative projects with CEMAS have produced data to support multiple patent filings and publications.
Marc Mamak, P&G principal scientist for corporate function R&D, spoke about the value of the CEMAS-P&G partnership. Mamak shared how he worked with CEMAS since its opening to analyze a variety of materials. He illustrated the achievements and synergistic relationship between P&G and CEMAS scientists, including developing new approaches to analyzing hair, solving consumer issues in caring for babies, and inventing new methods for cryogenic imaging and analysis of solid-liquid interfaces. He also helped present CEMAS with a North America Connect+Develop Awards in 2019 for its instrumental role in advancing P&G product development.
As one of the leading centers for electron microscopy on the planet, CEMAS supports researchers from academia, government and industry in addressing the most demanding problems across all engineering and scientific disciplines.
“As microscopists, we love to develop new approaches to tackle the most challenging problems,” said CEMAS Director David McComb. “Our partnership with P&G has enabled us to do this in polymer engineering, chemistry and biology. The grand challenges identified by P&G will demand disruptive advances in electron microscopy techniques to enable in-situ experimentation, detection of molecular functionality and increased throughput enabled by artificial intelligence. At CEMAS, we are excited and inspired to partner with P&G to address these challenges.”
While at Ohio State, the P&G delegation visited other key engineering research facilities on West Campus. The first stop was the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), an advanced manufacturing research center that gives undergraduate students experience working on industry-sponsored projects. CDME’s areas of emphasis impact a wide range of manufacturing sectors, including robotics, machine learning, additive manufacturing, metal casting, prototyping, medical devices and cybersecurity. Visitors were able to see one of the largest academic metal additive labs in the world at CDME.
P&G visitors also went to CDME’s Medical Modeling, Materials and Manufacturing (M4) Lab inside the Pelotonia Research Center, which creates custom medical devices and 3D-printed clinical models for clinicians at Ohio State. The M4 Lab’s current efforts aim to benefit patients undergoing new, uncommon or complex surgeries.
by Jocelyn Wells, CEMAS communications
