Chemistry at West Virginia University is more than mixing hard-to-pronounce substances in beakers and memorizing the periodic table of elementsit is a gateway to jobs that can be rewarding in both satisfaction and pay.

The C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will bring leaders in chemistry to campus to speak with WVU students at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, during the 13th annual C. Eugene and Edna P. Bennett Careers for Chemists Program.

The event will be in Durrett Hall of the Erickson Alumni Center on WVU s Evansdale Campus. It is open to the public and includes a reception. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP by April 3 to Barbara Foster at 304-293-2729 or at Barbara.Foster@mail.wvu.edu .

Speakers include Dr. Thomas A. Gaziano, associate physician in Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston; Suzanne C. Bell, Ph.D., director of WVU s program in Forensic and Investigative Sciences and assistant professor of forensic and analytical chemistry; and Steven R. Maple, Ph.D., director of Analytical Sciences Research and Development for Eli Lilly and Company.

Thomas A. Gaziano

Gaziano serves on the faculty at Harvard Medical School practicing clinical medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and serves as a faculty member in the Harvard School of Public Healths program in health decision science.

He earned a bachelors degree in chemistry from WVU in 1986 where he received both the Truman and Rhodes scholarships. He later earned a masters degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.

In 1992, he earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and later completed post-graduate studies at Oxford University in philosophy, politics and economics. He co-founded the Oxford International Political Economy Club.

Gaziano has served as a consultant and author for the Disease Control Priorities Project in Developing Countries. The project is an effort organized by several groups, including the World Bank. It is designed to assess disease-control priorities and write evidence-based publications to assist in policymaking in developing nations.

He was recently nominated for his publication in The Lancet as one of the top 23 papers published in medical literature in 2006.

Suzanne C. Bell

Bell serves as director of WVU s program in forensic and investigative science and assistant professor of forensic and analytical chemistry in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry.

In addition, she oversees the forensic chemistry division in undergraduate programs, supervising six chemistry doctoral students, a post-doctoral researcher and several undergraduates.

Bell earned a bachelors degree in chemistry and police science in 1981 from Northern Arizona University and a masters degree in forensic science from the University of New Haven in 1983. She worked as a section leader in the environmental chemistry group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory prior to earning her doctorate in chemistry from New Mexico State University in 1991.

Before joining the faculty at WVU in 2003, she developed courses in environmental and forensic chemistry at Eastern Washington University and worked with the Washington State Patrol.

She is the author ofThe Encyclopedia of Forensic Science,Dictionary of Forensic ScienceandForensic Chemistry,the nations first comprehensive textbook in that discipline.

Steven R. Maple

Maple supervises activities supporting the development of new drug products in Indianapolis, Indiana, Toronto, Canada and Hamburg, Germany for Eli Lilly and Company.

He earned a bachelors degree in chemistry and biology in 1981 and a masters degree in chemistry in 1983 from WVU .

After his post-graduate fellowship with the U.S. Department of Energy at the Morgantown Energy Technology Center, he earned his doctorate in chemistry at Indiana University in 1989.

Maple then joined the Chemical and Structural Characterization group for Eli Lilly and Company. He was appointed to direct Bioproduct Pharmaceutical Technology Development in 1999, Bioproduct Pharmaceutical Development in 2002, Analytical Chemistry in 2003 and assumed his current position as director of Analytical Sciences Research and Development in 2004.

Maple is also on the editorial board of American Pharmaceutical Review and serves as reviewer for Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, Drug Metabolism and Disposition, the American Chemical Societys Chemical Reviews, and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The first C. Eugene and Edna P. Bennett Careers for Chemists Program took place in 1995. The program has been made possible through the generosity of C. Eugene Bennett and Edna Bennett Pierce and the Bennett Family, who established the C. Eugene Bennett Chemistry Program Enhancement Fund, the C. Eugene Bennett Graduate Fellowship Program in Chemistry and the C. Eugene Bennett Academic Enrichment Endowment.

WVU professor Kenneth Showalter was named C. Eugene Bennett Chair in Chemistry in 1994 and the Department of Chemistry was officially named the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry in 2004.