Organizing Committee and Chair Biographies
Emilio Bunel received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of
Technology in 1988. He began his professional career at DuPont Central Research
as a member of the Catalysis Group. He was responsible for the discovery and
subsequent development of new processes for the synthesis of Nylon
intermediates required in the manufacture of Nylon-6,6 and Nylon-6. In 2001,
Bunel was hired by Eli Lilly to establish the Catalysis Group within the Discovery
Research Organization. This group was responsible for the preparation of organic
compounds using transition metal catalyzed reactions. The molecules prepared
spanned all the aspects of the pharmaceutical endeavor from early lead
optimization to process development. In 2003, he became an associate director at
Amgen, Inc. His work included the establishment of the Catalysis Group in
support of route selection/process development efforts to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients
for clinical testing. Most recently, Emilio was employed as the director of research at Pfizer, Inc., where
he directed the Catalysis Group in support of medicinal chemistry and process development. After
spending so many years in industry, Bunel decided to get back to where science is discovered and not just
used. Argonne has a talented group of scientists and engineers, but with funding shifting to applied
science, the division must tailor itself to that atmosphere. He also emphasized the importance of having a
strong basic research program as well.
Mark J. Cardillo is the Executive Director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus
Foundation. Dr. Cardillo received his Bachelor of Science degree from Stevens
Institute of Technology in 1964 and his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Cornell
University in 1970. He was a Research Associate at Brown University, a CNR
Research Scientist at the University of Genoa, and a PRF Research Fellow in the
Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 1975, Dr. Cardillo joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of the Technical Staff
in the Surface Physics Department. He was appointed Head of the Chemical
Physics Research Department in 1981 and subsequently named Head of the
Photonics Materials Research Department. Most recently, he held the position of
Director of Broad Band Access Research. Dr. Cardillo is a Fellow of the American
Physical Society. He has been the Phillips Lecturer at Haverford College and a Langmuir Lecturer of the
American Chemical Society. He received the Medard Welch Award of the American Vacuum Society in
1987, the Innovations in Real Materials Award in 1998, and the Pel Associates Award in Applied
Polymer Chemistry in 2000.
William F. Carroll, Jr. is Vice President of Chlorovinyl Issues at Occidental
Chemical Corporation in Dallas, Texas and an adjunct industrial professor of
chemistry at Indiana University. He served as ACS president in 2005 and as a
member of the ACS Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006. He is the former chair
of International Activities Committee at ACS. He earned a B.A. from DePauw, an
M.S. from Tulane University (1975), and a Ph.D. from Indiana University (1978).
Carroll has been an ACS member since 1974 and has served on a number of
committees. He holds memberships in the Society of Plastics Engineers; American
Association for the Advancement of Science; National Organization for the
Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers; and
National Fire Protection Association; and was the recipient of the Vinyl Institute Roy T. Gottesman
Leadership Award in 2000.
Miguel Garcia-Garibay has been a Faculty member in the Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry since 1992. He came to UCLA after doing
Postdoctoral research at Columbia University, which followed his PhD studies at
the University of British Columbia, in Canada. The earlier portions of Dr. GarciaGaribay education were completed in his native, Mexico, at the Universidad
Michoacana, where he did research on natural product isolation and
characterization. Dr. Garcia-Garibay was promoted to full professor in the year
2000 and he has served as Vice Chair for Education in the Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry since 2005. Dr. Garcia-Garibay is a member of the
editorial board of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Organic Chemistry.
He has been a member of the CNSI since 2005. His current research efforts are aimed to the development
of artificial molecular machinery in highly organized crystalline media, and to the development of green
chemistry by taking advantage of organic reactions in molecular nanocrystals.
Patricia A. Thiel is the John D. Corbett Professor of Chemistry and a
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Materials Science & Engineering at
Iowa State University. She is also a Faculty Scientist in the Ames Laboratory.
She is active in research, teaching, and administration. In research, she is known
for her work in three main areas: nanostructure evolution on surfaces; surface
properties and structures of quasicrystals (a complex type of metallic alloy); and
the chemistry of water adsorbed on metal surfaces. Thiel is an enthusiastic
teacher of physical chemistry. She has held several administrative posts,
including chair of the Department of Chemistry. Thiel earned her B.A. in
Chemistry from Macalester College and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of
Technology in 1981. After postdoctoral work at the University of Munich as a von Humboldt Fellow, she
joined the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, then moved to Iowa State University in 1983.
In her early academic career, Thiel was recognized with awards from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus
Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and by a National Science Foundation Presidential
Young Investigator Award. Later, she received the American Chemical Society's Arthur W. Adamson
Award, and the American Physical Society's David J. Adler Lectureship. She was also named Fellow of
several societies: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Materials Research
Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Vacuum Society.