UMA CHOWDHRY, Business Director, Intermediates,
DuPont Specialty Chemicals, Wilmington, Del.
"By reading THE SCIENTISTregularly, I can track who is doing what in the field I have my roots in. THE SCIENTIST provides me with a quick review of the most significant developments in science and technology."
It is not often that a researcher gets the opportunity to become director of a business based on the technology he or she was involved in. But that is what happened to DuPont's Uma Chowdhry.
Shortly after joining DuPont in 1977, Chowdhry led a group to develop catalysts for making tetrahydrofuran from butane in a two-step process. The inventions pioneered by her group were later developed by large, interdisciplinary teams into a new commercial process. Chowdhry is now director of a $400 million business that is capitalizing on her group's original research.
"I feel fortunate to have come full circle to be director of ...
