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| July 4, 2000 |
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| MIT Prof. George Stephanopoulos
to Join Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation as New Chief Technology Officer |
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| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
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Tokyo, Japan:
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation(MCC)announced today the appointment of Dr. George
Stephanopoulos, the Arthur D. Little Professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Managing Executive Officer, responsible
for overseeing the Research and Development Co-ordination Department and the Intellectual
Property Department.
The MCC Group takes pride in having long striven to reinforce its research and
technology development (R&TD) initiatives. We believe it is vital that we
continually seek an infusion of fresh perspectives and innovative ideas for intrinsic
reforms, which will help establish our R&TD team as a prominent global leader
and a force for continuous growth in the 21st century. For this reason, MCC is
very pleased to welcome Dr. Stephanopoulos as our new CTO.
Professor Stephanopoulos, 53, received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida
at Gainesville in 1974. After serving on the faculties of various universities,
including a position at the University of Minnesota, in the U.S., he became Professor
of the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT in 1984. Since then, in addition
to his service as an eminent member of MIT's faculty and researcher, Professor
Stephanopoulos has distinguished himself as a consultant to the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization, a number of international corporations and
chairman of international conferences. His research contributions have been recognized
through a series of prestigious awards, including the "Colburn Award" of the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers, the "Curtis McGraw Award" of the American Society
for Engineering Education, his election to the Russian Academy of Technological
Sciences, and a series of "Best Paper Awards" by scientific journals and international
conferences. In 1999, he was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering
in the U.S. in recognition of the excellence he has achieved in the field of chemical
engineering.
Prof. Stephanopoulos will be based in the MCC headquarters in Tokyo. As CTO, he
will evaluate the MCC Group's R&TD and intellectual property(IP) initiatives,
provide assessments and offer proposals to the MCC Board as to the future direction
and structural reform program designed to enhance our R&TD and IP operations.
As Managing Executive Officer, he will be given comprehensive management control
to implement and execute the reform program he devises. In this capacity, he will
seek an integrated, synergistic coordination of business objectives and core R&TD
capabilities for the MCC Group of Companies.
Under the leadership of our new CTO, the MCC Group will seek intrinsic reforms
in our R&TD initiatives, capitalizing on the MCC Group's richness of human
talent, modern management organization of R&TD, and the explosive generation
of new scientific and technological developments. At the same time, we will embark
on an ambitious array of corporate initiatives to ensure global competitiveness
and high profitability in MCC's core business activities, from the aggressive
recruitment of skilled personnel worldwide to the pursuit of international alliances
and partnerships with venture firms with cutting-edge technologies, universities
and research institutions, as well as other chemical companies.
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President's Address
It is with great pleasure, for both Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's Group
and myself personally, to introduce Prof. George Stephanopoulos as the Chief Technology
Officer (CTO) of the MCC Group.
Professor Stephanopoulos has established himself as a leading authority in the
field chemical engineering, as his brilliant professional career, outlined in
the biographical sketch, attests in the handout distributed to you for this occasion.
Our association with Professor Stephanopoulos dates back to the late-1980s, when
rapid progress was being achieved in the highly esoteric discipline of process
system engineering-a field that Prof. Stephanopoulos excels in, being foremost
among its experts.
Since then, Prof. Stephanopoulos has generously extended invaluable support and
assistance to the MCC Group, taking our researchers under his wing during their
stay in the U.S. and offering technical and other advice whenever he visited our
research centers and plants. He was also chair of the technical advisory board
of the Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, a board composed of seven
pre-eminent scholars and Nobel laureates, including another esteemed member of
the MIT faculty, Prof. Susumu Tonegawa.
Permit me to interject at this time my deepest gratitude to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology for the generous support they have accorded us over the
years. During the past few years, we hosted MIT's summer school courses at our
Mizushima Plant and MCC has been involved in innovative and pioneering research
with several members of the MIT faculty.
Dr. Stephanopouolos will join us for a two-year period and asked to oversee the
Research and Development Coordination Department and Intellectual Property Department.
MCC considers his appointment as CTO as a strategic initiative with far-reaching
implications.
The explosive generation of new scientific knowledge and technological developments
in many areas of business interest for the MCC Group of companies has changed
the historical landscape of R&TD activities. In addition, the continuing globalization
of our business interests has called for new modes of interaction with other companies,
research institutions, universities, and venture firms. Consequently, if the MCC
Group is to stand among the best and most profitable chemical manufacturers on
this planet, then our R&TD team must be subject to swift and sweeping changes.
It must come to assume a global leadership position, in order to further develop
the business objectives of the MCC Group, thus becoming the strong and effective
global industrial player that our business plans call for.
We are confident that Professor Stephanopoulos will be instrumental in achieving
these ambitious goals. We look forward to working closely with our new CTO, sharing
his expertise, vision and work, so that our R&TD operations become a driving
force for continuous growth in the 21st century.
Thank you.
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George Stephanopoulos' Reply to President Shono's
Introduction
I was profoundly honored in receiving from President Shono and the MCC Board
of Directors the invitation to become the Chief Technology Officer for the MCC
Group. It is also with profound humility that I accepted the invitation, fully
cognizant of the fact that this is a Herculean task that transgresses the abilities
of a single person. I can assure, though, President Shono, the members of the
MCC Board, and all of my new colleagues throughout the vast expanse of MCC, that
I intend to work very hard in achieving the objectives of the mission that was
entrusted to me. I want also to assure all members of the MCC R&TD teams that
with their help I intend to succeed in my mission.
This is not the appropriate time for a detailed exposition of the R&TD strategy
that I will recommend to the Board of Directors. I trust that we will have an
other opportunity in the near future for a more detailed discussion on these matters.
President Shono, though, has outlined the fundamental directions for the future.
In line with his charge, the fundamental vision is " to make the research-development-engineering
(R-D-E) of the MCC Group the preeminent R-D-E group in the world and an engine
for sustainable, high-rate business growth at a global scale".
To achieve this vision, I see my mission in terms of the following general goals
and objectives:
| (a) |
Ensure that the R&TD Centers of the MCC meet and expand the
business objectives of the various companies in the MCC Group. |
| (b) |
Establish effective synergisms between the various businesses in
the Group through the R&TD Centers, in order to serve the customers better,
create new products, and deepen the chain of added value for the MCC Group, thus
improving significantly its consolidated profitability. |
| (c) |
Convert the MCC-Group's existing and future intellectual property
into sources of business growth, by leveraging them in business alliances against
various assets of other companies. |
| (d) |
Ensure that the management of the R&TD teams throughout the
MCC is responsible, responsive, flexible and effective in meeting the corporate
R&TD goals and objectives. |
| (e) |
Articulate an R&TD program that keeps the MCC Group at the
edge of modern advances in science, technology and engineering, and creates for
the MCC Group the "differentiated advantage" over other chemical companies in
the market place. |
| (f) |
Ensure continuously open channels to the premier universities and
research institutes of the world, as well as to the new venture companies on a
global scale. |
| (g) |
Since the R&TD personnel is the essential asset to achieve
our high goals, ensure that the MCC Group hires the best human talent, consults
with the most innovative individuals, maintains the highest standards of excellence
in all of its R&TD activities, and provides the high quality working conditions
and research opportunities for all. |
| (h) |
Maintain and expand an aggressive, growth-oriented, outward looking
culture in all R&TD Centers of the MCC Group. |
As you can see from the above, Research-Development-Engineering at MCC, a corporation
with global reach throughout the world, are not to be seen in the future only
as support activities of its Group of companies, but instead should be seen as
a "Primary Engine for Sustainable Business Growth". Indeed, when we contrast
the chemical industry's growth over the last 10 years to that of the so-called
high-technology industries we realize that "the chemical industry has forgotten
how to grow, because it did not follow an aggressive R&TD policy, which it
saw only in terms of support". MCC has decided to change this trend and establish
itself as a "Knowledge Generating Company", thus underlining the significance
of R-D-E for its future business growth.
I am deeply grateful to Chairman Miura, President Shono, and the other members
of the Board for their trust and the opportunity they have given me to lead the
R&TD teams of the MCC Group in these exciting new directions that will re-invent
the role of R&TD in the business of the chemical industry.
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Biographical Sketch George Stephanopoulos Date
of Birth: June 1, 1947 Place of Birth: Kalamata, Greece
1.Education:
| 1971-74 |
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ph.D., University of Florida at Gainesville |
| 1970-71 |
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M.E., McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| 1965-70 |
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Diploma in Chemical Engineering,
National Technical University of Athens |
2.Academic Activities:
| 1970-71 |
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Research and Teaching Assistant, McMaster University |
| 1970-74 |
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Research and Teaching Assistant, University of Florida
Research Associate, University of Florida(Summer, 1974) |
| 1974-77 |
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Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota |
| 1977-80 |
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Associate Professor, University of Minnesota |
| 1980-83 |
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Professor, University of Minnesota |
| 1980-84 |
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Professor, National Technical University of Athens |
| 1984-89 |
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J.R.Mares Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology |
| 1987-present |
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Director, Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in
Process Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology |
| 1989-93 |
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Leaders for Manufacturing Professor of Chemical
Engineering |
| 1992-present |
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Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering |
3.A. Distinctions / Awards:
| - |
First Award, Greek Mathematical Society, 1965 |
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Texaco Fellowship, 1968-70 |
| - |
"Chrisovergeion" Award (Graduate with highest Diploma grade
in Chemical Engineering), National Technical University of Athens, 1970 |
| - |
"Thomaideion" Award (Graduate with highest Diploma grade in
the university), National Technical University of Athens, 1970 |
| - |
Fellowship of the National Technical University of Athens, 1965-1970 |
| - |
Fellowship of Graduate School, University of Florida, 1972-1974 |
| - |
Senator, University of Minnesota Senate, 1979-1982 |
| - |
G. Taylor Teaching Award, University of Minnesota, 1977 |
| - |
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher and Scholar Award, 1977 |
| - |
Allan P. Colburn Award for Excellence in research, American
Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1982 |
| - |
J. R. Mares Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 1984 |
| - |
Curtis McGraw Award for Research, American Society of Engineering
Education, 1986 |
| - |
1987 Best Paper Award, Computers and Chemical Engineering |
| - |
The R. W. Fahien Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of
Florida, 1989 |
| - |
Leaders for Manufacturing Professor, MIT, 1989 |
| - |
Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Technological Sciences,
1991 |
| - |
Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering |
| - |
1992 Best Paper Award, Computers and Chemical Engineering |
| - |
Computing in Chemical Engineering Award, CAST Division
of AIChE, 1993 |
| - |
Best Paper Award: Designing and Systems, 14th
European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research, Vienna, April 1998 |
| - |
National Academy of Engineering, 1999 |
3.B. Honorary Lectureships:
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Camille and Henry Dreyfus Lectures by Distinguished Scholars,
California Institute of Technology, 1982 |
| - |
12th Annual Bicentennial Commemoration
Lecturer, Louisiana State University, 1986 |
| - |
Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, University of Alberta,
1987 |
| - |
Distinguished Lecturer for the 900th
Anniversary, University of Bologna, Italy, June 1988 |
| - |
The "ICI Distinguished Visiting Professor", University of
New castle, England, November 1988 |
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The Stanley Katz Memorial Lecturer, City College of the
City University of New York, April 1989 |
| - |
The Texas Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, University of
Texas, Austin (April 1991) |
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Distinguished Lecturer, University of Toronto, Toronto (November,
1991) |
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Chemical Engineering Distinguished Lecturer, Texas A&M
University, College Station (April, 1991) |
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Merck Distinguished Lecturer, Rutgers University, Piscataway
(April, 1992) |
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Distinguished Lecturer, Auburn University, Auburn, AL (April,
1993) |
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Centennial Lecturer, Technical University of Delft, Delft,
The Netherlands (October 1995) |
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The Harry G. Fair Lecture, The University of Oklahoma (April,
1999) |
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The Kelly Lectures, Purdue University (April, 1999) |
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The Distinguished Research Lectureship in Chemical Engineering,
Carnegie Mellon University, April 2000 |
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The "Roger Sargent" Lecture, Imperial College, November
2000 |
4. Patents:
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US Patent No.4,857,278 "Control System for the Czochralski
Process" |
| - |
Patents field for the following software systems: |
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Batch Design-Kit: |
MIT Case No |
....... |
7568S |
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SMART-Solvent Selector |
MIT Case No |
....... |
7539S |
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Waste-Treatment Selector |
MIT Case No |
....... |
7626S |
| - |
DB-Miner |
MIT Case No |
....... |
7489S |
| - |
BioSep-Designer |
MIT Case No |
....... |
5110S |
| - |
Molecule Designer |
MIT Case No |
....... |
4732S |
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5. Membership and Offices in Technical and Professional Societies:
| - |
Member of AIChE, ACS, AAAI and ASEE |
| - |
Member of the Chamber of Greek Engineers |
| - |
Trustee of CACHE Corporation |
| - |
Vice-Chairman of the Twin Cities section of AIChE |
| - |
Vice-Chairman of the Programming Group 15b of AIChE |
| - |
AIChE Representative in the Joint Automatic Control
Conference, 1979-1980 |
| - |
Member of the Control Science Center, University of
Minnesota Information Science Center, University of Minnesota |
| - |
Member of the International Programming Committee on
Process Systems Engineering; PSE '82, PSE '85, PSE'88, PSE '91 |
| - |
Member of the Working Group , Computers in Chemical
Engineering, of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers (1982-84) |
| - |
Consultant and Member of Advisory Board for the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) |
| - |
Member of Organizing and Programming Committees for |
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Chemical Process Control 2, Conference 1981 |
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Chemical Process Control 3, Conference 1982 |
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Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Operations, Conference 1987 |
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Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Operations, FOCAPD '89 |
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| - |
Director, CAST Division of AIChE (1985-88) |
| - |
Chairman, International Programming Committee of IFAC
Symposium on "Fault Diagnosis and Supervision of Process Operations"(1992) |
| - |
Chairman, First International Conference on, Intelligent
Systems in Process Engineering, July 1995 |
| - |
Programming Chair, ESCAPE-6, Rhodes, Greece, May 1996 |
| - |
Vice-Chair, Chair, CAST Division, AIChE, 1995-96 |
| - |
Chair, CAST Division, AIChE, 1997 |
| - |
Programming Chair, DYCOPS-6, Cheju Island, Korea, June
2001 |
| - |
Programming Co-Chair, The 4th IFAC Workshop on "On-Line
Fault Detection and Supervision in the Chemical Process Industries", Seoul,
Korea, June 2001 |
6a.Corporate Technical Advisory Boards:
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Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.,Chair of technical Advisory Board |
| - |
Dow Chemical Corp., Technical Advisory Board on Modeling |
6b. Industrial Experience and Consulting:
| - |
CONWED Corporation, St.Paul, Minesota |
| - |
Control Data Corporation, Bloomington, Minnesota |
| - |
Union Carbide Corporation, W. Charleston, West Virginia |
| - |
EXXON Corporation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| - |
ICI, Ltd.,Runcorn, England |
| - |
CHIYODA, Yokohama, Japan |
| - |
Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Greece |
| - |
MODAR, Inc. |
| - |
Shell, Amsterdam |
| - |
ASPEN Technology, Inc. |
| - |
Dupont, SRP |
| - |
NASA |
| - |
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
| - |
METBA, Aegean Metallurgical Industries |
| - |
Honeywell, Inc |
| - |
Eastman Kodak Co. |
| - |
Shell Development Co. |
| - |
Japan Energy Corporation |
7. Editorial Boards:
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Founding Editor(with John Perkins), Process Systems Engineering
Series, Academic Press (Series of Advanced Monographs and Textbooks) |
| - |
Associate Editor, AIChE Journal |
| - |
Editorial Board, Computers and Chemical Engineering Journal |
| - |
Associate Editor, Artificial Intelligence in Engineering |
| - |
Editorial Board, Advances in Chemical Engineering |
8. Publication:
| - |
Authored, co-authored, edited, co-edited 10 books |
| - |
Authored or co-authored about 200 scientific papers |
9. Students:
| - |
supervised about 40 ph.D students and 30 M.S. students |
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| For further information, please contact |
| Public Relations Dept., |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
| Tel: [+81] 3-3283-6254 |
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