• BS Chemistry, St. Bernadine of Siena College, 1956
• MS Chemistry, University of Akron, 1964
• PhD Polymer Science, University of Akron, 1967
• Senior Research Chemist, Union Carbide Corp., 1967-1969
• Project Scientist, Union Carbide Corp., 1969-1972
• Research Scientist, Union Carbide Corp., 1972-1974
• Research Scientist/Group Leader, Union Carbide Corp., 1974-1975
• Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, 1975-1976
• Associate Professor of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, 1976-1979
• Professor of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, 1979-present
• University Distinguished Professor, Virginia Tech, 1996-present

Honors and Awards: 

• Rubber Age Awards: Best MS and PhD Thesis, 1964 and 1967
• Society of Plastics Engineers Scholarship, 1965
• Society of Plastics Engineers Research Award, 1987
• Outstanding Achievement Award, Society of Plastics Engineers, Thermoplastic Materials and Foams  Division, 1992‐93
• National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) on Fire and Smoke Resistant Materials for Commercial Aircraft Interiors, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.: 4‐Year Appointment, July 1992 ‐ July 1996
• Virginia Tech 1993 Alumni Award for Research Excellence, April, 1993
• Selected as a Judge for the DuPont 1994 Plunkett Student Awards for Innovation with Teflon
• Elected to the National Academy of Engineering, Spring, 1994
• Invited Lecturer: West Coast Gordon Conference on Polymers, 1974, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1996, 1998
• Herman F. Mark Award, ACS Polymer Division, November 1996
• Named “Virginia Scientist of the Year” by the Virginia Museum of Science, 1997
• Inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame by the Society for Plastics Engineers, June, 1997
• Received first “Outstanding Alumni Award", by the Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Fall, 1997
• Received the Society for Plastics Engineers “International Research Award,” April, 1998
• Recipient of the 1999 Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Polymer Division
• Recipient of the 2001 Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award, Rubber Division, American Chemical Society, April 2001
• Proton Exchange Membrane Nanocomposites for Fuel Cells” Invited Lecture, Roanoke College “Fisher Award Lecture” series, January 23, 2002
• Recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Applied Polymer Science, April 2002
• American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry, Inc., “Special Service Award,” September 2003
• Recipient (with Thomas C. Ward and Garth L. Wilkes) of the P.J. Flory Education Award from the Polymer Division of the American Chemical Society, April 2004
• Recipient, American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry, 2008
• Recipient, George S. Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research, ACS Rubber Division, May 2009
• Recipient, Glenn Award for the best paper (“Structure‐Property Relationships of Proton Exchange Membranes,” A. Roy, H.S. Lee, X. Yu, M. Paul., J.S. Riffle, and J.E. McGrath) at the 2008 Annual Fall National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry
• ACS Fellow, Class of 2009, James E. McGrath; Virginia Tech (The ACS Fellows Program recognizes members for their contributions to the chemical sciences and outstanding service to ACS)

Synthesis and characterization of high performance matrix polymers and structural adhesives, high-temperature polymer dielectrics for computers, fire-resistant polymers and composites; and new directly copolymerized sulfonated aromatic copolymers for proton exchange membranes (fuel cells).

1. Synthesis and characterization of multiblock copolymers based on hydrophilic disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) and hydrophobic partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether ketone) for fuel cell applications. Lee, Hae‐Seung; Roy, Abhishek; Lane, Ozma; Lee, Myoungbae; McGrath, James E. Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry (2010), 48(1), 214‐222.
2. Preparation of high‐performance polymer electrolyte nanocomposites through nanoscale silica particle dispersion. Lee, Chang Hyun; Park, Ho Bum; Park, Chi Hoon; Lee, So Young; Kim, Ju Young  McGrath, James E.; Lee, Young Moo. Journal of Power Sources (2010), 195(5), 1325‐1332.
3. Development of multiblock copolymers with novel hydroquinone‐based hydrophilic blocks for proton exchange membrane (PEM) applications. Lee, Hae‐Seung; Lane, Ozma; McGrath, James E. Journal of Power Sources (2010), 195(7), 1772‐1778.
4. Advances in membrane materials: desalination membranes based on directly copolymerized disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) random copolymers. Xie Wei; Park, Ho‐Bum; Cook Joseph; Lee, Chang Hyun; Byun, Gwangsu; Freeman, Benny D; McGrath, James E. From Water science and Technology: A Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research (2010), 61(3), 619‐24.
5. Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated‐fluorinated, hydrophilic‐hydrophobic multiblock copolymers for proton exchange membranes. Yu, Xiang; Roy, Abhishek; Dunn, Stuart; Badami, Anand S.; Yang, Juan; Good, Alec S.; McGrath, James E. Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry (2009), 47(4), 1038‐1051.
6. Fundamental investigations of the effect of the linkage group on the behavior of hydrophilichydrophobic poly(arylene ether sulfone) multiblock copolymers for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Badami, Anand S.; Lane, Ozma; Lee, Hae‐Seung; Roy, Abhishek; McGrath, James E. Journal of Membrane Science (2009), 333(1+2), 1‐11.
7. Influence of microstructure and chemical composition on proton exchange membrane properties of sulfonated‐fluorinated, hydrophilic‐hydrophobic multiblock copolymers. Roy, Abhishek; Yu, Xiang; Dunn, Stuart; McGrath, James E. Journal of Membrane Science (2009), 327(1+2), 118‐124.
8. Investigation of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) processing parameters on performance for wholly aromatic hydrocarbon‐based proton exchange membranes. Roy, Abhishek; Hickner, Michael A.; Lane, Ozma; McGrath, J. E. Journal of Power Sources (2009), 191(2), 550‐554.
9. Morphological investigations of disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)‐b‐naphthalene dianhydride‐based polyimide multiblock copolymers as potential high temperature proton exchange membranes. Badami, Anand S.; Roy, Abhishek; Lee, Hae‐Seung; Li, Yanxiang; McGrath, James E. Journal of Membrane Science (2009), 328(1+2), 156‐164.
10. Surface‐Fluorinated Proton‐Exchange Membrane with High Electrochemical Durability for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells. Lee, Chang Hyun; Lee, So Young; Lee, Young Moo; Lee, Sang Yun; Rhim, Ji Won; Lane, Ozma; McGrath, James E. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2009), 1(5), 1113‐1121.
11. Synthesis and characterization of partially disulfonated hydroquinone‐based poly(arylene ether sulfone)s random copolymers for application as proton exchange membranes. Roy, Abhishek; Hickner, Michael A.; Einsla, Brian R.; Harrison, William L.; McGrath, James E. Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry (2009), 47(2), 384‐391.