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Academe

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

Mario J. Molina, the 1995 Chemistry Nobel Laureate who has worked as a professor at MIT since 1989, will join UC San Diego this winter as a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry and in the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico; a postgraduate degree in polymerization kinetics from the University of Freiburg, in West Germany; and a doctorate in physical chemistry from UC Berkeley.

XAVIER UNIVERSITY
Cincinnati

Richard Mullins will start in the fall of 2004 as assistant professor of chemistry. Mullins' research involves incorporating new synthetic methodologies into the synthesis of biological compounds having multiple stereocenters. He has worked as a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Centre College, Danville, Ky., and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Business

CROMPTON
Middlebury, Conn.

Richard Owins has been named vice president of the combined rubber chemicals and ethylene propylene diene monomer businesses. Owins joins Crompton from Degussa, where he served as vice president and general manager of aerosil and silanes for the NAFTA region. Owins has a master's degree in chemistry and an M.B.A. in management from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, N.J.

Rob Wampler has been promoted to North American sales manager for the petroleum additives business. After working at Gulf Oil Research and Lubrizol, Wampler joined Crompton in 1998 as an account manager and was promoted to sales executive in 2002. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.

DEGUSSA
Düsseldorf, Germany

Randy Bull has been promoted to global director of business marketing for EUDRAGIT in the Röhm Pharma Polymers business of Degussa. He will be based in Darmstadt, Germany. Bull has been responsible for the commercial operations of the U.S. Röhm Pharma Polymers business since 2000. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa., and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Delaware.

Jeffrey Landau has been appointed marketing manager of architectural colorants at Degussa, Parsippany, N.J. He has 13 years' experience in the ink and coatings field, with the last three of those years focused on wide-format ink-jet printing. Landau earned a bachelor's in biology from Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., and an M.B.A. in marketing from Fordham University, New York City.

OTHER COMPANIES

Hubert Bader has been appointed head of the custom synthesis business of the life sciences and electronic chemicals division at Clariant, Muttenz, Switzerland. He will be based in Sulzbach (Frankfurt), Germany. Bader is a certified pharmacist with an M.S. in chemistry and a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from Johannes-Gutenberg Universitat Mainz, in Germany.

William M. (Bill) Beckenbaugh has been appointed chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council at Konarka Technologies, Lowell, Mass. As CEO and president since 2002, he led Konarka in establishing an organizational and technical foundation on which the company could quickly scale up and commercialize breakthrough photovoltaic technologies and products. He received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Rice University.

Ian Cottrell has been promoted to vice president of chemical product development at Hartz Mountain Corp., Secaucus, N.J. He joined the company in 1999 as director of chemical product development, having worked in R&D and business development for major corporations such as Merck, GAF Chemicals, Rhône-Poulenc, and National Starch & Chemical. Cottrell obtained a Ph.D. in polysaccharide chemistry from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland.

William P. England has been named global technology director for Ashland Composite Polymers, Dublin, Ohio. England spent the past 13 years at General Electric Plastics, and his most recent position was e-engineering manager for global technology. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Elmhurst College, in Illinois, and a doctorate in physical organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine.

Mindy Pless has started as an account representative at Kelly Scientific Resources, Blue Bell, Pa. She will be in charge of sales and business development in the Philadelphia area, and her concentration will be mainly the pharmaceutical, biotech, and chemical industries.

René van Rappard has been appointed CEO of Avantium Technologies, Amsterdam. He brings experience in the biotechnology, chemical, and materials industries, specifically in managing fast-growing start-up companies with an international customer base. Van Rappard held management positions at British Petroleum, Akzo Nobel, and Union Carbide, among others.

Kimberly A. Sullivan has been named site manager of the Atofina Chemicals facility in Bryan, Texas. She has worked at the facility since 1994, most recently as laboratory and environmental manager. Sullivan has a B.S. in chemistry from Texas A&M University; an M.S. in environmental engineering from John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, Calif.; and master's-level certification as a hazardous materials manager.

Scott F. Zemanek has been appointed plant chemist for the Chardon, Ohio, facilities of RheinChemie, a subsidiary of Bayer Polymers headquartered in Trenton, N.J. He comes from R. E. Darling Co., where he was chief chemist. Zemanek has more than 13 years' experience in the rubber industry, as well as a B.S. and a master's degree in chemistry from Bowling Green State University, in Ohio, and an M.B.A. from the University of Findlay, in Ohio.

This section is compiled byDeanna Miller.<br > Announcements of promotions and new hires may be sent to d_miller@acs.org.