IPLAC Presents Inventor of the Year Award to Dr. Arun S. Wagh of Argonne National Laboratory and Announces New Officers for 2006

CHICAGO - The Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC) announced its prestigious Inventor of the Year award recipient and introduced its newly-elected officers for 2006 at its annual meeting, held on May 17, 2006, at the University Club, 76 East Monroe Street in Chicago.

Dr. Arun S. Wagh, of Argonne National Laboratory in DuPage County, was named IPLAC's Inventor of the Year for 2006 in recognition of his work in the field of material sciences, including his work in phosphate ceramics and concrete structures. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Argonne is managed by the University of Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory system. See http://www.anl.gov/.

Dr. Wagh was honored for his work in developing a new material called Grancrete®, a tough reinforcement-free ceramic material that is almost twice as strong as concrete and that may be the key to providing high-quality, low-cost housing throughout developing nations. With more than 14 U.S. patents and additional pending applications on which he is a named inventor, one of Dr. Wagh's advancements permits the use of these materials in low cost, energy saving and reduced-pollution housing. Houses can be built using Grancrete® by spraying it onto a rudimentary frame. Grancrete® dries to form a lightweight but durable surface. The resulting structure is a major upgrade to the fragile structures in which millions of the world's poorest currently live. These types of materials are readily adapted to provide temporary and permanent housing in disaster areas, and have been suggested for use in regions affected by the tsunami disaster in 2004 and the Gulf Coast by last year's hurricanes. Experiments have shown that Grancrete® is stronger than concrete, is fire resistant and can withstand both tropical and sub-freezing temperatures. It has the ability to set quickly in a much greater range of temperatures than concrete.

Grancrete® is based on a material called Ceramicrete®, which was developed by Dr. Wagh at Argonne in 1996 to encase nuclear waste. The versatile Ceramicrete® has many different applications, ranging from treatment of hazardous waste to the creation of a variety of consumer products such as construction materials, structural materials requiring high compressive strength, sealants and coatings. Ceramicrete® also has dental and medical applications. More information about Dr. Wagh and his work is accessible online at:

Dr. Wagh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Bombay University in India, a Master of Arts degree in Physics from Temple University in Philadelphia and a Ph. D. in Physics from State University of New York, Buffalo. He has authored over 120 scientific articles, written a book, Chemically Bonded Phosphate Ceramics, and has won several awards for outstanding achievement, including the 1996 R&D 100 Award, the 2000 Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer both for the Development of Ceramicrete® and the 2004 R&D 100 Award for Grancrete®. Dr. Wagh has worked at Argonne National Laboratory since 1990 and he also has worked with various private and public concerns to develop the technologies and applications.

IPLAC OFFICERS AND BOARD

In addition, IPLAC announced its new Officers and Board members for 2006-2007. They are as follows:

President - Debbie K. Wright, Chief Counsel, Global Intellectual Property-Patents, Kraft Foods
Past-President - Mark I. Feldman, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP
President-Elect - James R. Sobieraj, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Vice President - Joseph E. Shipley, Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery
Treasurer - Jeffery B. Burgan, Leydig Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Secretary - Steve Feldman, Welsh & Katz Ltd.

Newly elected members of the Board of Managers, who will serve a two-year term, are:

William J. Bowe, Executive V.P. and General Counsel, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Frederick Meyers, Ladas & Parry LLP
Kevin E. Noonan, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff
George F. Wheeler, McAndrews Held and Malloy Ltd.

Continuing Members of the Board of Managers are:

Meredith Martin Addy, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Edward D. Manzo, Cook Alex McFarron Manzo Cummings & Mehler, Ltd.
Kevin A. Thompson, Davis McGrath
Amy Crout Ziegler, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP

IPLAC is the oldest intellectual property association in the country. Originally founded in 1884 as "The Patent Law Association," IPLAC is a not-for-profit organization whose more than 1025 members include lawyers and other professionals practicing in the intellectual property field, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition and related areas. IPLAC offers educational and professional programs of interest to those practicing in the field as well as to the public at large.