Paul Painter is an Emeritus Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at The Pennsylvania State University. Born in Birmingham, England, he obtained Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from University College, London, in chemical engineering and biochemical engineering, respectively.

Dr. Painter came to the US in 1972 to study Macromolecular Science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After receiving his Ph.D., he joined the faculty at Penn State in 1976.

In 1983 he took a leave of absence to serve as the Director of Polymers Program at the National Science Foundation, receiving an NSF Outstanding Performance Award for his administrative work in 1984.

Following his return to Penn State, his research focused on two areas; the phase behavior of polymer solutions and blends and the structure of fossil fuels. This unusual combination of academic interests resulted in the discovery of a formulation of the phase separation technology commercialized by Extrakt Process Solutions. The original patent for this technology was filed in 2010 and has been allowed in the US and Canada.

Dr. Painter has published more than 260 papers on various subjects and four textbooks and was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1999. He joined Extrakt Process Technology as Chief Technical Officer in 2015.