Keynote Speakers

Timothy Jamison, Robert R. Taylor Professor and Department Head Tim Jamison was born in San Jose, CA and grew up in neighboring Los Gatos, CA. He received his undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. A six-month research assistantship at ICI Americas in Richmond, CA under the mentorship of Dr. William G. Haag was his first experience in chemistry research. Upon returning to Berkeley, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Henry Rapoport and conducted undergraduate research in his group for nearly three years, the majority of which was under the tutelage of William D. Lubell (now at the University of Montreal). A Fulbright Scholarship supported ten months of research in Prof. Steven A. Benner’s laboratories at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland, and thereafter he undertook his PhD studies at Harvard University with Prof. Stuart L. Schreiber. He then moved to the laboratory of Prof. Eric N. Jacobsen at Harvard University, where he was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell postdoctoral fellow. In July 1999, he began his independent career at MIT, where his research program focuses on the development of new methods of organic synthesis and their implementation in the total synthesis of natural products.
Paul Watts, Distinguished Professor and Research Chair Prof Paul Watts started his career as a lecturer at the University of Hull in 2002, being promoted to full professor in 2011. At the University of Hull he led the micro reactor and flow technology group. In February 2013, he moved to Nelson Mandela University to hold the Distinguished Professorship and Research Chair in Microfluidic Bio/Chemical Processing. He has published of over 120 highly cited papers. He strongly believes that scientists should conduct research that impacts society; the biggest project underway involves the local production of key drugs as the morbidity and mortality from major diseases are much more devastating in Africa than in other regions of the world. The vision is that new technology will be used within South Africa to manufacture generic drugs; this could create jobs and a new manufacturing industry within the country.