Charles Michael Roland (22 April 1952 - 2 October 2021)[1] was Head of the Polymer Physics Section at the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC from 1989 to 2015.
[2] His research was concerned primarily with the dynamics of condensed matter, including polymers and liquid crystals, with applications to military armor and infrastructure protection.
From 1991-1999, he served as the 8th editor of the scientific journal Rubber Chemistry and Technology, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (UK).
He enjoyed basketball and chose his undergraduate college in part for the opportunity to play, turning more to his studies after a knee injury.
He was late applying to graduate school, and so for a short time he worked as a lab instructor at a community college teaching chemistry.