The Robert W. Gore Fellowship in Materials Innovation

The Gore Fellowship is open to advanced Ph.D. candidates who possess the research expertise, writing skills, and technical background to conduct historical case studies of materials innovation of the past thirty years and to communicate findings to academic, policy, and industrial audiences. The Gore Fellow will undertake one such case study with input from members of the Center for Contemporary History and Policy. The result will be a white paper published by CHF; the fellow will be encouraged (but not required) to publish variants of the study as dissertation chapters or scholarly articles. The fellowship is one component of the larger Gore Innovation Case Studies Program, which will culminate in a conference in 2009 and an edited volume in 2010. In addition to their participation in these and other Case Studies Program activities, the fellow will be given ample opportunity to pursue their own research and academic interests while at CHF.

Robert W. Gore received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware and his Ph.D. (also in chemical engineering) from the University of Minnesota before rejoining the fledgling family business, W. L. Gore and Associates, in 1963. While experimenting with a special form of Teflon PTFE in 1969, he discovered a very strong, porous material that was waterproof yet breathable. The company experienced an explosive period of growth as this material, GORE-TEX expanded PTFE, found its way into space suits, sporting apparel, filters, and artificial arteries. Gore and Associates remains a remarkably innovative materials firm with facilities worldwide and a unique, award-winning management style in which associates (not employees) tailor their projects and responsibilities to their talents.