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Letters to the Editor
I enjoyed receiving my McMaster Chemical Extracts last week. I received my Ph.D. in 1965 and can count the number of return visits with the fingers of one hand. The last visit was during the CIC annual conference somewhere in the early 90s. You have done an excellent job of opening the door again.
I was pleased to see that the graduate student baseball league, which we started in the 60s, is still in action. Although I was in chemistry, I played with theoretical physics and drank with the organic chemists at the Collins Hotel. I was rather surprised a few weeks ago when, as a result of a series of highly improbable coincidences, I met one of my old teammates.
After a number of academic and industrial positions, I am now a consultant in the field of industrial chemistry. My specialty is water and its use for cooling and heating purposes. I like big systems, especially those in coal or nuclear generating stations or plant utilities. When people come into my home office, I like the look on their faces when I show them the aerial photograph of one of my favorite systems. This one doesn't fit in a beaker, as it's 4 km across. I also provide a variety of industrially oriented courses in water treatment and data management. As a hobby, I am the Computer Review Editor of Canadian Chemical News/L'Actualité chimique canadienne. I also do the computer reviews in Ultrapure Water.
Marvin Silbert
(Ph.D. in 1965 with Dick Tomlinson)
Marvin Silbert and Associates is based in Willowdale, Ontario.
www.interlog.com/~silbert
e-mail: marvin@silbert.org.
Extracts was very interesting to read; excellent synopsis of the Chemistry department and its key personnel; the student focus was much appreciated. I would also be interested to know what public services (e.g. consulting/analytical testing) are available through McMaster Chemistry.
I am currently a R&D manager for a US-based plastic-building-products organization (ABT Co.), located outside of Toronto. My M. Sc. Degree has been an invaluable asset in obtaining rewarding positions in my field of study (polymer chemistry).
Lorenzo Ferrari
(M. Sc. in 1995 with Harald Stöver)
Lorenzo Ferrari lives in Hamilton.
I just got the departmental newsletter in the mail - delayed due to an address correction. Boy was it ever a treat to read about the alma mater. Made me a little homesick, though!
I am employed as a research chemist developing new technologies for computer aided molecular design in pharmaceutical discovery at Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 500 diversified healthcare company based outside of Chicago, IL.
After undergraduate study at McMaster, I went on to complete a Masters (Physics), Ph.D. (Chemical Physics) and Postdoc (Chemical Biology) at Harvard University.
Just before joining Abbott, I helped launch Initio Pharmaceuticals, an embryonic startup positioned to apply de novo design to drug discovery. In 1995, I married Michelle Gretzinger (Chemical Engineering '93), and in October this year (1998), bouncing baby Heidi Johanna was born. Hobbies are playing soccer, cooking and eating!
Rob DeWitte
(Hon. B.Sc. Chemistry and
Physics in 1992)
Gurnee, Illinois
Robert.DeWitte@ln.ssw.abbott.com
Thank you for my copy of McMaster Chemical Extracts. What a pleasure to receive this publication and its informative messages. I am so glad to now have a medium in which to keep up with my Alma Mater Chemistry Department.
I was Gary Schrobilgen's first ever Ph.D. student. I was a co-organizer of the Award Symposium in Boston where Gary Schrobilgen received the 1998 ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry.
After graduating, I accepted a position as a fluorine chemist at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in Allentown, PA. I was just recently promoted to Lead Research Chemist, Fluorine Technology Center. In addition, I was recently elected to the position of Vice-Chair/ Secretary Treasurer of The American Chemical Society's Division of Fluorine Chemistry. I will serve a three-year term commencing January 1, 1999, and then will become Chairman of the Division for the year 2002.
T.R.G. Syvret
(Hon. B.Sc. in 1982 and Ph.D. in 1987 with Gary Schrobilgen)
SYVRETRG@apci.com
I had a lot of fun reading the Department newsletter "Chemical Extracts". I can't wait for the next one, so that I can get the solution to the puzzle!
Stories of people going to Nashville with a guitar and a few songs are all too common. In 1994 my family and I went to Murfreesboro, just 35 mi. from Nashville, with a computer, some books, and a few theories. This year I was promoted to Associate Professor and received tenure in the Department of Chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University. I was also recently elected to Chair of the Nashville Section of the American Chemical Society for 2000. I have an active research program in molecular visualization with collaborators at NASA Ames. An example of some graphics that stem from my research in Richard Bader's lab can be found at www.nas.nasa.gov/~chenze/cis-platin.html. This image is dedicated to happy memories of discussing transition metals in medicine with the late Colin Lock.
Preston J. MacDougall
(B.Sc. in 1983, Ph.D. in 1989
with Richard Bader)
pmacdougall@mtsu.edu
www.mtsu.edu/~chem/P.S.: You may have heard of our recent move to Division IA football. We've been hammered by Mississippi State and Arizona this year. Maybe soon we'll get to be squashed by Penn State.
Extracts would like to hear from you.
Please tell us any news of your current activities, personal or professional, and your whereabouts. Suggestions or articles for future issues of Extracts are also appreciated.
Send your note to the address noted below (e-mail or post) or use this handy form to send us your comments.
Address correspondence to Extracts: dumontr@mcmaster.ca
or
R.S. Dumont
Department of Chemistry
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, Ont., Canada
L8S 4M1
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