Alumni

Edward Marram ’59 BS Chemistry, ’61G Physics and Karen Carpenter have made a donation to support the launch of a Food-Water-Climate track within the UMass Amherst Integrated Concentration in STEM (iCons) Program. This gift will enhance the program’s ability to address critical challenges in the areas of food security, water resource management and climate change.

“The innovative teaching approach being pioneered by the UMass iCons Program is critical for inspiring a new generation of problem solvers,” said Marram. “We’re delighted to partner with such an important program by supporting its move into new problem areas.”

Since its launch in 2010, the UMass iCons Program has offered two educational tracks to undergraduates: one in Biomedicine, focusing on human health problems and related environmental issues; and another in Renewable Energy, addressing the need for a fast and fair transition to clean and sustainable energy.

The new iCons track in Food-Water-Climate will expand the impact of the program by connecting students to industries and jobs including sustainable food and farming, wastewater treatment and environmental conservation. The new iCons track will also connect more directly with other departments at UMass Amherst including Food Science, Nutrition, Resource Economics, Finance, Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth, Geographic & Climate Sciences.

The Marram-Carpenter gift of $200,000 allows the UMass iCons Program to launch the new Food-Water-Climate track and to operate the track for four years. Funds will be used to attract new instructors into iCons, and supply students with top-notch research opportunities. The program plans to outfit a new food-water-climate laboratory upon the track’s launch, and is presently fundraising to reach this important goal.

“This gift from Carpenter and Marram breathes life into the aspirations of iCons and our students to tackle problems in a totally new area – the food-water-climate space. iCons is changing expectations about what college students can accomplish, especially on important problems that impact communities and companies across the United States and the world,” said Scott Auerbach, Mahoney Family Sponsored Executive Director of the UMass iCons Program.

Marram is a double alumnus of UMass Amherst, having graduated with a Bachelors in Chemistry and a Masters in Physics. He was the founder and president of GEO-CENTERS, a company focused on developing new sensing and detection technologies. Marram is now Professor of Practice in entrepreneurship at Babson College. Carpenter is presently the CEO of Polestar Technologies.

Anita Milman, professor of environmental conservation at UMass and the chairperson of the iCons Food-Water-Climate Steering Committee, agrees that combining food, water and climate into one integrated training is critical for the future. “Climate change is intrinsically related to water change,” said Milman. “Integrating in food is a no-brainer – you can’t have food without water. We’re delighted that this important gift allows us to begin linking all these together for the problem-solvers of tomorrow.”

I was born in the middle of the twentieth century to first generation Italian Americans. I grew up in Worcester and was the first in my family to go to college. I came to Amherst with the notion that I might major in chemistry and I received a first-rate educational experience at UMass. Entering college, I was not sophisticated enough to navigate the course catalog to decide what kind of chemist I wanted to be, but luckily George Richason, my advisor, gave me direction and guidance which served me well. My story has some remarkable examples of the value of mentoring that began at UMass and I am happy to share my start as a chemist and remodeling to an entrepreneur.

I soon discovered that I was good at organic chemistry. I found it

interesting, substantial and exotic, practical in some aspects, speculative and abstract in others. George Cannon was my first organic professor and his presentation of the material was masterly and superbly organized. Organic lab was a joy. I enjoyed the colors and the smells, the interesting glassware, and synthesizing compounds. Professor Richason suggested that I take Advanced Organic with young Marv Rausch. He became one of the most influential teachers and mentors in my life. Marv was a pioneer in organotransition metal chemistry; he introduced me to ferrocene, its discovery, and importance. In my junior year, Marv offered me the opportunity to do research in his lab on ferrocene chemistry. I was lucky to get a NSF Fellowship for the summer of 1965 to work on the synthesis of new ferrocene compounds. Our two-year collaboration led to my first paper and my Honors Thesis. I had found my field.
That same summer, I married Gloria Rossi from Worcester. We came back to campus that fall to live in Hampshire House with other married couples. Marv’s counsel was extraordinarily important, as after graduation I was planning to get a job as a chemist. With his urging, I applied to several PhD programs and was accepted at several. Because I was still fascinated by metallocene chemistry, Marv told me that I needed to go and work for one of the best in the field—Myron Rosenblum at Brandeis.

We moved into a dreadful apartment in Watertown and in August 1966 I arrived at the Chemistry Labs at Brandeis University. My research was a combination of synthesis, NMR spectroscopy, and the theory of fluxional organometallic compounds.  Four years later I had a PhD in Organic Chemistry. Upon graduating, I had a couple of post-doctoral options, but Marv suggested I go talk with his former student Al Cotton at MIT. Cotton was integral to the beginning of the metallocene frenzy, having worked for Jeff Wilkinson at Harvard while Myron was working with R.B. Woodward. Al said I could come and work with him. This would not only give me the opportunity to work with one of the titans in inorganic chemistry, but meant I wouldn’t have to dramatically uproot my young family. I decided to go to MIT with my NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship.

I started at MIT in August of 1970 with new colleagues and mentors. Al was a superb mentor and I learned a lot of inorganic chemistry from him and his group. He was charming and quick, possessed enormous energy, and had a capacity for chemistry that was stunning. I was assigned a bench alongside Tobin Marks and Walt Klemperer. Both went on to productive careers at Northwestern and Columbia, respectively. The inorganic staff at MIT was solid: Richard Holm (UMass ’55), Deitmar Seyferth, George Whitesides, and Alan Davison.  It was a magical time. I continued to work on general problems of fluxional organometallic molecules, bonding and spectroscopy, and we managed to publish six papers.

My fellowship was for two years; after which it was time to look for an assistant professorship. I interviewed at a range of universities, but we wanted to stay near our family in Worcester. In the summer of 1971, at the IUPAC Conference in Boston, I had lunch with Saul Cohen, one of my former professors and Dean of Science at Brandeis. He told me his department had been awarded a NSF Center of Excellence Award and had six new positions. I would have five new colleagues and could help build a great department. I applied and was offered the position. Gloria and my son Rob and daughter Leah were happy and reassured. I had a job and we would not be moving far away.

At Brandeis, I was the “sixth man” on a talented team: Bruce Foxman (Cotton PhD), Philip Keene (Woodward PhD), Ron Parry (Hendrickson PhD) Irving Epstein (Lipscomb PhD) and I.Y. Chan (Rice PhD).  I was quickly teaching freshman and organic chemistry while trying to do research in a corner of the organic lab. After five successful years at Brandeis, I knew I wanted to advance my career. I had mentioned this over dinner to Al at the 1976 ACS meeting in Houston.  He told me I should check out the Directorship at Harvard since his old friend Ron Vanelli, was retiring. Harvard? I thought. Would I be considered seriously? The first Director was T.W. Richards, America’s first Nobel Laureate! I didn’t think Al was serious. Nevertheless, he insisted.

I applied for and got the job at Harvard and became the fifth Director of the Chemical Laboratories, Director of Graduate Studies and Head Tutor. I was the first non-Harvard chemist to fill the post!

In 1977, Harvard Chemistry Laboratories was one the strongest departments in the world and a plan was prepared to make several senior appointments in anticipation of several pending retirements. The ten-year plan was to secure the future by recruiting new senior faculty and a new crop of junior faculty. The recruitment would run simultaneously with the renovation and modernization of Mallinckrodt, Converse, and Conant Laboratories. The Chemical Laboratories was blessed with a large endowment, government grants, and generous support from alumni, foundations, and corporations. The Dean was intimately involved in permanent faculty positions because the hiring packages required a de minimus offer of a new laboratory (back then $3-5 million), research funding and other emoluments. Administering and managing these issues was my biggest task.

As Director of a large financial unit, I got to know the Vice President of Finance, Tom O’Brian quite well. Tom became an important colleague and friend at the University. When he became Dean of the Isenberg School of Management in 1987, I had a renewed link to UMass. Tom was also a mentor to my son Rob, who graduated from the SOM in 1989 with a BBA. Rob went on to get an MBA from the Harvard Business School. I could not have been more proud and happy for Rob’s achievement and grateful for Tom’s tutelage and friendship.

In 1980, to rebuild the Inorganic program, the Department recruited Dick Holm (UMass ’55), from Stanford. Dick was Cotton’s first graduate student and a crucial hire. In 1982, George Whitesides joined the Department from MIT along with Jim Anderson, a superb atmospheric physical chemist. We were able to convince David Evans at Cal Tech to come in 1983 and join the organic faculty. Additional strength was added with the acquisition of Stuart Schreiber in 1988.  Stuart was Bob Woodward’s last student and it was obvious he was to be a star.

During the late seventies I was able to observe and participate first hand in the confluence of Molecular Biology and Venture Capital, two areas of which I knew nothing. At that time there was no hint of the spectacular growth that is now the Cambridge Biotech Cluster.

Colleagues in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology asked if I could help launch their new venture, code named, “Harvard Inc.” and set it up in the BioLabs—on Divinity Avenue no less! Once the faculty soundly voted down the proposal of a “startup” in the Biolabs, “Harvard Inc.” became The Genetics Institute. We started in primitive labs at the Boston Lying-In Hospital. We knew quite a bit of science but did not have a clue about growing a biotechnology company. This new activity was the start of a series of little steps pointing me to a different path, but I did not recognize it at the time.

For legal reasons I formed a small consultant company—Cambridge Laboratory Consultants—with the Director of BMB to help new companies (Biogen, Genetics Institute, Millennium, Genzyme). This activity gave us real world experience.

In 1982 I was part of the creation of ChemDesign Corp. in Massachusetts with entrepreneurs from Polaroid and W.R. Grace. We raised venture funds to build a chemical plant and as a board member, I gained new business skills. We built a second plant in Wisconsin and after three years we went public.

However, change was coming. In 1989, colleagues Stu Schreiber, Marty Karplus, and Jeremy Knowles planned to exploit structure-based drug discovery in pursuit of new medicines and formed Vertex Pharmaceuticals with Jeremy’s student Josh Boger, who was at Merck. I consulted for Vertex and almost left the Department to join the company. After Vertex, I was confronted with a genuine life challenge. In April of 1990, I met with Stuart Schreiber and Harvey Berger from Centocor; they asked if I wanted to help startup ARIAD Pharmaceuticals. I said yes, as I had one day a week built into my work schedule to consult. Harvey told me that it would be a full time commitment. I could be part of the founding team of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, but I would have to take a leave of absence from Harvard. After much discussion with my family, I was off to a new adventure.

During my year at ARIAD, Andy Barron, Geoff Wilkinson’s, last graduate student and an Assistant Professor came to visit. His group had made certain discoveries in Gallium Arsenide chemistry and the University had filed some patents. He asked if I could help him raise money and get the company going. My thought was to return to the Department and run Gallia under the CLC umbrella one day a week. I had to ask Jeremy Knowles, who was now Dean of the Faculty, and my Oxford-trained friend said, “Hoc non est optio.” (Make up your mind, young man.)

In January of 1993, we incorporated Gallia, Inc., and, as President, I set about to raise $2 million, negotiate a license and build lab space in Cambridge. After three years, Triquint Semiconductors, a GaAs foundry in Portland, Oregon acquired Gallia. I was offered the Presidency of the new division; Gloria told me to buy a lot of plane tickets! So I moved on to continue consulting for biotech, pharmaceutical, and materials companies. In the nineties, I completed my transition from mostly scientist/teacher/manager to mostly manager/entrepreneur/investor.

In 1996 Linda Slakey, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, asked if I would join a committee with other UMass science alumni to bring outside advice to the College. I was honored and enthusiastically said yes. My tenure on the Council was one of my most enjoyable experiences with the University. The Council consisted of accomplished graduates, including Nobel Laureate Russell Hulse, (PhD ’75), Dave Mazzo (PhD ’84), and Ed Marrum (’59, MS’ 61). I think we gave useful advice and I was proud to serve Deans Slakey, Osterweil, and Goodwin as Chairman of the College Advisory Council for nine years. I was honored along with fellow council member Ray D’Alonzo, PhD ’77 to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005. I strongly applauded the establishment of Commonwealth College by the University and the appointment of Linda as the inaugural Dean. I was delighted to see Priscilla Massei Clarkson succeed Linda in 2006. Priscilla was my next-door neighbor growing up in Worcester! Go figure.

In the fall of 1999, Board members from Suntory Pharmaceuticals met with CLC at the Inn at Harvard. They wanted a pharmaceutical research presence in Cambridge directed towards immunological diseases. We started Suntory Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories (SPRL) in late 1999. We quickly grew to 45 scientists working in new labs with NMR, X-Ray, and a Vivarium—the works. Well, fortunes do sometimes change. In April 2005 we got a call from Japan that the parent company was merging to become Daiichi-Sankyo and the research efforts in Cambridge were no longer needed.

Over the next 15 years, I was involved in another dozen startups licensing new technologies from Harvard, MIT, MGH and Brandeis. For my last venture, we were able to convince Harvard to try a new business model.  We would license the technology, commit venture funding, but utilize the resources (labs, instrumentation, equipment and expensive infrastructure) in situ at the Medical School rather than burn precious capital on new labs and new equipment. We were able put all the venture funds to work on research and personnel. A promising family of Gram-negative antibiotics, discovered in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, was licensed to “cideKick.” As CEO, I became a Senior Research Associate and we nested in the Department. The compounds we developed were transferred to a major pharma partner and were moved ahead as preclinical candidates with an order of magnitude larger commitment of capital.  During those three years I was in the lab with my own bench doing organic chemistry!  This was much to the wonder and worry of my lab mates who were doing molecular biology, microbiology and genetics; it was a fitting end to my journey as an organic chemist by bringing a fair bit of UMass to “Fair Harvard.” As you can see, good fortune has indeed been my companion from UMass to my retirement.

Since retirement we have travelled with our family to Italy several times. Last fall Gloria and I spent a month in Tuscany and we hope to go back to my ancestral home in Calabria. We spend most of our time at our home in Chatham boating and beachcombing for treasures with the grandkids. I continue with my woodworking hobby and have built a 10’ dinghy to get out to my boat in Crows Pond and a 14’ wooden paddleboard. Compared to the grandkids, I have discovered I spend more time in the water than on the board.

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