Organic Chemist

Dr. JOHN D PEAK, Lt Col (ret), USAF

** ******* **

Hillsborough, NJ 08844

******@*******.***

908-***-**** (H) / 719-***-**** (C)

U.S. Citizen; By Birth

Core Competencies

Leadership - Extensive experience leading highly technical groups (large and small)

Research Program Management - Deputy Director of Research (USAFA)

Problem Solving - 25+ years experience in Operations Planning and Execution

Exceptional Oral and Writing Skills - Professional Educator and Career Military Leader

Technical Expertise (chemical) - 6+ years Chemistry Research and Program Management

Technology Transfer (T2) Expert - Patent and Research Funding Manager

Laboratory Expertise - 10+ years teaching/conducting laboratory operations and research

Product Development - Operational Test and Evaluation Lead

CURRENT CAREER SUMMARY:

My background includes many career positions/examples that involve extensive knowledge in chemical principles, theories, practices and methodologies as well as a career history which demonstrates not only performance but instruction in the desired areas of expertise. These areas include but are not limited to: analysis, synthesis, sample collection/prep, in-depth evaluation of physical and chemical testing, collection of test data, final evaluation with recommendations for further testing needed. With regards to my chemistry experience, I have principally worked as a chemical educator at a top tier university. I have most recently served as an Assistant Professor/Instructor of Chemistry at the United States Air Force Academy. My expertise includes instruction of organic, polymer and general chemistry lecture as well as an advanced integrated organic and polymer chemistry laboratory. The advanced organic laboratory concentrated on advanced laboratory techniques in organic synthesis, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry and qualitative analysis. Previous semesters included organic lecture, organic synthesis laboratory, polymer lecture/laboratory and general chemistry lecture/laboratory. Additionally, I have served as the Air Force Academy's Deputy Director of Research. As such, I fulfilled a wide variety of program management and executive management and oversight duties for the Air Force Academy's Chief Scientist, Colonel Robert Kraus. These duties included evaluation and distribution of grant funding both internally and externally for the entire Academy research community consisting of 18 research laboratories and 2 research institutes. A vital aspect of the Deputy Research Director position was educational scholarship which I fulfilled with distinction by concurrently serving as an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry and cadet research mentor. Overall, I have served the Department of Chemistry at the United States Air Force Academy since 2002 in a variety of roles. The most notable of these positions are; Deputy Department Head, Deputy for Academics, Course Director for both Organic and Polymer Chemistry, Senior Academic Mentor for two General Chemistry courses as well as being class advisor and academic counselor for five graduating classes. When given the opportunity to serve as a chemist for your company, I am certain that I will benefit your agency as a knowledgeable researcher, educator, mentor, program manager and leader.

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

As a 22+ year career Air Force officer, decorated aviator and professional chemical educator, I have had many opportunities to lead, motivate and train some of the finest people in this country. I served as a master navigator (KC-135, T-43, and operational test/evaluation) for 12+ years during which time I operated as an instructor, evaluator, functional check crew examiner, wing safety officer and chief of safety. As a chemical educator, I have had the privilege to teach at the United States Air Force Academy on two separate occasions where I had access to an impressive array of laboratory and instrumental resources. In total, I have had the privilege to perform chemical research at Wright State University, University of Florida and the United States Air Force Academy.

INSTRUMENTAL EXPERIENCE:

I have substantial experience in both supervising and operating an impressive array of modern chemical instrumentation. As a master’s student, I was chosen as the sole graduate student to perform all maintenance, sample preparation, and spectral analysis for the department’s only nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. As a doctoral candidate, I was in charge of all the instrumentation contained in our photo-physics laboratory. I was solely responsible for maintenance and operation of two Nd-YaG (1064 nm primary) lasers, one equipped with an OPO, and a great deal of one-of-a-kind photonic measuring instrumentation used to perform laser excited transient absorption spectroscopy. Instrumentation that I have utilized and instructed include; FTIR (with and without ATR), UV/Visible spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (H1, C13), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), elemental analysis (CHNS), LC/MS, bomb calorimetry, thermo gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy.

CAREER EXPERIENCE:

July 2013-May 2014

INSTRUCTOR OF CHEMISTRY AD-21, Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Instructor -Organic Chemistry

Instructor - Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Instructor - Integrated Organic Laboratory I

Cadet Research Mentor

Dec 2012-July 2013

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH/ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AD-22, Office of Research, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Director of Sponsored Programs

Technology Transfer Specialist

Research Office Program Manager

Assistant Professor - Organic Chemistry

Assistant Professor - General Chemistry, General Chemistry Senior Mentor

Cadet Research Mentor

Jun 2012-Dec 2012

INSTRUCTOR OF CHEMISTRY AD-21, Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Instructor - Organic Chemistry

Instructor - General Chemistry, General Chemistry Senior Mentor

Cadet Research Mentor

Aug 2010-Apr 2012

DEPUTY DEPARTMENT HEAD/ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (Lt Col), Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Deputy Head: Responsible for the program management of personnel, operations, budget, occupational health/safety and academic progress for a department of 41 faculty and staff with an ongoing mission to educate over 2000 cadets per year and produce ACS accredited Chemistry majors for the United States Air Force.

Course Director - Polymer Chemistry

Course Director - Organic Chemistry

Oct 2007-Aug 2010

DEPUTY FOR ACADEMICS/ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (Lt Col), Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Deputy for Academics: Responsible for the academic integrity and curriculum development to meet student needs and ensure ACS compliance.

Course Director-Organic Chemistry

Nov 2008-Jun 2009

CHIEF CURRENT OPERATIONS/DEPUTY SHIFT DIRECTOR (Lt Col), Joint Operations Center, CJTF-101, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Bagram AB, Afghanistan.

July 2004-Oct 2007

PhD CANDIDATE (Maj/Lt Col), University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Studied under the Organic Division Chairman, Dr Kirk Schanze.

Authored the dissertation titled Dual Mechanism Nonlinear Response of Selected Metal Organic Chromophores. These are optical limiting materials used to suppress and defeat laser energy.

Only graduate student in year group to graduate with a 4.0 overall GPA.

Presented at the Fall 07 Materials Research Symposia titled; Reverse Saturable Absorbing Chromophores in Nonlinear Optic Applications.

July 2002-July 2004

EXECUTIVE OFFICER/ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO.

Responsible for the daily operations of the department to include; performance report authoring/evaluation, promotion recommendation authoring/evaluation, responding to and completing tasks ordered from the Dean of Faculty and the USAFA Superintendent, conducted divisional and department meetings.

Course Director-Organic Chemistry (non-major)

Instructor-General Chemistry

Nov 1999-Aug 2002

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS/CHIEF FLIGHT EXAMINER, Joint Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training, Randolph AFB, San Antonio TX.

Nov 1996-Nov 1999

WING FLIGHT SAFETY and WEAPONS SAFETY OFFICER/ASSISTANT CHIEF OF TRAINING, 100th Air Refueling Wing/351st Air Refueling Squadron, RAF Mildenhall, UK.

Nov 1998-Feb 1999

CHIEF OF SAFETY, Combined Task Force: NORTHERN WATCH, Incirlik AB Turkey.

Aug 1994-Nov 1996

STANDARDIZATION/EVALUATION AND INSTRUCTOR NAVIGATOR, 98th Air Refueling Squadron, Fairchild AFB, Spokane WA.

Apr 1991-Aug 1994

9th RECONNAISSANCE WING CHIEF OF TANKER CURRENT OPERATIONS/INSTRUCTOR NAVIGATOR, 9th SRW, 349th and 350th Air Refueling Squadrons, Beale AFB, CA.

EDUCATION:

PhD, Organic Chemistry, 8/2004-12/2007; University of Florida, Gainesville FL.

MS, Polymer Chemistry, 6/1988-8/1989; Wright State University, Dayton, OH.

BS, Chemistry, 8/1984-6/1988; Wright State University, Dayton, OH.

PUBLICATIONS:

1. The Synthesis of Benzothiazole Polymers with Perpendicularly Attached Phenyl Substituents.

William A. Feld, YiHua Chang, John D. Peak, Scott G. Wierschke and Join Pin Chen (1988).

MRS Proceedings, 134, 127 doi:10.1557/PROC-134-127.

2. The synthesis of bismaleimides containing oxyalkylene linkages

Peak, J D, Saikumar, J, Goldfarb, I J, Feld, W A

Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE). Vol. 66; San Francisco, California; USA;

4-5 Apr. 1992. 306 pp. 1992

3. A General and Efficient Synthesis of 2-Phenylbenzothiazoles from Diphenyl Disulfides

Yi-Hua Chang, John D. Peak, Scott W. Wierschke, William A. Feld

Synthetic Communications. Vol. 23, Iss. 5, 1993.

4. Examination of 2,2'-bipyridine Core Chromophores with Associated Metal/Organic Complexes for Nonlinear Optical Absorption Activity.

John D. Peak, Kye-Young Kim and Kirk S. Schanze; MRS Proceedings, Volume 1015 - 2007 MRS Spring Meeting - Symposium BB – Hybrid Functional Materials for Optical Applications. (2007).

MEMBERSHIPS:

American Chemical Society (Organic and Polymer Divisions)

Veteran of Foreign Wars, Stephen J. Chaney-Post 7201, Marion, OH-Life member

Disabled Veterans of America- Life Member

VOLUNTEER/SERVICE EXPERIENCE:

American Chemical Society National Chemistry Olympiad Military Liaison (2008-2010)

USAFA Chemistry Department Class Academic Advisor (2008-2012)

USAFA Military Review Committee-Senior Faculty Representative (2009-2012)

USAFA Selection Committee (2010)

USAFA Women’s Tennis Officer Representative (2009-2012)

USAFA Men’s Tennis Officer Representative (2003-2004)

USAFA Men’s Hockey Officer Representative (2002-2003)

Contact this candidate