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2026 Executive Board

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Chong "Q" Qiu, Ph.D., earned his BS in Chemistry at Tsinghua University in 2007. He continued his studies at Texas A&M University, College Station focusing on the transformation of ambient aerosol by heterogeneous chemical processes and completed his PhD in 2013, when he moved to University of North Alabama as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and served as the chair of ACS Wilson Dam Section in 2015. In 2016, Q joined Tagliatale College of Engineering (TCoE) at University of New Haven and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Q was awarded twice by National Science Foundation (NSF), including a Faculty Early CAREER award in 2019. He holds the Buckman Endowed Professorship in TCoE since 2019. As an Assistant Dean for Faculty Research development, Q is coordinating several faculty-led initiatives to grow the college’s research infrastructure and collaborations across disciplines. 

Sana Begum, B.Sc., is an spirational chemist who is presently enrolled at the University of New Haven to complete her master's degree in chemistry. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Osmania University in Hyderabad where she received the Best Student Award during her undergraduate studies and recognition in numerous competitions. Her dedication to the study of chemistry has been fueled by her fascination with both science and nature. In addition to her academic endeavors, she has actively participated in community service through the national service scheme, where she received the Best Volunteer Award for her work tackling issues in various states.

Tarek Ibrahim earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Alexandria in Egypt and continued his graduate studies in Biochemistry at the University of Menoufia. He began his career as a Quality Control Chemist in the pharmaceutical company and later worked as an R&D Lab Manager in a fragrance oil production company. In 2017, he moved to the United States and completed his M.S. in Chemistry at the University of New Haven in 2023. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Polymer and Organic Chemistry.

Tarek teaches Organic Chemistry Labs and Instrumental Methods Lab, instructing more than 50 undergraduate students each semester. In addition, he mentors both undergraduate and graduate students in research, helping them build their research skills and gain practical hands-on experience with analytical instruments. 

Tarek has participated in several outreach activities, including STEAM Night at Fairfield Warde High School, where he showcased weather-balloon related demonstrations for students. He has also presented his work on degradable and recyclable polymers at the eighth and ninth annual Student Research Symposium organized by ACS New Haven local section. Moreover, Tarek attended and assisted at the recent ACS New Haven banquet held at the University’s Orange Campus.

With a strong passion for chemistry and a deep enthusiasm for educating and supporting current and future generations of students, Tarek plans to become more involved in ACS New Haven activities.

Rajintha Bandaranayake, Ph.D., has been a member of the ACS-New Haven section since 2015. He graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics from Ramapo College of New Jersey. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he studied drug resistance in HIV protease using biochemical and biophysical techniques. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship training at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Bandaranayake joined the chemistry faculty at Quinnipiac University in 2014. In addition to his role as Secretary for the ACS–New Haven Section, he currently helps coordinate the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad exams for the section at Quinnipiac University, and he has helped judge the annual Student Research Symposium for many years.

Steven Fine, M.S., has been a member of the New Haven Section of the ACS for 37 years. He is a past Chair, past Program Chair, and past Alternate Councilor. He held these positions in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He retired from LATICRETE INTERNATIONAL in Bethany where his last position was Manager for R&D Services. LATICRETE INTERNATIONAL manufactures construction chemicals. He worked for LATICRETE INTERNATIONAL for 35 years, starting as a bench chemist and ending his career as a group manager. He was Secretary/Treasurer for Materials & Methods Association (an industry standards writing organization) for about 15 years. He is married to a retired middle school science teacher and has three grown children/step-children.

Stephen Arpie, M.S., has been working as a Director General at Absolute Standards for 18 years. Absolute Standards. Stephen has been involved with the ACS-New Haven Section for many years and regularly serves in the judging panel at the ACS-New Haven Student Research Symposiums. 

Olivier Nicaise, Ph.D., has been a member of ACS since his first year of graduate school -almost 30 years ago!-, and a member of the New Haven Section since his move to New Haven County in 2004. He received a B.S. degree and a Master’s degree in Chemistry from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris, France, and a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry focusing on asymmetric synthesis from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1993. He then conducted postdoctoral studies in the area of medicinal chemistry at Université Catholique de Louvain, in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Upon his return to the United States to start a career in academia, Dr. Nicaise first held Visiting Assistant Professorships in Minnesota and Michigan, and then joined the Chemistry faculty at Saint Louis University, in St. Louis, MO. His family then moved to his wife’s native state of Connecticut in 2004 following a job offer at SCSU, in New Haven, and more recently, Dr. Nicaise was on the Chemistry faculty at Trinity College, in Hartford. Lately -since 2014-, Dr. Nicaise is exploring another aspect of the teaching profession, and greatly enjoys being a high school Chemistry Teacher.

As an active member of the New Haven ACS Local Section, Dr. Nicaise has served as both councilor, and more recently, alternative councilor for the Section. In 2007, he very gladly accepted to “take control” of the organization of the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad competition on behalf of the Section -a Chemistry competition for high school students-, and in the past 10 years, the New Haven County high school students have performed extraordinarily well, with 3 of them having made Team USA, and competed at the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Vincent Ribeiro is an Emeritus member of ACS (National: 43 years, New Haven: 34 years). He earned a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering in India, and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He has very brief experience in the chemical industry, followed by extensive experience as a programmer/analyst in business/engineering applications. 

He returned to the chemical field as a certified high school Chemistry teacher. Although retired, he has maintained teacher certification. As a lifelong learner, he earned national board-certification as a Pharmacy Technician in 2011.

He has been Secretary, and is currently an Alternate Councilor of the ACS New Haven section. In 2023 he participated in National Chemistry Week activities.

Paul Ehimare Aikpokpodion, Ph.D., is an Analytical/Environmental Chemist. He earned a PhD in Environmental Chemistry, M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry, Post graduate Diploma in Industrial Chemistry from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria and a BS in Pure Chemistry from Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria. He had training in Geographical Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing and Global Satellite Navigation System (GNSS) at the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Prior to joining the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station as a Postdoctoral Agricultural Scientist, he worked at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria as a Research Scientist. His research interest include Pesticides use and impacts on food and environment, heavy metal contamination and soil remediation, surface and colloid chemistry, remote sensing in precision agriculture, nano fertilizers. As a licensed chemical laboratory analyst in Nigeria, has handled European Union Project in Nigeria on human capital development in training laboratory analysts. He takes undergraduate chemistry courses in the University as a lecturer. As a Scientist in a Federal Government Research Institution in Nigeria, he has attended several Scientific Conferences in different countries where he made oral presentations of his research findings. He has several Research publications in Peer Reviewed Journals across the globe. He currently works on sustainable nanotechnology in agriculture with focus on surface modification of nanocellulose and hybrid phosphate rock fertilizer for enhanced nutrients use efficiency and nutrients loss mitigation in agricultural soils. 

Mark Burford, Ph.D., manages the Applied Measurement Science and Central Stability groups at Unilever’s Personal Care and Foods R&D facility in Trumbull, CT. He has a BSc in Chemistry from Kingston University, UK, a MSc in Forensic Science from Strathclyde University, UK, a PhD in Analytical Chemistry focusing on GC/MS and chemometrics from Loughborough University, UK, a post Doc on supercritical fluid extraction at the University of North Dakota, US, and a research position on metal chelate chemistry sponsored by British Nuclear Fuel at the University of Leeds, UK. He was the Chairman of the Royal Society of Chemistry Northwest Region Analytical Division back in 2001 and has over 21 years’ industrial experience in Personal Care and Foods, supporting problem solving, specifications, environmental analysis, manufacturing and regulatory compliance.

William (Bill) Cesario has been a member of ACS for 35 years, initially joining because he was a consultant with a small CT new product/new business consulting firm, many of whose clients were major US/EU chemical and/or materials companies. Bill found that accessing past issues of C&E News and ACS’s proprietary materials, was very helpful in rapidly “getting up to speed,” in a client’s industry sector and its competitors. Often, such an industry scan would uncover activities, of which his client was unaware. He continued his ACS membership, following his exit from that company, because he found C&E News a valuable source of information about an industry, that is critical to mankind’s moving forward. He enjoys attending meetings, interacting with members and speakers, and having continued access to ACS’s proprietary resources.

Mark A. Collins, Ph.D., MBA, graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in chemistry and completed a Ph.D. in gas-phase hydrocarbon combustion from City University of London. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry with 50 years of membership. He obtained an MBA from Adelphi University, NY, while employed as Global Product Manager of analytical instrumentation at Perkin Elmer (US). He taught general chemistry as Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Western Connecticut State University in 2010. In 2011, he joined Quinnipiac University and is currently an Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry for general and analytical chemistry and teaches online and on-ground chemistry courses. Mark continues to mentor senior student research projects in applied analytical chemistry of synthetic and natural pigments in whole and processed foods. He serves on various college committees. He attends ACS-New Haven Section E-Board meetings, and in 2025 volunteered as judge at the annual Student Research Symposium. He hopes to continue to work with the ACS New Haven E-Board as a committee member-at-large.

Dennis J. Jakiela, Ph.D., is an organic chemist and Senior Patent Agent at Cantor Colburn LLP, an intellectual property law firm. Dennis earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, focusing on organometallic chemistry, from Stony Brook University and a B.S. in Chemistry, Cum Laude, from Wesleyan University. Dennis drafts and prosecutes patent applications to protect emerging new technologies in the fields of chemistry, polymers, coatings, material science, agrochemicals, and biotechnology.

Prior to this, Dennis was a Principal Research Scientist at Cytec, now part of Solvay. Dennis is an inventor on thirteen patents and joined the Cytec Circle of Excellence for Research & Development in 1998. Dennis has been active in the New Haven Local Section since 2003, serving as Program Chair (2005-2008), Chair (2009), Alternate Councilor 2019-2020, Councilor (2021-2023), Acting Chair (2023), Chair (2024), and Immediate Past Chair (2025). Dennis has also led the judging teams and managed sponsorship for the ACS New Haven Student Research Symposium since 2017. Dennis organized and presided over technical sessions on biomedical engineering at NERM 2022 in Rochester, and on intellectual property strategies at NERM 2023 at Northeastern University. Dennis also serves as Secretary, and manages the box office, for the Capital Classics Theatre Company, which puts on the annual Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival every July at St. Joseph University in West Hartford.

Kara Cutrona, Ph.D., is a biomedical chemist. She has been a member of ACS since 2013 and recently has had the opportunity to become more involved with the ACS-New Haven section. Kara received her B.Sc. in chemistry from Emory University and Ph.D. in computational chemistry from Yale University. During that time, she collaborated with others to organize and facilitate a variety of seminars and events for early-career researchers, including research-in-progress talks and workshops on chemistry education. Currently, she is back in the laboratory working at the American Red Cross to assess patient-donor platelet compatibility.

Juhyon (Julia) Kang is an adjunct professor at the University of New Haven. She is teaching at the Environmental Engineering department and Chemistry department. Her research in her graduate and postdoctoral years focused on bioenergy, particularly from microalgae and lignocellulosic-biomass. She is currently homeschooling her children and coaching Science Olympiad for middle school students. As a hobby, she sings at a church choir and practices Taekwondo.

Past Executive Board and Committee Members