Stephen L. Matson
University of Pennsylvania
Chemical engineers are “an inadequately-tapped resource for addressing societal problems,” says Stephen L. Matson, co-founder of the mid-cap pharmaceutical firm Sepracor Inc.
“Many of the world’s most pressing problems have a major technological component, and often the technology involved is chemical in nature. Consider issues such as sustainable energy, global warming, and water. These are ‘meat-and-potatoes’ topics for chemical engineers, who are trained to deal with such problems from the inside out,” says Matson. “Chemical engineers have the relevant tools and broad scope to deal with these objectively in ways that promise realistic solutions.”
Matson recognizes that not all chemical engineers will find or be drawn to full-time employment with organizations tackling these global challenges. However, he urges all chemical engineers, especially recent graduates, to pursue a dual professional path, and has founded a volunteer organization based on this premise. He is creating ConTechs Associates Inc. to engage engineers from the U.S. in virtual volunteerism, providing opportunities for them to work with and mentor engineering students in developing countries on projects with technical, educational and societal value.
“I’d suggest putting no more than 90% of your professional time and effort into the usual personal priorities such as financial security, technical achievement and career advancement,” says Matson. “Then, devote the rest of your professional ‘juice’ – that last remaining 10 percent or more – to work on technologically complex societal questions. It doesn’t necessarily take a big chunk of time to have meaningful impact, especially as compared to the alternative of sitting it out until the time is right.”
Profile
Stephen L. Matson’s professional journey began with a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University (in 1971 and 1974), and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.
He worked at GE’s Research and Development Center from 1973 to 1982, followed by two years as director of research at Bend Research in Oregon. In 1984, Matson co-founded Sepracor Inc. to commercialize his Ph.D. research with Professor John Quinn at Penn on enzyme membrane reactors capable of resolving racemic pharmaceuticals into their pure-component isomers. Evolving well beyond its initial business model as a technology licensing company, Sepracor ultimately reinvented itself as a fully-integrated specialty pharmaceutical company, developing drugs rather than selling technology to purify them. Taken public in 1991, the company now boasts a product portfolio that includes Lunesta® for insomnia, Xopenex® for asthma, Brovana® for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Allegra® (an out-licensed drug) for seasonal allergies. After holding a variety of leadership and later consulting positions at Sepracor and its technology spin-offs, Matson left in 2002 to pursue interests in the academic and non-profit sectors. A short stint on the faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute was followed in 2008 by his appointment as Professor of the Practice in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Tufts University.
In 2004, Matson turned his attention to founding ConTechs Associates Inc. (www.contechs.org). As the fledgling non-profit’s “executive director and chief cook and bottle washer,” he aims to team up chemical engineering volunteers from the U.S. with engineering students in developing countries such as Bolivia who are working on socially significant engineering challenges. Students benefit from mentors’ technical guidance, assistance in obtaining timely technical literature, and support in developing English language skills in an engineering context.
For instance, ConTechs has been helping chemical engineering students at the University of San Francisco Xavier in Sucre, Bolivia to design gas-to-liquids (GTL) processing plants to make diesel from natural gas via syngas production and Fischer-Tropsch conversion; this capability would help petroleum-poor Bolivia reduce costly liquid fuel imports. ConTechs is also working to establish a process design and business plan competition to encourage Bolivian chemical engineering students to examine biofuel production from non-food crops such as Jatropha, a weed-like plant being investigated for this purpose in India and Africa.
Thanks to e-mail and web-based conferencing, Matson says, “It becomes feasible to pull off targeted, small-scale projects like these at a distance, which can be tremendously gratifying and broadening. What I most enjoy about ConTechs is the experience of communicating with aspiring chemical engineers across generations, across cultures, and across long distances – all from the comfort of my own office. Basically, I can show up for work every morning in Bolivia without ever leaving home.”
ConTechs is really not about giving back per se, notes Matson. “I get much more than I give in terms of the satisfaction and fun of interacting with the students. My hope is that ConTechs and similar initiatives will steer other chemical engineers towards similarly compelling and rewarding volunteer experiences that will let them apply their engineering talents to some of the great challenges that confront society today.”
Matson’s career achievements are impressive. He holds 25 patents, received AIChE’s Professional Progress Award in 1993, was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1995, was named a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 1997, and served as an AIChE director from 1997 to 1999. Looking back on his career, he says, “I’m more proud of the professional service than I am of the awards and recognition.”
The preference for substance and meaning over visibility also echoes in Matson’s personal life. Characterizing himself as an “avid albeit novice” mountain climber, he says, “I’m not a ‘peak bagger,’ nor am I someone remotely capable of the world’s highest summits. What I like is a good, aesthetically pleasing climb – and I’ve managed more than a few that top out between 17,000 and 20,000 feet. What I like about climbing is that it demands training, planning, teamwork and focus. I like these kinds of challenges, as well as the pay-off of the clarity and beauty of a summit.” He adds, “It can also be humbling. There’s a peak outside La Paz – 21,125-ft Illimani – that I’ve failed to summit three times so far!”
Development of ConTechs has also required persistence. Its initial focus on Bolivia stemmed from several climbing trips there. “While on these jaunts I began visiting Bolivian universities and would just walk in and introduce myself, often in broken Spanish, to the engineering faculty and administration. In retrospect, it’s probably been a mixed blessing that ConTechs started operations there, because our efforts have been complicated and occasionally frustrated by Bolivia’s ongoing social strife and political instability,” says Matson. “That said, critical and timely social problems with chemical engineering dimensions have been all too easy to identify there. For instance, sizeable natural gas reserves were found in Bolivia a few years ago, and much national debate, sometimes violent, has centered on how best to extract value from this resource so as to benefit Bolivian nationals. Plus, I now have some good friends and respected colleagues down there, along with the satisfaction of helping a few aspiring Bolivian engineers acquire some of the technical, linguistic and cultural skills needed to prepare them for roles in developing their economy.”
Matson lives in Harvard, Mass., with his wife, Stella. Their son Jeff, a Cornell mechanical engineer, takes the lead on father-son ice climbing adventures. Meanwhile, their daughter, Sara, a Colby graduate and (like her mother) a biology major, recently graduated from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in preparation for her second career as a pastry chef.
In addition to his work with ConTechs and at Tufts, Matson also helps middle-school teachers present science to students in underperforming Boston public schools (an endeavor for which he was trained by Northeastern University’s RE-SEED program).