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Princeton chemistry alumnus John C. Warner receives 2014 Perkin Medal

Awards- - By Tien Nguyen, Department of Chemistry

John C. WarnerJohn C. Warner, President and Chief Technology Officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, has been awarded the 2014 Perkin Medal—widely acknowledged as the highest honor in American Industrial Chemistry. The award will be presented on September 16, 2014 at the Perkin Medal Dinner at the Hyatt Hotel in Philadelphia.

Warner is one of the founders of the field of Green Chemistry and co-authored the seminal text, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. He obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Princeton University in 1988, working in the laboratory of Professor Edward Taylor. He went on to work at the Polaroid Corporation for almost a decade and then taught as a full professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Lowell.

In 2007, he co-founded Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry with James Babcock with the goal of helping companies find sustainable solutions to chemical challenges. At the same time Warner and his wife, Amy Cannon, also founded The Beyond Benign Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to green chemistry and sustainability education.

In a 2012 interview published in Chemical & Engineering News, Warner gives this advice: Follow your passion and surround yourself with excellent people. Warner’s own passion for green chemistry has influenced chemical industries worldwide and we congratulate him on this remarkable achievement.