User:MaiKangWei
Clem McKown - Head Mentor FRC Team 1640
Key competencies which I bring to FRC are Project Management, Team Leadership, Mechanical Design and CAD skills.
For my day-job, I am Director Business Devlopment - Thiochemicals for Arkema, Inc., based in Philadelphia PA. I have worked for Arkema (and predecessor companies) since 1985, starting as a Process Engineer. My career in Arkema has focused on developing new products and businesses, both from the technology and business perspectives. I have a passion for creating new products and businesses.
I've had the opportunity to travel extensively in this position. Mostly Europe, Asia & US. Some South America, Australia and Africa.
I studied Chemistry at SUNY @ Stony Brook and Chemical Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark NJ). More recently, I've completed the Technology Management Program at CalTech's Industrial Relations Center.
I have been granted (7) US Patents, all associated (in some way) with atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) coatings on glass. I worked in Arkema's Glass Coatings business for 20 years, and was a leader in the develpment of Arkema's successful flat glass coatings business. This business is based on applying energy-saving, low emissivity (Certincoat®) coatings to glass during the the glass manufacturing process. Use of Low emissivity coated glass can reduce building heating and cooling energy requirements by more than 30% vis-à-vis uncoated glass.
From 1994 to 2005, served on the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Coatings on Glass, Co-chairing the atmospheric-pressure sessions.
In 1994, received the Elf Innovation Award from Elf Aquitaine S.A. (Parent company of Elf Atochem, an Arkema predecessor company).
In 2004, received the Yanzhou Friendship Award from the Hebei Provincial Government, Peoples Republic of China.
I am currently leading the development of Paladin®, a pre-plant soil fumigant which effectively replaces methyl bromide in many applications. Methyl bromide is a Ozone Depleting Chemical banned under the Montreal Protocol, which, however, remains in use due to absence of effective replacement. Paladin is dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), a chemical produced naturally (primarily via the metabolism of the essential amino acid methionine) as part of the atmosphere's sulfur cycle and also produced naturally by allium (onions, garlic) and brassicaceae (cabbage, broccolli, radishes, mustard, horseradish,...) crops to control predation. DMDS is contained naturally in many foods and is an approved food additive in both the US and Europe.
mài kāng wēi (迈康威) is my given Chinese name, which I have used here as my user name. During the 2003-4 period, I worked more than a year in Qinhuangdao (秦皇岛), China.
Hobbies are photography, bicycling and (of course) mentoring robotics. I've got useful language skills in German and Mandarin.
I am the Father of three daughters who have studied in the Downingtown District. All three have particpated in robotics.
