Chair Elect (3-year Term):
Phil Hampton, Ph.D., is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Faculty Director of STEM Initiatives at CSU Channel Islands. He came to CI as one of thirteen founding faculty members in 2001 and the sole chemist for the campus. Prior to CI, he was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of New Mexico. He maintain an active research program with CI undergraduates that focuses on organic synthesis, specifically the synthesis of curcumin analogs as potential anti-cancer agents, and on chemical education. He has served as the Principal Investigator/ Project Director on a nearly $6 million grant from the Department of Education, entitled Project ACCESO. Bringing science to the community, specifically K-12 grade students, is Prof. Hampton’s greatest passions. In 2009, he founded the annual (free) Science Carnival offered each Fall where PK-8 grade students can engage in over 100 hands-on science activities. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, backpacking, kayaking, reading, 3D printing, and inventing/ tinkering with Arduinos and electronics. He serves a Board Member of KidSTREAM, a new children’s museum being launched in Camarillo, CA. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of CALPACS for the past two years.
Secretary (1-year Term):
James Pavlovich, Ph.D., has been Manager of the UCSB Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility since 1994. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Cal Poly, SLO in 1985. He worked at an environmental analytical laboratory in SLO from 1985-1987. He received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Oregon State University in Corvallis in 1993. He did postdoctoral research in the Environmental Science and Engineering Department at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. James has served as section chair, treasurer, and secretary.
Treasurer (1-year Term):
Ata Shirazi, Ph.D., retired in 2011 as Manager of the UCSB Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry NMR Facility where he had served since 1984. He received his Ph.D. from University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and did post-doctoral work at University of Iowa at Iowa City. He was Manager of the NMR Facility at Washington Univ. School of Medicine from 1980-82 before moving to Santa Barbara. Ata has previously served as section treasurer and for two terms on the Executive Committee.
Members of Executive Committee (3-year Terms):
Jenny Du, Ph.D. Jenny is the VP of Operations and People at Apeel Sciences, located in Santa Barbara, CA, where she facilitates and coordinates the efforts of the scientific and administrative divisions of the company.
Jenny received her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. For her doctoral studies, Jenny crossed over to the Chemistry Department at Queen’s to join the multidisciplinary lab of Prof. Cathleen Crudden where her graduate work in Materials Chemistry earned her the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Looking to broaden her skill set, Jenny relocated to Santa Barbara, CA to pursue postdoctoral research with Prof. Guillermo Bazan at UC Santa Barbara.
Jenny recently joined the CALPACS Executive Committee to fill a one-year term (2015-2016), and has enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other ACS members (both from academia and industry) as well as members of the broader community through her Committee involvement. In running for a three-year term, she hopes to continue to bring her enthusiasm and energy to the Committee and contribute to expanding the reach of the Committee and the ACS throughout the region.
Charles F. Huber My name is Charles Huber, and I have been a member of CALPACS from its inception twenty years ago. I arrived in Santa Barbara in 1987 to take on the job of Chemical Sciences Librarian at UC-Santa Barbara and have done so ever since. Throughout these almost 30 years I have been active in the American Chemical Society, primarily in the Division of Chemical Information, of which I have served as chair, and, currently as an Alternate Councilor. I have served for several years on the Joint Board-Council committee on Chemical Abstracts Service (CCAS), and before that on library advisory committees for CAS and ACS Publications.
Locally, I have served the UCSB chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for several years reviewing prospective members, and for the past two years have reviewed projects by middle school and high school students for the local Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program.
I would be honored to serve CALPACS on its Board, and hope to build on its tradition of service to the chemistry community in our region at all levels – from K-12 students to retirees – and all parts of our section from north to south.
Payam Minoofar, Ph.D. Having served CALPACS as a previous chair and member of the Executive Committee, I am volunteering to serve the section again as a member of the Executive Committee. The large and beautiful geography of our section presents our members with an unrivaled standard of living. It also presents the section officers with challenges with respect to organization of events. I endeavor to complete the efforts I started five years ago to build the digital resources that will facilitate involvement of our members in our governing process and our activities. Our goals are to improve communication within the section and to increase involvement of our local membership in order to build an intellectually and socially active community of scientists in the Central Coast.