Chemistry Guest Speaker to Discuss Novel Polymer Feb. 18

Delaware State University’s Department of Chemistry will host a Feb. 18 guest lecture by Dr. Thomas Schultz of Horizon Partners Ventures, LLC, who will speak on the topic of “Biodegradable, Bio-Renewable Super Absorbent Polymers.”

 

The guest lecture will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18 in Room 323 of the Mishoe Science Center South. The event – which is part of the department’s 2014 Sustainable Chemistry Seminar Series – is free and open to the public.

 

Dr. Schultz will talk about the development of hydrogels as a biodegradable alternative to polyacrylate-based super absorbent polymers that are a contaminant in the ground and at landfills. Also having received more than $500,000 in research grants since 2011, Dr. Schultz will share insights on how to convince funding entities that an innovation is a better bet to be funded.

 

Dr. Schultz is currently a partner with Horizon Partners Ventures LLC, a Delaware-based technology firm founded in 2012 as a commercialization business that identifies unmet needs in the chemicals, agriculture, materials and pharmaceutical markets and matches innovations with the right benefits to those needs. Horizon obtains Small Business Innovation Research grants and private funding to provide the research and business development needed to bring the products to market.

 

Dr. Schultz holds a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry (New York University) and training in Business Management (INSEAD, France). His professional focus is on the building of ‘product engines’ and new initiatives in the physical sciences markets. He has more than 40 patents and numerous publications.

 

Dr. Schultz’s 30 years as an R&D executive has led to the creation of significant new products at E.I. DuPont, L’Oreal, P&G, Shiseido Ltd., Playtex, Sculptz Inc., Clorox and Bristol-Myers-Squibb across a range of product categories.