ESi Launches New Chemistry Sub-Practice

Aurora, IL (Apr 21, 2020) – ESi is pleased to announce the establishment of a new Chemistry sub-practice within our Materials practice. Sr. Consultant Jason Babcock, Ph.D. has been appointed to lead this new team, which brings together premier analytical and forensic chemistry expertise from across several different areas to more effectively identify and meet market needs, establish common practices and procedures, mentor staff, and coordinate activity across team members.

Dr. Babcock steps into his new role with a strong record of technical leadership, and more than 20 years of practical experience in chemistry and materials engineering consulting. During his time at ESi, he has consistently demonstrated a strong client focus, a unique ability to pair deep technical expertise with executional excellence, and a commitment to our people and core values.  

Joining Dr. Babcock in our new Chemistry sub-practice are the following team members:

• Managing Consultant Dale Mann CFI, CFEI, F-ABC brings over 30 years of experience in analytical and forensic chemistry. During the course of his career, Mann has performed chemical and physical analyses for thousands of investigations, involving fires, hazardous materials, product tampering, and drugs manufacturing. His forensic work also includes a specialty in criminal investigations.
• Staff Consultant Mark Weiss is a laboratory chemist with over 15 years of experience in materials analysis, and significant expertise investigating issues related to the physical and chemical properties of polymers and other organic materials, including the effects of processing, contamination, and lot-to-lot variation on material performance. 
• Staff Consultant Lauren Munday, M.S. is an analytical chemist with a significant background in gas and liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). She also has expertise in GC-MS method development for small molecule identification and quantitation.
• Staff Consultant Brian May, Ph.D. brings a deep understanding of chemistry and materials science, including a wide array of characterization techniques, such as microscopy, scattering, spectroscopy, and separations. Dr. May is also well-versed in experimental design and execution, data analytics, and communication of findings.

“With this new sub-practice, ESi will be well-positioned to leverage the teams’ extensive expertise and knowledge,” said Dale Alexander, Ph.D., P.E., Principal and Director of ESi’s Materials Practice. “At the same time, we’ll be able to inject the skill sets and learnings from our other practice areas to help further evolve our analytical chemistry capabilities and deliver even more value to our clients.”

With several well-equipped wet and dry chemistry laboratories, advanced testing facilities, and a bench of talent with considerable proficiency and expertise, this new sub-practice is already off to a great start. They also continue to be fully supported by our other multi-disciplinary teams as they execute on upcoming initiatives, including the launch of a new suite of analytical chemistry services later this spring.

“Our sub-practices are an essential building block for realizing the broader potential and value of our key growth areas,” said Will Pinkston, President and Chief Operating Officer. “This new Chemistry sub-practice will allow us to better apply our technologies, talents, and resources in this area to meet new and emerging client needs, while ensuring strong integration with our other disciplines so we can continue delivering the consistency and quality our clients have come to expect.”