Lei Zhang

About Lei Zhang

Demonstrated scientific and engineering research excellence in industry and academia• Proven experience in initiating concepts, generating prototypes, and taking products from lab, through manufacturing, to commercialization in a highly interdisciplinary environment• Strong team player, as a leader or a participant, in planning, organizing and implementing projects• Broad experience in polymeric materials, nanomaterials, surface chemistry, and development of proprietary formulations and novel testing methods• Registered Patent Agents at United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since 2014• Six Sigma Green Belt Certification on statistical analysis for process measurement and improvement

Experience

1. Principal Scientist

   Cytec Solvay Group

   Jan 2011 — Present · Stamford, CT, US

   Key Words: UV stabilization formulations for architectural coatings & wood coatings & engineering plastics, water soluble polymers, crosslinked polymer microparticles, inverse emulsion polymerization, inverse miniemulsion polymerization, inverse microemulsion polymerization, radical polymerization, surfactants, emulsifiers, hydrophilic-lipophilic balance, nucleation and crystal growth, surface chemistry, antiscalants, flocculants, fluorescence-dye tagged polymersNew products development (UV stabilization formulations for architectural coatings & wood coatings & engineering plastics, heavy metal removal reagents, antiscalants, crystal growth modifiers, flocculants, solvent extraction reagents, and magnetite nanostructures) • Technically lead a team in developing proprietary formulations to fill long-felt unmet needs in coating, plastic, and mining & fertilizer industries, and coordinated Marketing, Production, and Sales teams to launch high-margin patent-protected products• Conducted patent landscape study, developed patent strategy for inventions, performed Design of Experiment (DOE) to generate examples, prepared patent application drafts, and helped Legal Department on USPTO office actions during patent prosecution• Conducted field trials at customer sites, and gathered customer feedbacks for product improvement & new product/market developmentInverse emulsion polymerization• Optimized selection of surfactants & emulsifiers and developed recipes for preparation of linear and structured super high molecular weight (>10 million) functional water soluble polymers through inverse emulsion polymerization; established polymer structure-property-performance relationships Plant production of magnetite nanostructures• Developed process for plant production of magnetite nanostructures, transferred this technology to manufacturing group, validated raw material supplies, and successfully produced qualified products at plant during the first trial production

Education

• Peking University

  BS

  1997 — 2001

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  phD

  2002 — 2006

Skills

• Emulsion Polymerization
• Nanomaterials
• Xrd
• Gpc
• Inverse Emulsion Polymerization
• Nmr
• Radical Polymerization
• Tem
• Afm
• Sem
• Mcc (Microscale Combustion Calorimetry)
• Characterization
• Polymers
• Catalysis
• Living Polymerization
• Surface Chemistry
• Organic Synthesis
• Tpp (Thermal Protective Performance)
• Uv-Vis
• Tga