Core R&D program director for Packaging, Specialty Plastics, and Hydrocarbons business. Responsible for the alignment of corporate research portfolio for Dow’s ethylene envelope, and identifying new disruptive technology innovations in the area of packaging, industrial, consumer, and transportation plastic products, hydrocarbons and energy, digital technologies, and sustainability.

Leading a group of talented scientists and researchers in polyethylene product R&D, and the sustainability focal point for packaging and specialty plastics product R&D focusing on growing our success in mechanical recycling products. Responsible for product technology roadmaps, ensuring business alignment of the project portfolio, and managing and enhancing the innovation focus areas for R&D. Also lead an R&D leader and provide second-level leadership to technologist group and several lab facilities.

Responsible to lead PE Product R&D labs and warehouse teams (~10 technologists) and to define and implement lab strategy in line with business needs. Also in this role, I am the PE Prod R&D focal point for sustainability, recycling, and circular polymer initiatives, including managing the research project portfolio and serving as the R&D representative on various sustainability business teams.Key Responsibilities:- Manage prime expense, define capital strategy, oversee capital budget for the group, and lead development of new capabilities to accelerate innovation and support business growth. - Accountable for performance management, team building, reward and recognition, employee development and engagement. Also serve as hiring manager for PE Product R&D- Identify, champion and charter projects in support of strategic objectives across the department, including those around sustainability, digitization, strategic hiring, training, and talent development.

In Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Polyethylene Product R&D, I served as the Polyethylene R&D additive focal point responsible for materials formulation to enhance and tune material properties for end use performance. Maintained understanding and followed state of the art technology in additives via relationships with suppliers. Applied expertise in polymer structure-property-processing relationships to enable the design of innovative new materials, offering benefits in performance, cost and sustainability. Lead and participated in multi-functional teams to drive new product technology development from concept shaping and validation to scale-up and commercialization. Created and secured intellectual property.

Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Materials Science R&D

Through the use of molecular simulations, I researched Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs), a novel class of nanostructured materials, which due to their rigid backbone and contorted structures pack inefficiently to produce nanoporous materials with high surface areas. The uses of such materials included catalysis, molecular sieves, or, more importantly, safe and economical storage of industrially-relevant gasses. These PIMs have the ability to be chemically engineered to specific applications, and molecular simulations facilitate the efficient exploration of a wide variety of functional group chemistry. Potential applications of PIMs span from a gas mask oxygen filter, to a carbon dioxide sequestration device. I was focused on simulating different PIM dynamic and gas transport characteristics, such as membrane swelling and gas permeability or selectivity, as a result of altered functionality, which revealed insight on how to maximize the performance in practical applications.