Inducted
2001
Degrees
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology. 1951
- M.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1955
- Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1957
Samples, Inc.— Wilmington, Delaware
Paul E. Sample was born in Chicago, Illinois, of Kentucky parents on November 24, 1928. An alumnus of Illinois Institute of Technology, Sample received his MSChE (‘55) and PhD (‘57) from West Virginia University following military service with U.S. Army Chemical Corps. He is a member of Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon and Alpha Chi Sigma.
Sample was employed by E.I. DuPont de Nemours from 1957 to 1990 in their films and polymers departments in a series of manufacturing, product development and research management assignments. He retired from DuPont in 1990 to begin a successful consulting business. In 1998 the Delaware Legislature formed the Technical Advisory Office under the Division of Research for the Delaware Legislative Council and appointed Sample as the first technical coordinator. His office provides the General Assembly with un-biased, non-partisan, research, analysis and recommendations on technical and scientific issues and their impact on the state. Under his leadership, the office received the Council of State Governments Innovations Award in December 2000. He has led scientific investigations into areas such as a) fish kills by toxic pfiesteria, a harmful algal bloom - their cause and affect, b) agricultural nutrient management - animal litter value and processing schemes, c) assessment of brownfields and their renovation and d) highway noise control - the value of “sound barriers.”
In 2000, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Delaware BioEnergy Consortium and Delaware Climate Change Consortium.
He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, and Society of Plastics Engineers; he is a Fellow and chairman of ASTM D-20 Committee on Plastics; vice chairman/secretary of F-17.63 a Plastic Piping System Subcommittee. He is active in D-19 Committee on Water, D-22 Committee on Sampling and Analysis of Atmospheres and E-50 Committee on Environmental Assessment, in support of his technical advisory responsibilities.
Sample and his wife, Jacqulyn, live in Wilmington, Delaware. They have four sons, one daughter and seven grandchildren. One son, Bradley, received his PhD from the College of Forestry at West Virginia University.