March 22, 2011

CPAC Gets New Home

The Department of Chemistry has been home to the Center for Process Analytical Chemistry since its founding in 1984. The original focus of the center was the development of fundamental chemometric methods to analyze industrial processes. During the intervening nearly three decades, CPAC has evolved considerably, embracing new challenges as they have emerged in industrial process analysis and control. The original focus within the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington has broadened considerably. Today’s CPAC is a multi-university, multi-disciplinary organization, with an increasing focus on applied research. Interim Vice Provost David Eaton, together with Chemistry Chair Paul Hopkins and CPAC Faculty Director Robert Synovec, recently wrote to CPAC’s 30 industrial sponsors to indicate that, “After a thorough assessment of the organizational and financial structure of CPAC, we have concluded that CPAC warrants a new administrative home that better reflects both the applied nature of CPAC research and its expanding scope in industrial processes and controls.” Effective March 17, 2011 CPAC moved to the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. The industrial members have been asked to affirm a new name that retains the CPAC acronym, but that better reflects the current breadth of its activites, the “Center for Process Analysis and Control”. Additionally, Professor and Associate Chair Robert Synovec of the Department of Chemistry, who has served as Faculty Director of CPAC since 2007, has handed over the postion of CPAC Director to Dr. Bryan Marquardt, Senior Engineer in the Applied Physics Laboratory, and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. The Department of Chemistry thanks Professor and Associate Chair Synovec for his service to CPAC, and wishes CPAC well in its new home!