Howdoesone go from studying chemistry to practicing law? Students found out at the sixth annual C. Eugene and Edna P. Bennett Careers for Chemists Program recently at the Erickson Alumni Center.

This years program featured talks by three successful business leaders who began their careers with a background in chemistry. They were: Howard M. Peters, a partner with Peters, Verny, Jones&Biksa, a Palo Alto, Calif., legal firm that specializes in intellectual property law;

Noel T. Doheny (WVU Class of 76), president and chief executive officer of Biostar Inc., a Boulder, Colo.-based company that develops and manufactures tests for infectious diseases;

Lesley A. Stolz, director of business development for Axys Advanced Technologies Inc., a San Francisco firm that creates and sells libraries of drug_like compounds for use by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The Careers for Chemists Program acquaints high school students and undergraduate and graduate students in chemistry with nontraditional career opportunities that are available.

The Bennetts endowed the program in 1994. C. Eugene Bennett, a successful businessman who died in 1996, was a WVU alumnus with degrees in chemistry and organic chemistry.

“The Bennett Careers for Chemists Program is the optimum event during which we recognize the commitment of the Bennett family to the Department of Chemistry,”said Paul W. Jagodzinski, department chairman.”The Careers Program has directly impacted the educational experiences of thousands of students since its inception in 1995.”