E. J. (Ted) Lightfoot received his B.S.E in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 1978. After brief employment with Exxon Research and Engineering (coal liquefaction), he returned to academia to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (also in Chemical Engineering with minors in Physical Chemistry, Solid State Physics and Analytical Chemistry). Since graduate school he has been employed by DuPont in various businesses making photographic film, various fluoropolymer films, display films and optical coatings. He has worked in R&D, plant support and technical service (application development – in which he first became exposed to extrusion coating) roles both as an engineer and in management. He is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt for Growth and is currently assigned as a Principal Investigator in DuPont’s Photovoltaic Fluorinated Materials business.

In 1988 he became the first representative of a US company to be named an Industrial Fellow at the University of Minnesota Center for Interfacial Engineering Coating Fundamentals program where he studied a defect in photographic film known as “starry night”. As a member of the AIChE Area 1k Steering committee he became a founding Director of the ISCST and has been active since in various roles including Chairing the 12 International Coating Science and Technology Symposium. One of his interests is in improving cooperation between technical societies. Besides his role with ISCST he has worked with AIMCAL on a number of continuing education courses and TAPPI by editing a chapter on film extrusion, extrusion coating and laminating defects for the second edition of Roll and Web Defect Terminology.