James E Mark is a Distinguished Research Professor for the department of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been a Visiting Professor at several institutions as well as having extensive research and consulting experience in industry. His current research interests pertain to the physical chemistry of polymers, including the elasticity of polymer networks, hybrid organic-inorganic composites, liquid-crystalline polymers, and a variety of computer simulations. A Fellow of the American Physical Society, he is also an editor of the journal Polymer. Amongst numerable achievements, he has been awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science award and was also elected to the Inaugural Group of Fellows (ACS Division of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering).