Division Awards - Coating and Graphic Arts

Congratulations to TAPPI's 2022
Coating & Graphic Arts Division Award Winners

Division Leadership and Service Award the Omya Medallion and Honorarium

Martti Tuomisto
Regional Manager – Pulp & Paper for the Midwest and Western paper mills, Advanced Dynamics

Martti Tuomisto graduated as Master of Science in Paper Science and Engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology (now, Aalto University), and he also holds an MBA degree from the University of Wisconsin. After graduating as a paper engineer, he joined Stora Enso’s Varkaus paper mill as Process Engineer, followed by a 35-year career with Valmet both in Finland and the United States. He is currently Regional Manager – Pulp & Paper for the Midwest and Western paper mills with EPIQ AD (Advanced Dynamics) in Appleton, Wisconsin, which is better known as “Paper City – USA”. He is recognized as a leading technical expert in papermaking process technology, paper machinery, and paper coating & finishing. Martti has been a TAPPI member since 1982. He is a past chairman of TAPPI’s Calendering Committee, and recently completed a 6-year term as a chairman of TAPPI’s Coating Operations Committee. Also, he is a long-time active member of TAPPI’s Papermaking Technology & Operations (“Papermakers”) Committee as well as TAPPICon’s Papermaking and Coating Technical Program Committees. Martti serves as a Board member in Lake States TAPPI’s Local Section in the Great Lakes region. He is a frequent speaker, panelist and session chair in TAPPI, PAPTAC and Finnish Paper Engineers’ conferences.

Division Technical Award BASF Charles W. Engelhard Medallion and Honorarium

Richard Gagnon
A 1986 graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in chemistry, Rick was hired by Potlatch Corporation in 1989 and based at the Cloquet, MN research center. His work during this period was centered on the development of paper grades and the raw materials required to produce them. Rick developed relationships with suppliers and academics and was a key contributor to numerous cooperative studies. Rick joined DuPont Soy Polymers in 1999, focusing on the development of applications and customer support.

These experiences provided the basis for publications and presentations on a wide range of topics that included: time dependent changes in coating processes, reducing backtrap mottle in multi-layer coating systems and fiber reduction through optimized size press treatments.

Rick became a TAPPI member in 1993, and in 1995 was invited to join the C&GA’s Technical Program Committee, serving for several years. He has been a presenter at TAPPI’s Coating Conference and been an instructor at TAPPI sponsored courses.

Division and WestRock Outstanding Educator Award

Patrick Gane
Professor Emeritus, Aalto University

Education
Graduated in Physics 1976 from Imperial College, London, and gained his doctorate from the University of Plymouth, UK, 1979.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter 1979-1981.

Career
Group Leader R&D, English China Clays International, UK (1981 - 1994).
Scientific Director, SeGan Limited, UK [Ink-Surface Interaction tester (ISIT)] (1994 – 2000).
Vice President R&D, Omya International AG, Switzerland (1995 - 2018).
Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland (2006 - 2021).
Elected visiting professor at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Serbia (2019 -).
Professor Emeritus, Aalto University (2022 -).

Recent research
Focus areas include interaction of liquids and heat with complex porous network media, including nanoscale phenomena applied to printing, environmental sciences and composite biomaterials. Credited with more than 400 scientific publications and named inventor on over 300 corporate patents.