Dr. Mark E. Davis
University of Kentucky
Mark Davis is still setting a fast pace.
The student who enrolled at the University of Kentucky on a track scholarship is now the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He is one of a very small and distinguished group with membership in both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. His work in therapeutics is being used in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer patients, and he believes there is great potential in another of his research fields – electrical storage.
It’s been quite a career for someone who admits he was not serious about academics until late in high school, and who “didn’t know what chemical engineering was” until he was in college. A conversation with a UK chemical engineering professor gave him new direction and focus.
As an undergraduate, he was eager to tackle academic challenges, including taking courses from the UK College of Medicine. Medical school was in his plans for a time, but he went on to earn a master’s degree in chemical engineering, and a Ph.D., both at UK.
In 1985, as an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Virginia Tech, he received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award from the American Society of Engineering Education.
A history-making career highlight came in 1990, when Davis received the Alan T. Waterman Award from NSF. The Waterman is considered the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious scientific award. It recognizes a single outstanding researcher age 35 or under in any field of science or engineering supported by NSF. It was the first time the award had been won by an engineer, a point of pride for Davis .
Davis has more than 350 scientific publications, two textbooks and over 50 patents to his credit. He has received many other awards, and is a member of the UK College of Engineering Hall of Distinction.
He is also the founder of Insert Therapeutics Inc., a Pasadena-based company that focuses on the use of cyclodextrin-containing polymers for drug delivery applications, and Calando Pharmaceuticals, Inc., another Pasadena–based company that is bringing targeted therapeutics involving RNA interference to cancer patients.
Davis draws great satisfaction from watching students succeed. Though he acknowledges a challenge in recruiting students to chemical engineering because of the difficulty of the curriculum, he notes the rewards are great, including a diversity of jobs and high salaries. Environmental and energy issues also offer the profession an opportunity to connect with young people.
Davis’ career is an example of the range of opportunities available in chemical engineering.
“I was recently asked to give a talk to a local church about all of the cancer research that we’re doing,” he said. “When I finished, there were many comments along the lines of 'I thought chemical engineers all went to Exxon.’ I tried to explain the transition. When I was a student, that was pretty close to true.
“Today, we can do all kinds of different things.”
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Profile
Mark Davis is still setting a fast pace.
The student who enrolled at the University of Kentucky on a track scholarship is now the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He is one of a very small and distinguished group with membership in both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. His work in therapeutics is now being used in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer patients, and he believes there is great potential in another of his research fields – electrical storage. Development of a better battery could dramatically change transportation and energy use, he contends.
It’s been quite a career journey for someone who admits he was not serious about academics until late in high school, and who “didn’t know what chemical engineering was” until he was in college.
A conversation he had as a freshman with a UK chemical engineering professor changed all of that. Not only knowledgeable, Dr. William Conger was also “a nice guy to chat with,” Davis recalled recently, and their talk about chemical engineering gave Davis a new direction, one he continues to pursue with energy and dedication.
As an undergraduate, he was eager to take on academic challenges. He credited his advisor, Dr. Charles Hamrin, as being “sympathetic to my cause and helped me do things that were a bit out of the norm.”
That included taking courses from the UK College of Medicine while he was still an undergraduate. “That was certainly out of the norm,” Davis said.
Medical school was in his plans for a time, but he eventually moved in a different direction. He worked on a master’s degree in chemical engineering at UK with Conger, and was then persuaded by Dr. James Funk, then the dean of the College of Engineering, to stay at UK to pursue Ph.D. work.
“I was on the way to another graduate school, but he basically said, ‘I would really appreciate it if you would stay and do your Ph.D. here,’ and so I did,” Davis recalled.
After earning the Ph.D., Davis joined the faculty at Virginia Tech as an assistant professor of chemical engineering, and soon distinguished himself. In 1985, he received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award from the American Society of Engineering Education.
A history-making career highlight came in 1990, when Davis received the Alan T. Waterman Award from NSF. The Waterman Award is considered the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious scientific award. It recognizes a single outstanding researcher age 35 or under in any field of science or engineering supported by NSF. It was the first time the award had been won by an engineer, a point of pride for Davis.
“Up to that time, it was essentially people who had worked in the pure sciences,” he said, “and there’s always this question, ‘is engineering just applied work? Is there really any fundamental meat to it, fundamental science?’ So it was, I think, a large step forward for me and for the whole engineering community to say ‘someone’s finally cracked that.’”
His membership in both the National Academy of Engineering (elected 1997) and National Academy of Sciences (2006) also places him in a select group.
“I’ve always felt that I’m bridging the gap between engineering and science,” he said. My home is more in engineering, but it’s nice to be in science, too. That’s great.”
He continues to bridge that gap in his work. His research has focused recently on drug delivery applications. He serves as a member of the Experimental Therapeutics Program of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the City of Hope National Medical Center near Los Angeles. Seeing his work actually being tested in the treatment of patients has been especially satisfying.
“Last year we started treating patients with our new therapeutics, and we’re having good successes with a number of cancer patients,” he said. “That’s the most gratifying thing I’ve seen so far in my scientific efforts, because it involves a person. Scientifically, we’ve had our papers in Nature and Science and have been in the Wall Street Journal, but seeing this have an effect on a cancer patient’s life has been humbling, let’s put it that way.”
Another focus is energy. Much attention is given to the “hydrogen economy,” but Davis believes there’s a better way to address the nation’s energy concerns, particularly in transportation.
“Just make a better battery, and run everybody’s car on a battery,” he said. “We don’t have this technology right now. But what I tell people is that for a hydrogen economy for cars, you need to have about five miracles to happen for it to be practical."
“To go to an electric car, you basically only need one miracle to happen – a new battery. It seems to me, we, as a country, should be placing greater emphasis on this approach, as there’s very little work going on in the area of new electrical storage materials. So, we decided to begin working on this problem."
Davis' accomplishments and honors have continued to accumulate. He has more than 350 scientific publications, two textbooks, and over 50 patents to his credit. He is a founding editor of CaTTech, a magazine of catalysis sciences technology, and has been an associate editor of Chemistry of Materials and AIChE Journal. He has received, among many other awards, the Colburn and Professional Progress Awards from AIChE and the Ipatieff, Langmuir and Murphree Prizes from the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Hall of Distinction.
He is also the founder of Insert Therapeutics Inc., a Pasadena-based company that focuses on the use of cyclodextrin-containing polymers for drug delivery applications, and Calando Pharmaceuticals, Inc., another Pasadena–based company that is bringing targeted therapeutics involving RNA interference to cancer patients.
Even with the long list of personal accomplishments, Davis, as is the case with most teachers, draws a great satisfaction from seeing students succeed.
“If you look at the individuals who have come through our program and worked with me, they’ve all gone on to be hugely successful people, both in industry and in academia. I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”
While those students can help create a brighter future for the chemical engineering field, there are great challenges ahead, Davis believes.
“The good news is that people across many different industries are recognizing that the skill set that a chemical engineer has is really important to their business,” he said. “The bad news is that if we want to maintain core scientific and engineering principles, as well as being able to provide for diversity, it makes our job even harder, and it’s always been hard. The chemical engineering curriculum has always been the most difficult with the highest requirements of any curriculum on campus, anywhere you go in the country.”
“It’s a tough balancing act. We still get great people coming into the discipline, and you have to be a top-notch individual to want to go after such a curriculum that’s so hard. But the payoffs are huge, with the diversity of jobs and the fact that usually the salaries of chemical engineers are the highest of any, especially with a bachelor’s degree.”
Attracting and retaining good science and math students at the middle school and high school levels will continue to be a difficult issue for chemical engineering, Davis believes.
“Science and math are hard, and there are just easier ways to go in high school. The environmental problems all get blamed on the chemical industry. There isn’t the best feeling about people who have ‘chemical’ anywhere in their title.”
But environmental and energy issues also offer the profession an opportunity.
“The whole issue of energy now is right back to where we were in the 70s,” Davis said. "In California, we have gasoline pushing four dollars a gallon, so that starts to hit home even to a high schooler. So when I talk to people in junior high, I try to say ‘Look, these are problems that are in your generation, and if you want to be one of the people that can help your generation with these problems, then this is what you need to do. You need to stay in science and math, because this is the only way out.’”
Davis’ career provides an example of the wide spectrum of opportunities available in chemical engineering.
“I was recently asked to give a talk to a local church about all of the cancer research that we’re doing,” he said. “When I finished, there were many comments along the lines of 'I thought chemical engineers all went to Exxon.’ I tried to explain the transition. When I was a student, that was pretty close to true.
“Today, we can do all kinds of different things.”
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