Larry was born in Maine and raised in Connecticut. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY in 1973, receiving a full academic scholarship. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI in 1978. Larry is currently an independent consultant to industry in the areas of high performance coatings and plastics. He retired from DuPont at the end of 2013 after more than 35 years of service. At the end of his career there he was at DuPont Fluoroproducts, Chestnut Run Plaza, Wilmington, DE - Senior Research Associate. He was responsible for new product development including application technology, product optimization for particular end-uses and product testing. Dozens of products were commercialized for applications such as medical products (metered dose inhalers and catheter guide wires), office equipment (such as copier and laser printer fuser rolls, particularly electroconductive and abrasion resistant products), housewares (such as microwave cookware), commercial bakeware (such as McDonald's bun bakepans and coated aluminum foil), automotive parts (such as nuts and bolts, brake dampers, fuel pumps), the oil industry (production tubing - StreaMax™, ESPs, Heat Exchangers and evaporators), process equipment (such as Tyvek® bonder and embosser drums, chemical reactors). These products were designed for nonstick, anticorrosion, or tribological properties. He is well versed in uncommon application methods, Failure Mode Identification and Analysis. He also has been awarded at least thirteen US Patents. He has authored nine books, not counting new editions and numerous chapters for other authors.Check his linkedin profile for more complete details:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laurence-mckeen/17/a8/2a9His outside interests include skiing, golf and reading.