William A. Daunch

Daunch, William Andrew (1967 - )

American chemist born in Bedford, Ohio on August 31st, 1967. He grew up in Bedford and when he was about 9 or 10, received his first chemistry set as a Christmas present. By the age of 12, he had set up a laboratory in the basement of his parents home, regularly sending plumes of smoke and rotten egg gas up the furnace ducts into his mother's kitchen.

Daunch studied locally at Bedford High School where an advanced placement chemistry program taught by Phillip Hennen resulted in numerous local and state science fair achievements. He went on to study Chemistry at nearby Akron University (by way of Cuyahoga Community College), obtaining both bachelors and doctorate degrees in Chemistry from Akron.

After completing his Ph.D., Daunch moved to Brussels, Belgium to work for the polyurethanes division of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). It is there that he developed new polyurethane-based foam, composite and thermoplastic polyurethane products and technology platforms. ICI eventually sold this division to Huntsman International LLC, an American-based chemicals conglomerate based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Soon after, Daunch left Huntsman and joined a young medical device company in Scotland called AorTech International . While at AorTech, Daunch was investigating structure-morphology-property-processing relationships of cardiovascular biomaterials, developing a state-of-the-art prosthetic replacement heart valve.

Daunch has recently relocated back to the United States and currently resides in Cary, North Carolina. After taking on the challenge of operating a small startup company (Triangle Analytical, Inc.) specializing in service and support of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometers, Daunch accepted a senior technical position with Raleigh, NC - based Closure Medical Corporation, a medical device company specializing in biomedical adhesives and sealants, where he is now Director of Product Development. Daunch is also the managing director of William Daunch & Associates, a private science and technology consultancy.

Daunch is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and an associate member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Daunch is married to Ghada A. Rabah, his college sweetheart and fellow graduate of the University of Akron Department of Chemistry. They have two children, son Ramsey and daughter Sabrine.