June 2005 - People

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IPI appoints leading scientist

The University has appointed a leader in computational chemistry to head its cutting-edge research and software development programme in pharmaceutical materials science at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation (IPI).

Dr John Kendrick, who obtained a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in theoretical chemistry at Manchester University, was appointed earlier this year.

After postdoctoral experience at the Hahn Meitner Institute in Berlin and Daresbury Laboratories here in the UK, working on the simulation of ion molecule reactions and electron scattering by atoms and molecules, he took a position in the modelling team at ICI, Runcorn.

John then joined the Advanced Materials Research Group at ICI, Wilton where he became group leader of a team of modellers working in molecular, mesoscale and finite element modelling. He moved to Huntsman Polyurethanes in Belgium where he provided modelling expertise to the polyurethanes business about six years ago, before setting up a consultancy business providing a modeling-based problem-solving service to the industries in the North East.

He has been active in the chemical industry for over 25 years and has experience of a wide range of research activities including heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis, crystal growth in energetic materials, and polymer properties. His particular interests have been the development of quantum mechanical methodologies for calculating reaction pathways and transition states, methods for improving the force field descriptions of crystalline, energetic materials and understanding the relationships between polymer architecture and their properties.

Interest in computational methods has led him to an interest in high-performance computers and involvement in several European collaborations developing computational algorithms in quantum mechanics and mixed molecular and quantum mechanics methods.

Senior Scientist at the IPI, Dr Frank Leusen, said: "John brings a wealth of experience in computational crystallography and a vast knowledge of research in the fine chemicals industry.

"I am very excited about John joining the team as he will be an important contributor to our fundamental research programme and he will provide leadership in the development of novel computational chemistry tools to study the structures and properties of pharmaceutical materials."

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13 July 2005

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