Summer 2007

David Hakala (B.S., Ph.D. Chemistry) was named CEO of SpatiaLight, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of ultra high-resolution Liquid Crystal on Silicon microdisplays for the high definition television market. Hakala was promoted from his position of Chief Operating Officer, which he's held since September 2002. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors.

Summer 2006

Tom Rizzo (B.S. Chem 1978) is currently serving as Dean of the Faculty of Basic Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. He did his doctoral work in Physical Chemistry At the University of Wisconsin (dissertation title: "State Specific Studies of Unimolecular Reactions of Small Polyatomic Molecules, 1983) began his academic career at Rochester after a postdoctoral stint at the university of Chicago. Tom left the University of Rochester after attaining the rank of Full Professor to accept a position at EPFL in 1994. Since then he was Department Head and has been Dean since 2002.

He continues to study laser spectroscopy of biomolecules in the gas phase.

Spring 2006

Kate (Snyder) Bechtel (B.S. Chemistry, 1998, Prof. Julie Stenken) completed her Ph.D. on liquid-phase cavity ring-down spectroscopy at Stanford University with Prof. Richard N. Zare in 2004 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the M.I.T. Spectroscopy Laboratory with Michael Feld. Her current research involves the use of near-IR Raman spectroscopy for the noninvasive detection of blood analytes. She will enter the job market this fall (2006) so if you know of any good openings for bioanalytical spectroscopists, please drop her a line at kbechtel@mit.edu.

Steve Eilenberg (B.S. Chemistry, 1976) and his lovely wife Helene were proud attendants at our recent graduation ceremony when their son Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Computer and Systems engineering and in Mechanical Engineering. Michael will be entering graduate school at M.I T. in the Fall. Steve is the proprietor of Gloss-Flo Corp., a specialty coatings company in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI. recently announced that James J. O'Brien (RPI Ph.D., ’88) has accepted the role of Research & Development director of Process R&D for the Dow Building Solutions business. Jim worked with Prof. Kevin T. Potts in the area of Organic Chemistry. The title of his doctoral dissertation was: “Synthesis and Binding Properties of Organic Ligands Containing Biuret and Carbonyl Urea Functional Groups”.