Gregory W. Haggquist Ph.D.
Gregory W. Haggquist Ph.D. is an American Polymer Photo-Physical Chemist and inventor. He is currently Chief Technology Officer of Cocona, Inc., the company he founded under the name Traptek in 2000.
Cocona is the maker of patented 37.5 technology, which Haggquist invented. 37.5 is a yarn technology that uses the human body’s IR to evaporate moisture; it is used by global brands to improve performance and comfort in apparel, footwear, and bedding. 37.5 technology has recently been found to improve athlete performance by up to 26% at lactate threshold (“The Effects of Cooling during Constant Power Non-steady State Cycling in Endurance Trained Athletes” Eric P. Homestead, Benjamin J. Ryan et al. University of Colorado Boulder).
Haggquist has received a number of awards, including the AATCC TCR Service Award in 2013, Time magazine’s Most Amazing Inventor in 2005, Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellow from 1991 to 1993 and Research Fellow of the Year, Department of Chemistry University of Nevada Reno from 1990 to 1991. In 2015 Esquire magazine named 37.5 one of the 10 Best Man Made Materials. Dr. Haggquist has over 30 years of experience in research and development and has authored 16 patents. His research experience includes composite materials and the interaction of light with polymer materials. Dr. Haggquist has been involved in the development of a wide range of products including Photoconductor drums, Inks, UV absorbing car wax, UV absorbing fabrics, high-energy lasers, high-energy capacitors, master batch modification, artificial photosynthetic systems, organic photovoltaic cells, and fabric treatments. Prior to founding Cocona, Dr. Haggquist worked at Lexmark International on the Photoconductor Research and Development team.
At Cocona, Inc., Dr. Haggquist has developed two critical technologies that keep particles active throughout the manufacturing process to improve the performance of yarn, fabrics and film.He has also developed and standardized through AATCC two novel methods to measure the drying rate of textiles. Dr. Haggquist is responsible for all research, development and product certification at Cocona, Inc. This includes constantly evolving and improving the efficacy of the Company’s technology. Dr. Haggquist is also focused on growing and managing the company’s portfolio of intellectual property.Dr. Haggquist’s education started with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut at Storrs (1986). He then went on to earn both a Master’s degree (1988) and a Ph. D. (1991) in Physical Chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) awarded Haggquist a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Kyoto University, which he completed in 1993. From 1993 to 1994 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Trondheim in Norway under Professors T. B. Melo and Prof. K.R. Naqvi. In 1994 he went back to the University of Nevada, Reno as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry under Professor R. D. Burkhart.