R&D

Since our R&D Laboratory was opened in 2007, Final Coat has invested millions to create what has been described as “a unique facility with no peer anywhere in the world,” by Dr. Digby Macdonald, formerly Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Director for Electrochemical Science and Technology at Pennsylvania State University.

Studies at our Final Coat R&D laboratory in Hartville, Ohio allow us to isolate and control almost every variable in corrosion testing. This ongoing investment in technology has yielded significant advancements such as our latest generation CM-4000 module, which draws only 0.7 milliamps of current from a vehicle’s battery. We are still unlocking the tremendous potential of our Electromagnetic Induction Corrosion Control Technology (E.I.C.C.T.) and are committed to advancing both the pure science and its application to the automotive industry.

We employ two full-time scientists to lead our corrosion research. Dr. Michael Lewis invented the tech- nology in 1997 and was hired by Final Coat in 2004. Dr. Jason McLafferty joined in 2009. Both scientists, plus two full-time lab assistants, work under the guidance of a world-class corrosion scientist, Dr. Digby Macdonald.

DR. MICHAEL E. LEWIS, PHD - Inventor, Physicist

is the inventor of E.I.C.C.T. and the leader of Final Coat’s R&D Department, with a PhD in Physics from Kent State University in 1987. Dr. Lewis has twenty-two patents and invented a new electronic corrosion reduction method in 1997. He has designed various environmental chambers and a Raman spectrometer for surface chemical analysis. While with Cisco Systems, he led a communications systems engineering group where he directed the architectural design of digital signal processing integrated circuits for digital communications and was responsible for the design and direction of several large scale communications computer simulations. As a faculty member and consultant, Dr. Lewis has directed a multidisciplinary materials science research effort to study the relationship between the molecular structure and the third-order optical nonlinearity of metal organic polymers and monomers and has worked extensively in the fields of laser physics, optoelectronics, optical modulation and liquid crystal physics.

DR. JASON MCLAFFERTY, PHD - Scientist, Electrochemist

has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. He then worked at Alcoa’s Research Laboratories and became interested in electrochemistry. Based on this interest, he decided to do his doctoral dissertation research with Dr. Digby Macdonald in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. He co-wrote two invention disclosures on Regeneration of Sodium Borohydride. Jason graduated with his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Pennsylvania State University with dissertation research in electrochemistry. In 2009, he joined Dr. Michael Lewis at our research facility to explore the electrochemical side of our patented technology.

PETROS Z. GIATIS - Engineering, Electrical Engineer

has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from the University of Akron. From 2000 to 2013 was the lead RF Hardware Engineer at Cisco Systems. While at Cisco designed and developed world class LAN Hardware and RF detector circuits and received his first patent, United States Patent number 7,760,024, “System and method for increasing accuracy of transmitter power detection over a larger range of output power levels”. Hired by Pepperl-Fuchs 2013 as their R&D manager over a team of 17 engineers until May 2017. Along with this he started his own wireless speaker company which was later sold in 2015. Petros has also consulted for Summit Racing, AutoTechnica and Summa Health Systems.

DR. DIGBY MACDONALD, PHD - Scientist, Corrosion Consultant

is one of the world’s leading corrosion scientists and Professor in Residence in the Departments of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at University of California at Berkeley. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Director for the Center for Electrochemical Science and Technology at Penn State University. Dr. Macdonald has published over 900 papers in scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. He is the author of a book entitled “Transient Techniques in Electrochemistry” and holds 9 patents. In 2003, Dr. Macdonald received the highest award in the field of corrosion science and engineering – the U.R. Evans Award from the Institute of Corrosion in the United Kingdom. In 2011, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Macdonald holds a B.Sc. (1965) and M.Sc. (1966) in Chemistry, University of Auckland (New Zealand) and Ph.D. in Chemistry (1969), University of Calgary (Canada).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

• 1/2013 – present: Professor in Residence, University of California at Berkeley. 
• 6/2003 – 12/2012: Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University. 
• 6/2001 – 6/2003: Chair, Metals Program, Penn. State University. 
• 7/99 – 12/2012: Director, Center for Electrochemical Sci. & Tech., Penn. State University. 
• 1/98 – 7/99: Vice President, Physical Sciences Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. 
• 7/91-3/2000: Director, Center for Advanced Materials, Penn. State University. 
• 7/91 – 6/03: Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Penn. State University. 
• 4/87 - 7/91: Deputy Director, Physical Sciences Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. 
• 3/84 – 4/87: Laboratory Director, Chemistry Laboratory, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. 
• 3/79 – 3/84: Director and Professor, Fontana Corrosion Center, Ohio State University. 
• 3/77 – 3/79: Senior Metallurgist, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. 
• 3/75 – 3/77: Senior Research Associate, Alberta Research Ltd/University of Calgary, Canada. 
• 4/72 – 3/75: Lecturer in Chemistry, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

HONORS AND ASSOCIATIONS 

• 1983: Research Award, College of Engineering, Ohio State University. 
• 1985: Selector of the Kuwait Prize for Applied Sciences. 
• 1991: The Carl Wagner Memorial Award from The Electrochemical Society. 
• 1992: The Willis Rodney Whitney Award from The National Association of Corrosion Engineers. 
• 1992: Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Corrosion, New Hampshire. 
• 1993: W.B. Lewis Memorial Lecture by Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., “in recognition of [his] contributions to the development of nuclear power in the service of mankind”. 
• 1994: Elected Fellow, NACE-International. 
• 1993-1997: Member, USAF Scientific Advisory Board, Protocol Rank: DE-4 (Lieutenant General equivalent). 
• 1995: Elected Fellow, The Electrochemical Society. 
• 1996: Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Canada. (“National Academy” of Canada). 
• 1996: Wilson Research Award, College of Earth and Minerals Sciences, Pennsylvania State University. 
• 1997: Elected Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand. (“National Academy” of New Zealand). 
• 2001: H. H. Uhlig Award, Electrochemical Society. 
• 2003: U. R. Evans Award, British Corrosion Institute; Elected Fellow, Institute of Corrosion (UK); Appointed Adjunct Professor, Massey University, New Zealand; Appointed Adjunct Professor, University of Nevada at Reno. 
• 2004: Elected Fellow, World Innovation Foundation. 
• 2005: Elected Fellow, ASM International. 
• 2006: Elected Fellow, International Society of Electrochemistry. 
  Feb. 2007: Khwarizmi International Award Laureate in Fundamental Science. 
• 2007-2010 Trustee, ASM International. 
• 2010: Appointed Chair Professor, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 
• 2010: Recipient, Lee Hsun Research Award, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. 
• 2011: Inducted Doctuer Honoris Causa by INSA-Lyon, Lyon, France. 
• 2011: Nominated for Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 
• 2012: Awarded the Faraday Memorial Trust Gold Medal. 
• 2013: Awarded the Gibbs Award in Thermodynamics by IAPWS. 
• 2014: Awarded the Frumkin Memorial Medal in Fundamental Electrochemistry by the International Society of Electrochemistry. 
• 2015: Olin Pladium Award for Distinguish Contributions to the Field of Electrochemical or Corrosion Science.