Frank Leibfarth has been awarded the DSM Polymer Technology Award 2012 for his PhD research in the field of functional polymeric materials at the recent American Chemical Society national meeting. Frank has developed a platform technology in polymer chemistry based on the ketene organic functional group. The versatility of this winning research allows discrete property changes of a material upon a simple heat treatment, providing on-demand access to robust and highly functional plastics in an operationally simple manner. Congratulations Frank!