Research center absorbs chemical studies institute Operation will be expanded to include more environmental issues, MATRIC says
The National Institute for Chemical Studies is being merged into the Mid-Atlantic Technology Research and Innovation Center, also known as MATRIC.
Keith Pauley, president and chief executive officer of MATRIC, said in a prepared statement, "MATRIC is highly committed to continuing the important mission of NICS to make communities surrounding chemical facilities safe, secure and environmentally healthy."
MATRIC is a nonprofit organization established more than three years ago to harness the brainpower that Union Carbide Corp. had brought to the Kanawha Valley over the decades. MATRIC is patterned after the Research Triangle Institute at Research Triangle Park, N.C. That organization has attracted more than 100 high-tech companies that employ thousands of people in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area.
Since its establishment, MATRIC has won $13.8 million in contracts, engaged in projects ranging from biomass-derived fuels to devices NASA may use on its lunar rover, and spun off several companies.
MATRIC now has 72 employees. After last month's announcement by The Dow Chemical Co. that it will cease most of its research operations in West Virginia over the next two years, MATRIC's leaders launched an all-out effort to pick up many of the 150 researchers who will be leaving Dow.
MATRIC is currently re-working its business plan. Late last month Gov. Joe Manchin pledged the state's support in joining city and county government to aid MATRIC's expansion plans.
The National Institute for Chemical Studies was created in 1985 by a group of community leaders led by businessman Russell Wehrle following the world's worst industrial disaster, the 1984 leak of methyl isocyanate gas from a Bhopal pesticide plant run by a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp.
The leak killed at least 10,000 people and affected about 550,000 others. There was a subsequent release of another chemical at a sister plant Union Carbide operated at Institute.
"NICS was formed with the intent of helping communities nationwide manage risks associated with the manufacturing of chemicals," MATRIC noted.
"This mission is deeply rooted within the organization and continues to be a major focus."
However, NICS has earned most of its revenue in recent years from environmental studies.
For this reason, "the NICS mission will be expanded to cover other environmental issues as well as process operation safety, chemical risk analysis, incident investigation and homeland security planning within the chemical industry," MATRIC said.
Ron Potesta, chairman of the National Institute for Chemical Studies' Board of Directors, said in a prepared statement, "I am confident that the NICS organization will greatly benefit from its association with MATRIC's world-class cadre of scientists and engineers."
Potesta said the institute has three full-time employees. Deepay Mukerjee has been president and chief executive officer since 2004, when he succeeded Mark Scott. Potesta said Mukerjee will remain as president of the NICS division of MATRIC.
Since it was established, the National Institute for Chemical Studies' office has been on the University of Charleston's campus, Potesta said.
It will now be located within MATRIC's offices in the South Charleston Technology Park.
Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 348-4836.