Foster completed his undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis in 1981.
[2] He completed his doctorate, also in Chemical Engineering at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 1987.
He then took a postdoctoral Staff Scientist position at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
He held a senior postdocotoral position under Frank S. Bates at the University of Minnesota during 1989–1990.
Foster joined the University of Akron Polymer Science faculty in 1990 at the rank of assistant professor.