Dr. Bob Kimmel

Dr. Bob Kimmel
Department Chair
kimmel@clemson.edu
 

EDUCATION: Bob holds B.S., M.S., Materials Engineer and Sc.D. degrees in Materials Engineering, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research and education focused on fibers and polymers, with emphasis in Polymer Physics.

EXPERIENCE: Before coming to Clemson in Fall, 1999, Bob worked for over thirty years with the Hoechst Celanese Corporation. During his career, he had position responsibilities almost equally split among New Business Development, Sales and Marketing, and Research and Development. Over twenty years of this experience was in the packaging industries. As Business Manager, he led the highly successful entry of Hoechst's polyester film business into flexible packaging, including the development and commercialization of Hostaphan® 2600 and other value-added films. He was also Project Manager for Celanese's initial entry into the polyester bottle resin business in the mid-1970's, and in the mid-1990's led the development of advanced, multi-layer barrier structures for flexible and rigid packaging applications. He also led research and development in several industrial application areas, including graphite fibers, high temperature films and liquid crystalline polymers. He lived and worked in Germany for three years and was heavily involved in two different joint ventures with Japanese companies. He holds seven patents and has published numerous papers in polymers, fibers, and packaging.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Chair, Dept. of Packaging Science;  Co-founder and director of Clemson Center for Flexible Packaging. Developed and teach Packaging Science capstone course "Package Design and Development"; developed core undergraduate/graduate courses  “Converting for Flexible Packaging” (includes coating, laminating and adhesives technologies) and “Applications of Polymers in Packaging”; developed and taught 800 level graduate courses “Flexible Packaging,” “Semi-rigid Packaging.”  Short courses: “Materials for Confectionary Packaging,” “Understanding Plastics Packaging,” "Analyzing Plastics Patents."

RESEARCH TOPICS: Effects of norbornene and octene content on the properties of LLDPE/COC blends as heat seal layers; Gelatin as an active layer in multi-layer packages; Unique barrier films using “Smart Blending "chaotic advection; Adaptation of materials characterization techniques to collaborative discovery-based learning in the undergraduate Packaging Science curriculum.

CONSULTING: Consulting to the plastics and packaging industries. Expert witness for plastics and packaging (infringement, validity, trade dress—plaintiff and defendant experience). Projects to develop and quantify product development and market entry strategies for major international plastics producers to introduce new materials into industrial and consumer packaging. Technical consulting to major packaging materials suppliers, converters and end users.

HOBBIES: Genealogy, antique cat collectibles, liturgical music, mysteries, jazz

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