American Institute of Chemical Engineers - Northern California Section

44th Annual Symposium

Sponsored by AIChE and SVEC

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Hs' Lordships, Berkeley, CA

Keynoter - Emerging Solutions to our Energy Needs
Lawrence H. Dubois, PhD, Vice President, Physical Sciences Division, SRI International
Dr. Dubois is Corporate Vice President and Head of the Physical Sciences Division of SRI International where he leads a group of over 160 scientists and engineers focusing on the development and commercialization of technologies impacting a broad range of important problems including energy, environment, healthcare, national security and transportation. Before joining SRI, Dr. Dubois was the Director of the Defense Sciences Office at DARPA and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Dr. Dubois received his SB degree in Chemistry from MIT and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry UC Berkeley. He is the author of over 130 publications and holds numerous U.S. and foreign patents. His many honors include the prestigious IR100 and Alpha Chi Sigma awards as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

Business and Cultural Challenges Facing Genentech
Patrick Y. Yang, PhD, Executive Vice President, Genentech
The biotech industry's growth continues to have a significant impact on Northern California's engineering opportunities. Recently ranked by Fortune Magazine as the number 1 company in the US to work for and considered the founder of the biotechnology industry, Genentech has become symbolic of the mission, explosive growth, and success in this young industry.

Dr. Yang, who is the senior executive responsible for Manufacturing, Engineering, Process Development and Supply Chain Management functions at Genentech, will provide insights into the business and cultural challenges it faces, integrating them with values he has learned during his career at General Electric, Merck and Genentech.

Security of Industrial Control Systems in National Critical Infrastructures
Robert Webb, Managing Director ISA SP99
The issue of cybersecurity is the industrial world's "New Orleans levee disaster waiting to happen." Are you aware of the risk? Do you have a solution in place? How about a plan to address the risk? Here is your opportunity to get a good overview on the subject.

In recent years, Supervisory Controls and Data Acquisition (SCADA), process control and industrial manufacturing systems have increasingly relied on commercial information technologies such as Ethernet, TCP/IP and Windows for both critical and non-critical communications. While beneficial in other areas, use of these common protocols and operating systems has resulted in significantly less isolation from the outside world for vital SCADA and Process Control Networks (PCNs). These systems are now at risk of attack from a variety of threats, ranging from teenage script-kiddies to skilled and determined cyber-criminals.

Luncheon Speaker - The Biodefense Industry; Startup, Anthrax and $900 Million First Order
Joseph Seiwert, VaxGen (SSF), Director Automation & GMP II

Industrial Biotechnology: Integrating Enzymes to Biorefineries
Gopal Chotani, Ph.D., Genencor International
Opportunities in industrial biotechnology abound, from production of enzymes for everyday use to biomaterials, biochemicals and bioenergy from renewable carbon. Chemical engineers in collaboration with geneticists, microbiologists, molecular biologists, biochemists, and many other scientists and engineers have enabled the biotechnology industry. Engineers develop and scale-up bioprocesses, by integrating process engineering with cellular expression and metabolic pathway engineering. Genencor-Danisco is a leader in developing enzymes and technologies that are critical to the development of biorefineries. This paper will present integrated processes for development of enzymes and their applications.

Nanotechnology - A Brief Overview
Dhaval J. Brahmbhatt, President & CEO, PHYchip Corporation; Chair, IEEE Nanotechnology Council
Mr. Brahmbhatt has Masters in Solid State Electronics from India, and Masters in Electrical Engineering from Ohio, USA. He has over 25 years of high-tech industry experience in the Silicon Valley in; CMOS, Nanotechnology, III-V Photonic Devices/Semiconductors, Alternate Energy, Security and Encryption Technologies, etc. He has 11 USA patents, is a serial entrepreneur who has taken company to IPO in USA, and has executive management experience. He is currently the President & CEO of PHYchip Corporation, a Technology Commercialization company with a focus on Nanotechnology. Additionally, Mr. Brahmbhatt Chairs the IEEE SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council and teaches Nanotechnology at the Santa Clara University Graduate School of Engineering. He is also the Chairman of Economic Development Commission for the City of Milpitas and Chairman of the Berryessa School District Advisory Council. The presentation will start with a brief history of how this new science was anticipated by various Nobel Laureates over the last 50 years, I then will define Nanotechnology and go through the main applications of devices and materials based on Nanotechnology. The presentation will also show the R & D expenditures world wide and the early lead of the United States in this emerging science and it's applications.

Nanotechnology A Specific Example - MolecularDiamond
Gloria Chaw, Marketing Manager, MolecularDiamond Technologies, Chevron Technology Ventures, LLC
Recently, Chevron's MolecularDiamond Technologies (MDT) business unit made a groundbreaking discovery by isolating from petroleum a new class of carbon-based nanomaterials called higher diamondoids. Subsequently, MDT developed processes to isolate lower diamondoids in large quantities from petroleum. Diamondoids are diamond molecules which have untapped potential to affect multiple industries such as energy, electronics, biopharmaceuticals, aerospace, plastics, and even consumer goods. MDT's discovery of higher diamondoids was first reported in Science magazine (January 3, 2003) and was named one of the Top Ten Highlights in Material Science in 2002 by C&E News.

Gloria Chaw directs marketing at Chevron MolecularDiamond Technologies (MDT). She also leads business development of diamondoids applications in two externally focused areas. In addition to those roles, she manages preparation of the annual business and strategic plan. Prior to joining MDT, Gloria was a business analyst on special projects at Chevron. One of these included Project Banyan, a major reorganization effort at Chevron to improve the overall supply chain among three internal operating entities. Gloria was also involved in two Chevron internal start-ups: Gulf Lubricants was an effort to create and launch a new brand of Chevron lubricants. Gloria was involved in developing the processes and system for Customer Service. Gloria is an alumna of Cal, having received her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. She also has an MBA degree from the Haas School of Business.