Thuban Innovations is a chemical process development service organization. Areas of concentration include: process safety, scale up, quality investigations, and synthesis of molecules. Thuban Innovations also advises customers in formula improvements and patent searches.

Position Overview:• Reaction engineering modeling for process scale-up design• Aspen Plus modeling• Thermodynamic assessment of new chemical routes• Chemical kinetics design and Vapor-Liquid-Equilibria (VLE) modeling• Laboratory synthesis of new molecules for CVD precursors• Technical Service for Silicones Products

Position Overview:• Reaction engineering modeling for process scale-up design• Aspen Plus modeling• Thermodynamic assessment of new chemical routes• Chemical kinetics design and Vapor-Liquid-Equilibria (VLE) modeling• Laboratory synthesis of new molecules for CVD precursors

I served as a volunteer maintaining the website for the Midland Chapter of the American Chemical Society.

Instructor for Chemistry 102B

At BC Quantum Engineering we aim to shorten process development time by combining chemistry knowledge with process design.  This is achieved through the implementation of computational methods such as: reaction kinetics, reaction thermodynamics, physical properties, molecular interactions, and analytical data.  We take this information to the next level by integrating the chemistry knowledge into process engineering.  We meet client needs ranging from basic chemistry research to process development, and enable clients to advance from laboratory to commercial scale.

Process Engineering Department. Job function focus: product purity, process optimization, analytical characterization, thermodynamic assessment, develop kinetic models.

I served as a volunteer mentoring college students.

Technical services for industrial water treatment and oil & gas industry.

• Thermodynamic evaluation of chemical reactions• Physical Property Estimation• Apply key technology learning to optimize reactor heat and productivity efficiency• Manage laboratory experimentation with timing considerations• Ultra-high purity process considerations• High temperature experimentation• Laboratory Coordinator• Develop and test chemistry kinetic models applying Transition State Theory (TST) as part of computational engineering models

Dissertation: "Light Hydrocarbon Reactivity on Pt(111): Dissociative Sticking Coefficients and Evans-Polanyi Relation."An effusive molecular beam technique is described to measure alkane dissociative sticking coefficients, , on metal surfaces for which the impinging gas temperature, , and surface temperature, , can be independently varied, along with the impinging gas angle of incidence, . Effusive beam experiments with allow for determination of angle-resolved dissociative sticking coefficients, , which when averaged over a angular distribution yield the thermal dissociative sticking coefficient, , appropriate to reaction with a thermal ambient gas. The flux of molecules striking the surface from the effusive beam is determined from knowledge of the dosing geometry, chamber pressure, and pumping speed. Post-dosing Auger electron spectroscopy is used to measure the carbon of the alkyl radical reaction product that is deposited on the surface as a result of alkane dissociative sticking. As implemented in a typical ultrahigh vacuum chamber for surface analysis, the technique has provided access to a dynamic range of roughly 6 orders of magnitude in the initial dissociative sticking coefficient for small alkanes on Pt(111). An Evans-Polanyi plot of EA for alkane dissociative chemisorption versus the alkane thermal desorption energy, ED, is linear with a slope of -0.54. The nucleation and growth of graphene islands on a Pt(111) surface were examined at temperatures near 1000 K. Graphene was grown by chemical vapor deposition of both ethylene propylene, and a low-energy electron microscope (LEEM) was used to image the growing graphene islands.

Chemistry 105 - Developed syllabus and overall course structure, administered all grades.

Thesis: "Permeation of Photocontrolled Spiropyran Modified Gramicidin-A."Biomimetic devices show great potential as molecular sensors of biological species. Gramicidin A (gA) is a well studied ionophore that can be easily modified at the C-terminus to be incorporated into phosphatidylcholine bilayer membrane systems. In bilayer membranes gA dimerizes to form a channel that conducts monovalent cations. Modifying gramicidin A with a microenvironment sensitive molecule, such as spiropyran, allows for control of ion permeation through the channel. Spiropyran is a photochromic organic molecule that is observed to have a strong photonic absorbance in the ultra-violet region. Upon irradiation of 350 nm light, the conjugated pi system of spiropyran becomes extended which is observed to absorb light in the visible region (500-600 nm). This form is referred to as merocyanine and can be converted to spiropyran by irradiation of 500-600 nm light. Merocyanine is very solvent sensitive, exhibiting hypsochromic shifting. Attaching spiropyran to gramicidin A (gA-SP) has been observed to control K+ permeation through the channel in free bilayer membranes. Through the gA-SP channel, K+ permeation is twice that of merocyanine modified gramicidin A. Permeation of K+ is greater with gA-SP due to the position of spiropyran away the pore opening. Merocyanine is positioned near the ion channel pore opening retarding K+ permeation.

Introduction to Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Lab. -Developed syllabus and overall course structure, administered all grades.

Website design and general computer repair.

WEB HOLDS STUDENT'S HOPES FOR MAYOR'S JOBAuthor: Tim Pryor And Don HunterDaily News ReporterStaffDate: February 27, 2000Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Page: B1High school student Greg Cushing missed the filing date to run for mayor, but he's got the next best thing: a web site he hopes can get him elected as a write-in.Cushing, a political neophyte, academic achiever and small businessman, hopes a word-of-mouth campaign in the city's high schools and possibly some radio ads will land him the city's highest office April 4.The Bartlett High School senior's only political experience is a...Read more here: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AS&p_theme=as&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=cushing&s_dispstring=cushing%20AND%20section(all)%20AND%20date(12/1/2000%20to%201/1/2000)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=12/1/2000%20to%201/1/2000)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:D&xcal_ranksort=4&xcal_useweights=yes#storylink=cpy