The Lawrence B. Evans Award in Chemical Engineering Practice recognizes substantial lifetime achievement in one or more aspects of industrial chemical-engineering practice, including leadership, technology development, research, and mentorship.
The recipient of the 2026 Evans Award is Scott Herrmann, a Technical Fellow at Qnity Electronics, Inc. (formerly DuPont).
Herrmann is being recognized “for transformative innovations in Kapton® film technology, global manufacturing leadership, and pioneering products that reshaped the electronics industry and advanced excellence in industrial chemical engineering.”
Herrmann and the other 2026 Institute and Board of Directors’ Award recipients will be honored at the 2026 AIChE Annual Meeting, taking place November 8–12 in Minneapolis.
About Herrmann and his work
Herrmann received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University in 1984 and started his career at DuPont Circleville Ohio R&D laboratory. His work spanned the spectrum of chemical engineering functions. These include manufacturing technical support, project design/startup assistance of many capital projects with a total value over $500M, manager of an R&D pilot coater, lead engineer at a Silicon Valley venture startup, and finally back to his original role in polyimide film product and process development R&D activities.
Over his career, Herrmann has generated a large number of key trade secrets and patents actively being used in production processes today. His role in the development and scale-up of the first Kapton® matte black film and Pyralux® laminate is particularly noteworthy. In a time of operational and economic challenges, Herrmann led the global technical and commercialization team to successfully develop and scale up the product in a very short time window. The product line has now eclipsed over $2 billion in sales.
More recently, he successfully worked with U.S., Japanese, and Taiwanese colleagues to commercialize new multilayer polyimide films and copper-clad laminates using new novel production concepts.
As a mentor, Herrmann has guided young engineers through many processes of testing, troubleshooting, and manufacturing, and his hands-on training efforts have been formally recognized by multiple sites and leadership teams. His collaborative approach and dedication to mentoring newer members of the team continue to strengthen the Qnity polyimide film organization for the future, and ensure a legacy of excellence that will benefit the industry for years to come.
Read about the other recipients of the 2026 AIChE Institute and Board of Directors’ Awards.
