Gang Sun has won the Harold C. Chapin Award for 2021.

The Chapin award was established in 1958 in honor of Harold C. Chapin, professor of chemistry at Lowell Textile School, who served as national secretary of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) for nearly 25 years.

Sun is a professor in the department of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received his BS and MS degrees in materials science and fiber engineering at Donghua University. Ten years after this, he completed his PhD in chemistry at Auburn University, and in 1995 began his career as an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis. Sun has published more than 320 peer reviewed articles, co-written 24 book chapters; and has 18 US patents, with five provisional patent applications pending.

A member of AATCC since 1995, Sun has been very involved with AATCC publications and has authored numerous peer reviewed papers. In 2017, Sun joined the AATCC publications committee. He has been a part of AATCC Journal of Research since its inception in 2014, first as a dedicated associate editor and as the editor in chief since 2019. Under his leadership, journal submissions increased and have been cited frequently, strengthening the value and rank of the journal among textile research publications.