Morrisville, Pa — Seeking to further strengthen its R&D and technical service capabilities, Gelest, Inc, has announced the appointment of Professor Janis Matisons as senior technical manager, reporting to Jerry Larson, PhD, vice president R&D, as well as two key promotions: Jonathan Goff, PhD, to manager, Silicones R&D, and Yun Mi Kim, PhD, to technical service manager.

As senior technical manager, Matisons is responsible for the development of innovative material and polymer technologies. He has been involved in applied chemical research for more than 30 years, specializing in materials, polymer- and silicon-based research. Prior to joining Gelest, he was appointed the first Australian professorial chair in nanotechnology at Flinders University, where he formed and led the Nanomaterials Group for nine years. Matisons came to Flinders University from the University of South Australia, where he led the research efforts of the Polymer Science Group at the Ian Wark Research Institute.

With research interests covering a wide spectrum of disciplines, Matisons has published more than 400 scientific, technical and conference articles. He also has participated in 28 major industry-academic collaborative grants resulting in more than two dozen patents, the formation of three spinoff companies, and the launching of 79 products into the marketplace. His honors include the William Culross Prize for his early research in organometallic chemistry at Adelaide University and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s Polymer Citation for Excellence in silicon research and education. A longstanding member of the American Chemical Society and a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Matisons was awarded the Institute’s Applied Research Medal in 2008.

As manager, Silicones R&D, Goff is responsible for leading the efforts of the silicones research and development group at Gelest. He joined the company in 2009 as a polymer development chemist, working to develop new silicone products, after receiving his Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science from Virginia Tech. In his dissertation, Dr. Goff described the formation of PDMS-stabilized magnetite nanoparticle complexes, the synthesis of silicone-based segmented polyionenes and the development of silicone macroinitiators for use in living free radical polymerization techniques. Goff has co-authored 16 published papers on silicones and other polymeric materials.

As technical service manager, Kim is responsible for leading Gelest’s Technical Service Group, and specializes in surface modification and silicon chemistry. She joined Gelest as an application chemist in September 2006. After earning a Bachelor of Engineering degree in the Chemical Engineering Department of Dankook University in Seoul, Korea, in 1997, Dr. Kim began her professional career as a research chemist at Kudko Chemical Ltd. in South Korea, specializing in epoxy resin systems and hardeners. She earned her doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida in 2006. Kim has published seven papers and holds two patents.

SOURCE: Gelest