• Academic Alumni (chemistry alumni and their academic positions -- http://www.chem.vt.edu/news/AcademicAlumni.pdf)
  
  
• Tomas Hudlicky has been appointed Canada Research Chair in Biocatalysis at Brock University. Tomas is the recipient of many prestigious awards; holder of eight patents; author of numerous articles;editor of several scientific journals; chairman of the organizing committee and founder of the Symposia on the Latest Trends in Organic Synthesis. His research involves converting aromatic compounds, often considered industrial wastes, into valuable pharmaceutical compounds. The work will lead to the manufacture of compounds needed by society, specifically related to analgesic, anesthetic and anti-tumor products - in an environmentally benign way.
  
  
• Anna J. Sequeira "Queenie" was the recipient of the Forsyth Technical Community College's Excellence in Teaching award. This program was established by the State Board of the North Carolina Community College System to provide recognition to teachers who exempify the highest quality and standards throughout the N.C. Community College System and instructors who have consistently demonstrated excellence in teaching to their students and college. She was selected as a semifinalist at the North Carolina Community College Excellence in Teaching State competition. In May, Ann was also a recipient of the 2003 NISOD Excellence Award in Austin, Texas. Anna earned her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry under the direction of Larry Taylor in 1991, her bachelor of science degree in chemistry and physics, her master of science degree in physical chemistry and a diploma teaching at the higher education level from the University of Bombay in India. She has also taught in several countries throughout the world including India and Qatar. In Winston-Salem, she has also worked as an analtyical chemst at the Bowman Gray Technical Center and taught at Wake Forest University.
  
  
• Mark Rhorbaugh (BS, Chemistry, 1979) has notified the University that he has been appointed to the position of Director, NIH Office of Technology Transfer. As a student, he performed undergraduate research with Jim Wolfe, He went on to receive a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Penn State University in 1984 and a law degree (J.D.) with honors from the George Washington University in 1997. The press release can be seen at http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2003/od-31.htm.
  
  
• Jim Rancourt (Ph.D. Chemistry, 1987) is President of Polymer Solutions in the Corporate Research Center. Polymer Solutions does chemical analyses and materials testing for companies whose products range from credit cards to football helmets and contact lenses to lotions. The company has been in business since 1987. The company has eight employees and occupies about 5,000 square feet at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. After getting his doctorate at Virginia Tech, Rancourt returned to Massachusetts where he had job offers. The CRC did not exist when the company started, but Polymer Solutions became its 10th tenant in April 1990. In its early years, most of Polymer Solutions' work was tied to government contracts. Revenues have increased every year and the company has slowly made the transition into a private-sector contractor. Now, government-sponsored projects account for less than 20 percent of the gross revenues of the company.
  
  
• Dr. Robin D. Kinser and Michael T. Johnson established an endowed scholarship in chemistry in honor of their fathers. Dr. Kinser received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Virginia Tech in 1981 and has served the Department of Chemistry as a member of its Alumni Advisory Board in recent years. The scholarship will be awarded through a competitive process to either a graduate or undergraduate student who demonstrates high academic and personal achievement, strong financial need, a love of learning, strong character, and an appreciation of chemistry.
  
  
• Jerry M. Clemons, of Ronceverte, West Virginia, was elected to the grade of ISA Fellow (Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society). Clemons was recognized for his creative and innovative development of analytical process measurement devices. He is vice president and general manager for ABB Analytics where he is responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of process analyzers for chemical, petrochemical, and refining industries. His work on process chromatography has been published in the John Wiley Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry. ISA Fellow is a membership bestowed on an individual to acknowledge outstanding achievment in scientific or engineering fields as recognized by ISA peers. An individual must have bene an ISA Senior Member for at least five yers or have at least 10 years in instrumentation, development, application operation management or teaching. The Society's primary awards ceremony took place in conjunction with ISA 2001 on Sunday, September 9, 2001, in Houston, Texas.
  
  
• Dr. Williams H. Starnes, Jr. (BS, Chemistry, 1955) has been Elected a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
  
  
• Dr. James Edward (Jim) Smith and his wife, Carolyn, live in Hockessin, Delaware. he has recently retired from DuPont,and formed a new company, Smith & Associates Consultants, licensing intellectual property for DuPont. Jim and Carolyn spend a lot of time in Blacksburg, where Jim serves on several univeristy boards (one of which is the Chemistry Advisory Council). They have two sons, James Christopher and Griffin Anderson. The JFK assassination stands out as the most significant event during his VPI tenure; Duke Ellington and the Kingston Trio made the music that Jim remembers the most.
  
  
• Dr. Jacqueline A. Trischman (BS Chem, 1986)is on the faculty of the University of California at San Marcos (Assitant Professor of Chemistry).
  
  
• Dr. Michael W. Ogden was promoted to Director level with RJReynolds. He is now the Director of Biological Chemistry Research & Development in Winston-Salem, NC.
  
  
• Jim Hedrick (BS Chem, 1981; PhD Materials Engineering Science (MESC), 1985) has won the Carl Marvel American Chemical Society Polymer Division Creative Young Chemist Award for 2003. Jim has been at IBM Almaden for his whole career thus far,where he has generated more than 250 papers and 30+ patents. Jim worked under Professor Jim McGrath for his Ph.D. in the now discontinued MESC program.
  
  

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