Taylor Downs Email & Phone Number

Urbana-Champaign Area

• Researched and developed methods for synthesizing high purity scintillation inorganic salts to meet customer specifications concerning purity, moisture, and oxygen content.
• Problem solved issues with production personnel and provided chemical knowledge to help improve processes and ensure successful products.
• Worked with hazardous chemicals such as HF, HCl, HBr, HI acids and their gases, organic phosphate, and metal compounds containing alkali, alkaline, transition, and rare earth metals including Cd, Tl, Pb, Hf, and Th
• Proficient in using industrial rotary evaporators, filters, vacuum ovens, as well as sublimation, and wet chemistry setups.
• Organized schedules to prioritize production of compounds and multitasked to ensure materials were made within a certain time frame.

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

Analyzed high purity lamp salts and scintillators using ICP-MS and ICP-OES for trace impurities and composition to meet customer specificationsDeveloped methods for analyzing new products and improved existing methodsPerformed regular maintenance on ICP-MS, ICP-OES, KF, and Eltra Elemental AnalyzerConducted tests for particle size, Hg content, halogen.

Chicago, IL

Conducted chemical analysis on plastics, waxes, oils, and additives made for industrial scale products such as shampoos, sunscreens, tapes, and adhesivesAnalyzed samples by tests such as acid value, hydroxyl value, purity and content quantification using Gas Chromatography, moisture, colorimeter, and tin contentCommunicated with supervisors and engineers.

Terre Haute, IN

Completed tests on pharmaceuticals to compare against label claims and client specificationsAided in calculations, office tasks, and organization of the chemistry labDemonstrated knowledge of analytical techniques through titrations, dissolutions, IR, and other wet chemistry experiments