RC Cola in a can, and later the first company to sell a soft drink in an aluminum can. In 1958, the company introduced the first diet cola, Diet Rite, and in 1980, a caffeine-free cola, RC 100. In the mid-1990s, RC released Royal Crown Draft Cola, billed as a "premium" cola using pure cane sugar as a sweetener, rather than high fructose corn syrup. Offered only in 12-ounce bottles, sales were disappointing, due largely to the inability of the RC bottling network to get distribution for the product in single-drink channels, and it was discontinued with the exceptions of Australia, New
Baratunde A. Cola was a co-founder of the Academic and Research Leadership Network which supports and provides networking resources minority engineering researchers. Cola is also the founder of technology company Carbice Corporation. Cola has won a number of awards including the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his work in nanotechnology and also his outreach work with high schools, the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, 2015 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Bergles-Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer and most recently the 2017 National Science Foundation Alan T.