Rubber Chemistry and Technology , 2010–2020

It is with great appreciation that we announce that Dr. Will Mars has stepped aside as Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Mars oversaw the journal for 10 years. He worked with the Editorial Board, the Rubber Division staff, the publisher, and the reviewers and authors who comprise the journal community to grow the scientific quality and influence of the journal. During his tenure, citations to RC&T articles increased enough that the journal's impact factor grew from 0.393 to a high of 1.766, making RC&T the premier journal globally for elastomer-focused research. Dr. Mars is among the top scientific authorities in the world in the area of elastomer durability and fracture mechanics of rubbery materials. According to Google Scholar, he has published more than 85 papers and holds 3 patents. He has received many awards for his work. He received national recognition in the form of the U.S. SBA's Tibbetts Award for the successful development and commercialization of technology in service to the nation. He received the Rubber Division's Arnold Smith Special Service Award in recognition of service to the Division through the years 2004–2017. During that time, Dr. Mars served on the Science and Technology Awards Committee, the International Rubber Science Hall of Fame committee, the Best Paper Committee, the Education and Publications Committee, and the Program Planning Committee. He was editor of the Tire Society's journal Tire Science and Technology from 2008–2009. He was the 2007 recipient of the Sparks-Thomas Award recognizing outstanding contribution and innovation by younger scientists. Professionally, Dr. Mars is the founder and President of Endurica LLC, a provider of software and testing solutions for managing durability. Prior to founding Endurica, Dr. Mars held research engineering positions of progressing responsibility in the Research Department at the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company. He began as a co-op student in the Truck Tire Engineering Department in 1992, joined the Research group full time in 1994, and progressed to Advanced Research Engineer before leaving the company in 2011 to lead Endurica. Dr. Mars earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from the University of Toledo, and an Honors B.S. Mechanical Engineering degree with Polymer Specialization from the University of Akron.