CHEMSEM and Environmental Fridays Guest Lectures
Happening this week in CHEMSEM and Environmental Fridays Guest Lecture Series on Zoom:
Thursday
Oct. 7, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. EDT: "Macromolecular Therapeutics: New Biologics for Human Health" by James Hedrick, PhD, of IBM
Zoom link: https://andrews.zoom.us/j/92307867479
Friday
Oct. 8, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. EDT: "Community-based Environmental Projects" by Sharda Mahabir, PhD, and Darion Fraser
Zoom Meeting ID: 963 3529 3713
Speakers Bios:
James L. Hedrick, PhD, is a Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM's Almaden Research Center but spends a significant amount of time at IBM's Yorktown Heights research facility, Stanford University, as well as the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Singapore. Jim has pioneered new polymer-forming reactions as high temperature interlayer dielectrics and block copolymers for low dielectric materials and helped create the foundation of block copolymer lithography. Jim introduced the polymer community to organic catalysis as an environmentally benign means to living polymerization that provided entry into the nanomedicine field. Jim now leads an effort at IBM in collaboration with IBN to solve critical problems in antimicrobial resistance, gene delivery, sustained therapeutic release and cancer therapies. Jim has over 500 publications, ~450 patents, serves on numerous advisory boards and has won many awards including the IBM Grand Challenge (2017) on Antibiotic Resistance, ACS Herman Mark Senior Scholar award (2017), President Obama’s EPA Green Chemistry award (2012), ACS Polymer Fellow (2010), Carl Marvel award (ACS) on Creative Polymer Chemistry (2003), ACS award on Cooperative Chemistry with Stanford University (2009) and IBM Master Inventor (2018).
Sharda Mahabir has a PhD in environmental biology from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad. She is currently the National Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme. She has also lectured part-time with the Department of Life Sciences, UWI, St. Augustine, at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She was part of a five-person team, which completed the first ecological assessment of rivers across Trinidad and Tobago. She developed an award-winning program called Adopt A River for the local water authority. This program completed 35 clean-up exercises; 40 recycling projects; 3 tree-planting exercises and developed 12 water supply projects. These activities reached 5,000 persons, and over 200 community members were trained in two years.
Darion Fraser has spent most of his professional life in the environmental field. His affinity for nature has led him to be affiliated with groups and organizations charged with the responsibility of being environmental stewards. His academic career has also reflected his passion for nature. With the attainment of a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, with the major environmental and natural resource management and minors marine biology and communication & extension, he is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Caribbean at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.
Desmond H. Murray
murrayd@andrews.edu
