Below are the statements from the candidates running for positions on the Executive Committee of the Los Padres Section of the American Chemical Society, or CaLPACS.
Chair Elect
Wilson Hago, Ph. D. is a 25+ year member of the ACS, and current Chair of the Los Padres Section. He has worked in the local start-up industry as a physical chemist for the past 20 years. This experience includes research and development on alkaline batteries, cellulose chemistry, biochar, activated carbon, and renewable fuels. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in physics, and a Ph.D in physical chemistry from Brown University. He has written over 100 patents and is named as inventor on 17 patents. He is Founder of Hago Energetics, Inc., a startup focused on CO2 capture and utilization. Wilson would be be honored to continue serving the Section as Chair-Elect to further the Section’s mission of promoting chemistry and chemical education in the Central Coast.
Secretary
Jean Osterman, M.S. Before graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I spent several years working as a research assistant for the Southern Coastal Water Research Project working on environmental chemistry, chronic and acute bioassays, marine sampling and species identification. Bench chemistry is pretty exciting on a rocking vessel at sea!
After earning an MS degree from the University of Wisconsin and a secondary credential from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I taught science at a local high school and in natural science education programs for several years. After some quality time at home with my young children, I returned to work for the Analytical Services Department at JBL Scientific, which became Promega Biosciences. There I have been fortunate to collaborate with active research groups in California and Wisconsin developing and characterizing an array of synthetic biomolecules, enzyme substrates, molecular tags, and imaging compounds used in Promega products. On the home front, I serve on the board of Surfing for Hope, part of the Hearst Cancer Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance to people with cancer and their families. I also serve on the board of my neighborhood association, and enjoy gardening, amateur astronomy, jazz, cooking, wine and a good mystery.
Treasurer
Jerry Macala, Ph. D. is a Principal Scientist and founder of Device Analytical, a consulting firm specializing in materials synthesis and characterization in the medical device industry. He has previously managed operations in the organic peroxide and pharmaceutical industries, coordinated facility expansions and modernization, and directed research and development to improve efficiency and performance of medical x-ray detectors. For one long southern winter he managed a remote research station at the geographic South Pole in Antarctica, where he organized the first ever mid-winter medical evacuation to save the station’s ailing doctor. His crew was one of the last to occupy the historic geodesic dome which had become an icon of the US Polar Program. He has served on the board of Calpacs for several years and looks forward to contributing as Treasurer in the coming year.
Councilor
Justin Russak, Ph. D. is the current councilor for the Los Padres ACS section, prior Chair and general executive committee 10-year member. Currently, he sits as a full member of the Membership Affairs Committee (MAC) of the ACS. Over the past 3 year tenure, MAC has reversed the declining membership trend of the ACS by incorporating World Bank country ratings with membership and affiliation fees. MAC has also been working hard behind the scenes to bring you new tiers of ACS membership that will roll out in the coming year to provide more value and choice. The COVID-19 pandemic has also fundamentally changed how current and future meetings will take place, moving towards more of a hybrid model of in-person and remote attendance. It would be my pleasure to continue on with these duties and serve as the main conduit of information between national and the Los Padres ACS section. Justin has been a lecturer of general and organic chemistry at UC Santa Barbara and CSU Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, pest-control and semiochemical researcher in the Marine Sciences Institute, UCSB, and currently works in the organic agricultural sector.
Alternate Councilor
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 our section’s Alternative Councilor. 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. After leading the section’s transition to the digital realm over the past eight years, I am seeking your support in being one of our section’s two voices in the ACS.
Members at Large
Heather Shafer, Ph. D. is the chemistry teacher at Bishop Diego High School in Santa Barbara. I have worked as a chemistry educator since earning my Ph. D. in analytical chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2000. Prior to 2013, I taught in the chemistry departments at Smith College and College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. One of my goals in life is to open up the minds of young adults to chemistry and get them interested in pursuing science in college. As a member of the Executive Board of CALPACS, I plan to serve as a liaison between the board and other local high school chemistry teachers. I also hope to spread my enthusiasm for chemistry with a larger share of the local community.
Woody Maxwell, Ph. D. is currently a chemistry teacher at Ventura High School where he has been teaching since 1995. He was Science Department Chair from 1997 – 2017. He received a BA in Physics from Willamette University in 1982 and finished his teaching credential at CLU in 1988. He taught Life Science at Chaparral Middle School in Moorpark from 1988-1995. In 2003 he took a year sabbatical and was accepted into a course based master’s program in Chemistry at UCSB. In June 2004 he earned his MA in Chemistry and then was accepted into the RET (Research Experience for Teachers) program through the MRL. During the research phase he worked in Kevin Plaxco’s lab under Miguel De Los Rios characterizing the folding rates of a model protein. In the summer of 2005 he wrote organic curriculum for high school chemistry (that he still uses) based on the research from the previous summer. In 2006 he was accepted to another RET program administered by the NNIN working in Quyen Nguyen’s lab under Mark Dante characterizing gold on mica using and AFM for future reference when attaching SAM light absorbing molecules. In 2007 he accepted a lab position in Peter Ford’s Lab working under Jerry Macala making and characterizing hydrotalcites for use in transesterification reactions. In 2008 he started the SCOPE (Science as a Career Outreach Project Experiment) for Mike Bowers to coordinate graduate students speaking to high school classes about the prospect of becoming a scientist as a possible career path. This is the 10 th summer he has spent in the Bowers lab recruiting new graduate students and correlating the data from the previous school year. The SCOPE program now reaches 7 local high schools, 13 different teachers and hundreds of high school students each year. I have served on the executive board for this past term as the only public high school chemistry teacher and would like the chance to continue in this roll.
Karly Knox (She/Hers) Hello! I am a Houstonian pursuing a career in polymer science and scientific policy. I would be honored to be a member on the executive board to represent and echo the voices of undergraduates who are the next wave of incoming scientists. My expected graduation date is June 2021 and I am currently applying to graduate programs across the country so my location during the later quarter of my term is currently unknown but my heart and dedication will be to the Los Padres Area and my SLOme.