by Dorothy Isaacson Read

1945

B.S. Donald J. Simkin (Chem) See 1949 M.S. ChemE

1949

B.S. J. D. Seader (ChemE) See 1950 M.S. ChemE

M.S. In October 2004, Donald J. Simkin (ChemE), still very active since his retirement from Boeing, traveled to Eastern Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his fellow travelers from Australia and New Zealand, besides many Eastern Europeans he met, were aware of Cal and the chemistry department’s high standing. Also in 2004, his biography was added to Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.

1950

M.S. J. D. Seader (ChemE) of the University of Utah, was co-recipient of the 2004 Warren K. Lewis Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), given for contributions to chemical engineering education. A symposium was also held at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Austin in honor of his selection for the 2004 CACHE Award for Excellence in Computing in Chemical Engineering Education. Dr. Seader was a student during the early years of the development of the chemical engineering department at Berkeley and has very fond memories of the “stimulating atmosphere and excellent education he received from Professors Bromley, Hanson, Tobias, Vermeulen, and Wilke.”

1951

Donald O. Rickter (Chem) At The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society in October 2004 it was announced that Dr. Rickter had received the 2004 Henry A. Hill Award for “distinguished service to the Section and the profession of chemistry.” Dr. Rickter earned his A.B. and M.S. degrees from UC Davis and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Michigan State University in 1964. Prior to working as a research scientist and information manager at Polaroid, he served in the U.S. Navy and taught high school and college chemistry in California. Dr. Rickter served on the ACS Presidential Task Force for K-12 Education in 2001. He is now an independent information consultant.

1958

B.S. T. Z. Chu (Chem) was presented with the distinguished Award for the Promotion of International Education, conferred annually by the European Council of International Schools for “exemplary voluntary contributions to enhance the scope and quality of international education worldwide.” Chu’s own experience with international education dates back to his childhood, when he was a student at the Woodstock School, Mussoorie, Uttaranchal, India, from which he graduated in 1952. Woodstock, in the Indian Himalayas, is one of the oldest and most highly esteemed inter-national K-12 schools in South Asia, with a 150-year history and alumni active in almost every part of the globe. Since his retirement in 1997 from Hoefer Pharmacia Biotech, he has dedicated much of his time and personal resources to the pursuit of excellence in international education. Among other key involvements, he has made invaluable contributions in matters such as effective school governance, sustainable development, science education, and education for ethical leadership. He has been a major donor, fundraiser, board member, and is now President of Kodaikanal-Woodstock International, a non-profit organization that supports the two oldest International Schools in India. Chu is also a former trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation, a former Advisory Board member for Berkeley’s College of Chemistry, and a major donor to the college.

M.S. James K. Koehler (Chem), who completed a Ph.D. in Biophysics at UC Berkeley in 1961, retired in 1997 after 35 years teaching and doing research in cell biology at the University of Washington, School of Medicine. As professor emeritus, he continues to teach part-time, but also enjoys fishing, reading, music, and his six grandchildren.

Ph.D. In March 2005, Rod J. O’Connor (Chem) had an article published in Environmental Forensics: “Transformations, Air Transport, and Human Impact of Arsenic from Poultry Litter.”

1960

M.S. Her recent retirement from a career with the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Drug Administration, and the National Academy of Sciences left June S. Ewing (Chem) “free to leave Washington D.C.” and settle in La Jolla, CA.

Ph.D. Liane Reif-Lehrer (Chem) and her husband, Sherwin “Sam” Lehrer (1961, Ph.D. Chem) both celebrated their 70th birthdays in 2004. Dr. Reif-Lehrer’s last book on proposal writing was published, and she is in the process of retiring and looking forward to finally getting a chance to read some of the non-science books she never had time for. Sam continues to do research. Their son, Damon, who paints and teaches painting, was married in May; and their daughter, Erica, passed her prelims in 2004 and expects to get her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology this academic year.

1962

Ph.D. Joe D. Goddard (ChemE) was on the chemical engineering faculty of the University of Michigan from 1963 until 1976, when he took the position of Fluor Professor and Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Since 1991, he has been a professor of Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences at UC San Diego. His research deals with fluid mechanics, transport processes and the rheology of complex fluids.

1969

B.S. Richard Eiger (ChemE) is living in New Zealand and works as a senior process engineer with Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd, consulting in dairy plant operation, evaporation, and drying processes.

Postdoc. Teiichiro Ogawa (Chem) made some major life transitions recently. He retired from Kyushu University in 1999 and began teaching at a local university in Fukuoka. He then decided to change careers: He recently passed his final exams and has already begun work as a patent attorney, which he finds gratifying, as he can help people protect their inventions and trademarks. Ogawa also
relocated with his wife, Keiko, from Fukuoka, a growing trade center, to Kyoto, a city rich in Japanese history.

1972

Ph.D. L. Louis Hegedus (ChemE) is senior vice president of research and development for Arkema, Inc. (formerly Atofina Chemicals, Inc.), where he is responsible for all R&D in North America and R&D coordination between France and the U.S. Prior to joining the company in 1996, Hegedus was vice president of the corporate technical group at the Washington Research Center of W.R. Grace. Before his 16 years with Grace, he was affiliated with the General Motors Research Laboratories, where he managed research on the development of the catalytic converter for automobile emissions control. His honors include the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Practice Award, the Professional Progress Award, and the R.H. Wilhelm Award, all from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a fellow of AIChE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

1973

B.S. James A. Trainham (ChemE) See 1979 Ph.D.

1974

B.S. Peter L. Foller (Chem) See 1979 Ph.D.

B..S. Ho-Yan Wong (ChemE) See 1976 M.S.

Postdoc. Klaas Bergmann (Chem), who is on the faculty of the Fachbereich Physik der Universität in Kaiserslautern, Germany, was elected to their “Hochschulrat,” a new body established to oversee and play an important role in strategic planning for the university. He was also in the U.S. this spring, speaking at the Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Physics Seminar in March.

1975

Ph.D. Professor and chairman of Arizona State University’s chemistry and biochemistry department, Robert E. Blankenship (Chem) was elected a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2004 for his distinguished contributions to understanding photosynthesis, including studies on antenna processes, primary photochemistry in reaction centers, and the origin and evolution of these processes.

1976

B.S. Don F. Kumamoto (Chem) has joined Fish & Richardson PC in Redwood City, CA, as “of counsel” in the litigation group of the Silicon Valley office. He was most recently vice president of intellectual property and IP litigation for Applied Materials Inc. Before that, Kumamoto worked as a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster and a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. He earned a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from M.I.T in 1981 and a J.D. from UC Berkeley in 1987.

M.S. Peter L. Foller (Chem) See 1979 Ph.D.

M.S. Ho-Yan Wong (ChemE and 1974 B.S.) just moved to the U.S. from Hong Kong after working in Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department for 24 years. He writes that he is “looking for a new challenge here!”

1979

Ph.D. Peter L. Foller (Chem and 1974 B.S. and 1976 M.S.) was promoted this year to Director of Research and Development of the Optical Products business unit at PPG Industries in Pittsburgh, PA. He writes that Optical Products, which includes Transitions Optical, is the fastest growing PPG business unit, and that “it’s always nice to have adequate funding!”

Ph.D. Also at PPG is James A. Trainham (ChemE and 1973 B.S.), chair of the College of Chemistry’s Advisory Board and a trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation. He was recently appointed PPG’s vice president of science and technology. From 2002, he was chief technology officer with Invista, Inc. until its divestiture from DuPont Textiles and Interiors in 2004. The prior 25 years Trainham spent with DuPont, as a research engineer in polymer products, in central research and development, and in field units with responsibility for process and product technology. In 1992 he was appointed director of engineering research and, in 1996, became global techno-logy director for Dacron synthetic fibers. He assumed responsibility as global technology director for Lycra synthetic fibers and Terathane polyether glycols in 1999, and was then appointed global technology director for apparel and textile sciences. He has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1997.

1993

Postdoc. Sjoerd Harder (Chem) accepted a position as a professor of inorganic chemistry at the Universität Duisburg-Essen and has moved from Konstanz to Essen, Germany. He is very happy to be continuing his work as a teacher and researcher.

1996

B.A. In July 2004, Shana J. Sturla (Chem), who earned her Ph.D. at M.I.T. in 2001, took a position as assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Cancer Center. Her research applies organic chemistry and chemical biology to study chemical carcinogenesis. In October 2004, she married Kris McNeill (1997 Ph.D. Chem), a professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota, whose research is focused on environmental chemistry.

B.S. Sonya (Jo) Meyers (ChemE) married Rob Meyers (UCB 1996 B.S. Computer Sci) in 2001, and “retired” from the software industry in 2003 to spend her pregnancy testing foreign language toys for LeapFrog Enterprises. In 2004, their son, Jason, was born and she was accepted to medical school, where she begins classes in fall 2005.

1998

Ph.D. Shortly after completing his degree here, Marcel P. Bruchez (Chem) co-founded (with Prof. Paul Alivisatos of the College of Chemistry and others), Quantum Dot, a company that markets an imaging tool he developed to show that quantum dots—glowing particles only nanometers wide—can be used to tag proteins in cells. The tool can assist biologists and drug developers who are seeking more detailed knowledge of molecular events. Bruchez notes that it is “one of the first commercial applications of nanotechnology.” He was named a “Top Young Innovator” by M.I.T.’s Technology Review.

Ph.D. Seth M. Cohen (Chem) married Sandra Rodriguez-Cruz (1999 Ph.D., Chem) in July 2001. They relocated to San Diego, where Seth is an assistant professor at UC San Diego and Sandra is a forensic chemist with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. They live in La Jolla.

Postdoc. Robert P. Meagley (Chem) has been with Intel since 1998, focusing primarily on P854-1272 lithography. He has received numerous Intel awards for excellence. Since August 2004, he has been back in Berkeley, having been named Intel’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Researcher-in-Residence, the program manager of MAP (Molecules for Advanced Patterning), and Senior Staff Scientist. He writes, “It is great to be working with Cal and LBNL folks again!”

1999

Ph.D. Kristala Jones Prather (ChemE) left Merck and, since September 2004, has been an assistant professor at M.I.T., where she received a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award. Her research interests include metabolic engineering, biochemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, and synthetic biology. She and her husband, Darcy Prather, have a daughter, Katheryn Ann, born June 1, 2004.

2000

B.S. Lt. Ameh Babakhani (Chem) is a division lieutenant in the U.S. Navy’s Mobile Environmental Team in San Diego.

2001

Ph.D. Stefan Hecht (Chem), who was an assistant professor of chemistry at Free University, Berlin, Germany, wrote to share two pieces of good news: He has accepted a position as an associate professor at the Max-Planck-Institute for Coal Research in Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany, and he was named to the 2004 list of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators (TR100), by M.I.T.’s Technology Review. Hecht was recognized for devising a new class of polymer nanotubes and other molecular building blocks with potential applications in the fabrication of nanosized electronic devices. He points out that Berkeley’s Department of Chemistry was well-represented in these awards, including Marcel Bruchez (see 1998 Ph.D. Chem) and Yi Cui, currently a postdoc in the department.

Postdoc. In 2004, Sharad Verma (Chem) was promoted to senior research scientist in Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ department of chemistry in West Haven, CT, and was married that year to Ranee Mehra, M.D., who is a medical oncology fellow at Yale University.

2003

Ph.D. Sundiep Tehara (ChemE) has been with Bain & Co. in Palo Alto as a management consultant since September 2003. With fellow Berkeleyans Read Simmons (1999 Ph.D. ChemE) and Jonathon Eide (expected Ph.D. 2005), “the chemical engineering PhD contingent at Bain is reaching critical mass!” writes Tehara. She also writes, “I really enjoyed my time at Berkeley and I find myself missing it all the time!”

Postdoc. Catherine Klapperich (Chem) has been an assistant professor of manufacturing engineering and biomedical engineering at Boston University since fall 2003. A news release on BU’s website last fall announced that she is leading a team of researchers in developing a multiple-disease testing device that addresses the difficulties currently faced by public health officials in their efforts to provide early detection and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Klapperich’s work prototypes a microfluidic device that will make it possible to quickly test for multiple diseases using a single vacuum tube of blood and get results in under an hour. Made of molded polymers, the device will be inexpensive, disposable, easy to use, and will fit into standard blood centrifuges.

2004

	YOUNG ALUMNI. Graduating students joined with the Young Alumni group for a celebration in April.

B.S. Edwin Ka Wai Chan (ChemE) started work in July 2004 as an associate engineer in Genenentech’s late stage formulation department in South San Francisco.

B.S. Tanguy My Chau (ChemE) was chosen as a finalist for the 2005 University Medal, awarded to the most outstanding graduating senior on the Berkeley Campus. After leaving Berkeley, he moved to Shanghai, where he works with Accelergy, an American startup company, and is currently in charge of a project involving the development of new technologies for high throughput
experimentation.

B.S. Andrew E. Howery (Chem) has already started his graduate studies in chemistry at Stanford University. He is planning to travel in Peru this summer.

B.S. Avi S. Moussa (Chem) took a position last July as an assistant research scientist for Exelixis, a genomics-based drug discovery company focused on the discovery and development of potential new drug therapies, specifically for cancer and other proliferative diseases, also in South San Francisco.

B.S. Marie Therese Ung (ChemE) is planning a trip to France to visit her family this summer, after which she begins her chemical engineering Ph.D. studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Ph.D. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Pharmaceutical Research Institute in New Jersey is where Jessica L. Defreese (ChemE) started work last December, as a research engineer.

Ph.D. Jingtong Hou began his postdoctoral research this March in the physical biosciences division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Ph.D. Wei Liu (ChemE) has taken a position at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, CA, working in drug product process development.

Ph.D. Charles W. Monroe (ChemE) has been a research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College, London since October 2004.

Ph.D. Matthew R. Pratt (Chem) is doing postdoctoral work at the Muir Lab of Rockefeller University in New York City.

Ph.D. Michael D. Rhodes (ChemE) took a new research position last October as a senior scientist with Rohm and Haas Company in Spring House, PA.

Postdoc. Antonio Chica (ChemE) is a research scientist at the Insituto de Tecnologia Quimica, a national laboratory, in Valencia, Spain. His work relates to the petrochemical and refining industry.

Postdoc. Zhebo Ding (Chem) is working in research and development at General Electric’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY, focusing on polymer and special chemical technologies.

Postdoc. Last July, Ekatrina N. Kadnikova (Chem) accepted a tenure-track appointment as an assistant professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.