Larry Thompson, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board
Dr. Larry F. Thompson is Managing Partner of the IPSS Consulting Company. He is a Bell Laboratories Fellow, has served on the Board of Directors of the American Chemical Society and is a member on the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Thompson received a Ph.D. in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri.
Karen Lozano, Ph.D.
Forcespinning® technology was invented in the nanomaterials research laboratory of Dr. Lozano. She co-invented the technology while serving as an endowed professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas-Pan American. Dr. Lozano has received numerous awards including the NSF CAREER award, is listed on patents for multiple nanomaterial technologies, and publishes her work in top scientific journals. Her formal education includes a BS from Universidad de Monterrey, a MS from Rice University, and a Ph.D. from Rice University.
Chris Ellison, Ph.D.
Dr. Ellison is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His research laboratory focuses on the design, synthesis, processing and characterization of nanostructured polymeric materials, including the production and application of nanofibers. The quality and significance of his work has been recognized by several different scientific communities with the Polymer Physics Prize from the editors of the Journal of Polymer Science, the Frank J. Padden Award from the American Physical Society, and the ICI Award in Applied Polymer Science from the American Chemical Society. His formal training includes a B.S. in chemical engineering from Iowa State University and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University.
Abel Gaspar-Rosas, Ph.D.
Dr. Abel Gaspar-Rosas is the Technical and Export Sales Director for TA Instruments-Waters LLC and a member of their Product Development Committee. He has an extensive and accomplished career in research equipment for rheology and thermal analysis. Dr. Gaspar-Rosas’ formal education includes a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas.
R. Vijayakumar, Ph.D.
Vijayakumar is the founder and head of AERFIL, a consulting company devoted to providing technical and business solutions and services for the filtration and contamination control industry as well as educational and training support for the industry. His current clients include major filtration companies in China, Brazil and India. With over over 25 years’ experience in leading filtration companies to go with his PhD in particle technology, Vijayakumar is a globally recognized expert and mentor in filtration sought after by clients world wide. He is an advisor to NASA for air filtration systems. In keeping with his philosophy that knowledge grows only by sharing, he teaches freely and often wherever someone wants to learn the subject. He has been on the faculty of the short course on air and gas filtration at the University of Minnesota since its inception. Currently, he chairs standards development committees at the ISO and in the US.
Ronald Larson, Ph.D.
Before joining the University of Michigan in the GG Brown Professorship of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Larson spent seventeen years at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. He has previously served as the President of the Society of Rheology and the Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. Dr. Larson is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society and sits on the Fluid Mechanics Programming Committee of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers. His awards include the Bingham Medal from the Society of Rhology and the Alpha Chi Sigma Award from AICHE. Dr. Larson’s formal education includes a B.S., an M.S. and a Ph.D. all in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
