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Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.

Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.

Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D.

“The first lesson of technology innovation is that solutions are not found in the back of a textbook. Innovation is a process requiring a mix of passion, knowledge, foresight, collaboration, and plain old hard work.”

Rosemarie Szostak, Ph.D., advises companies on technology, patents, innovation and disruptive technology. She has 20 plus years as a thought leader and analyst with broad technical knowledge in chemistry, materials and chemical engineering.

Experience

Dr. Szostak has worked in the academic, industrial as well as government sectors. She managed the Philip Morris USA Environmental Footprint Program, assessing corporate operational environmental sustainability needs and leading efforts to reduce the company’s environmental footprint for energy, waste management and recycling, nitrogen and phosphorous discharge, water usage for buildings and manufacturing facilities, and transportation options.

Dr. Szostak was a program manager for the Defense Sciences Office (DSO) at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where her role was to identify and advance new technologies to enhance national security and new military capabilities. Her efforts led to revolutionary alternative energy concepts and the first to recognize and promote the value of changing the energy footprint of military operations.

While with DoD, she worked landmine issues, improvised explosive devises, chemical/biological weapons, and unexploded ordinance. Her work in depleted uranium use during the first Gulf War resulted in her testifying as a scientific expert to a Presidential Commission tasked for that topic.

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She was a Professor/Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta University and had an international reputation in the area of catalysis, catalytic processes and zeolites. She understands the petroleum/petrochemical field as she had also worked for Mobil Oil after finishing graduate school. She continues to be an evaluator/reviewer for EPA and NSF projects, academic and SBIR, as well as various EU Commission research initiatives.

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Dr. Szostak also worked as a science and technology expert with the Army Environmental Policy Institute, where she assisted the Army Secretariat in developing policies and strategies to improve or resolve environmental policy issues that may have significant short or long-term impacts on the Army.

She was a professor in the Clark Atlanta University Department of Chemistry and a principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

Dr. Szostak earned her doctoral degree in chemistry at U.C.L.A. and was a post-doctoral fellow at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

In 2008, she chaired the American Chemical Society Award for Team Innovations. Dr. Szostak was an AAAS Defense Policy Fellow, a Royal Norwegian Science and Technology Fellow at the University of Oslo, Norway, a United Nations Development Program Technology Consultant to India, and a visiting professor at the University of Calabria, Italy. She has won numerous academic and professional awards, holds six patents, has written four books and authored articles for a wide range of technical and scientific journals.

Areas of Expertise

  • Energy/power
  • Military/government
  • Inorganic chemistry
  • Green innovation

Industries

  • Energy
  • Advanced Materials

Credentials

  • Post Doctoral Fellow, Chemical Engineering Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California Los Angeles
  • B.S., Chemistry/Physics, Georgetown University

Selected Publications

R. Szostak and L.X. Downey, “Renewable Energy Options for Data Centers” with, PowerPulse.net, May 2009

R. Szostak and M Fiore, “Green Innovation is Optically Clear for Data Centers” SPIE Professional Magazine, 2009

R. Szostak, Ecosystem Genomics and Its Application to Army Natural Resources Management, Futurist report, 2006

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R. Szostak, “Petroleum-free Military by 2025” Workshop report, DARPA, 2004

R. Szostak, “New Directions in Insensitive Munitions” Workshop report, DARPA 2003

R. Szostak, “Investigation of Thermobaric Waveforms: Activities of the Defense Threat Reduction Agencies Blast Waveform Working Group” Final Report, DARPA, Sept. 2003

R. Szostak, “Air Emissions Due to Pyrotechnic Use and Potential Regional Environmental Impact” Information paper, AEPI, June 2001

D. Renfrow, R. Szostak, “Key Elements for Communicating Environmental Technology”, NDIA conference paper, April, 2001

R. Szostak, “Assessment of the report “UXO Detection Technology Transition: Moving from Demonstrations to Fielded Advanced Technology” 1998 IDA report” Information paper, AEPI, April 2001

R. Szostak, “Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Use or Generation of Hexachlorobenzene in military munitions training” Information paper, AEPI, May 2001

R. Szostak, “Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Use or Generation of Dioxins and Furans in Military Munitions Training” Information paper, AEPI, May 2001

R. Szostak, “Genetic Modification Technology Issues Relevant to Army Land Management”, Army Information Paper, Aug. 2000; NDIA conference paper, April, 2001

R. Szostak, “Evaluation of CRREL Report “Evaluation of the Use of Snow-Covered Ranges to Estimate the Explosives Residues that Result from Detonation of Army Munitions (ERDC/CRREL TR-00-15)” AEPI, January 2001

R. Szostak, “Examination of Possible Air Emissions if Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Detonate During a Range Fire” Army Paper, AEPI, Aug. 2000

R. Szostak, “Environmental Beryllium Issues for the US Army”, Army Information Paper, AEPI, Sept. 2000

D. Renfrow, R. Szostak, “The Continuing Challenge: Science and Communication in Army Environmental Policy” Science and Technology Policy Gordon Conference, Aug. 2000

R. Szostak, and K. Cleare, “Emissions Related to Munitions Firing:—A case study of NOX, VOC and energetic residue from detonable munitions” Federal Facilities Journal, pp. 87-104, Autumn 2000

R. Szostak, “Analysis of the Use of Science at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR): A Summary of Public Concerns, Associated Scientific Questions, Preferred Science-based Response and Ultimate Regulatory Action Taken” Army Report, AEPI, July, 2000

R. Szostak and K. Cleare, “Identifying Environmentally Sound Practices in Army Munitions Training” Green Chemistry Symposium, New England ACS Meeting, June 2000

R. Szostak, “Environmental and Explosives Safety Management on Department of Army Active and Inactive (A/I) Ranges” draft policy and implementation letter, AEPI, June 2000

R. Szostak, “Estimated Groundwater Contamination Health Risk from UXO: Modeling Approach” Army Report, AEPI, April, 2000

R. Szostak, National Munitions Dialog report, Technology Section, DOD, 2000

R. Szostak, “An Overview of Environmental Metal Contaminants: Factors Which Effect Mobility, Toxicity, and Environmental Availability in Soils and Water” Draft Report, AEPI, Nov. 1999

R. Szostak, “Communicating Science” R. Szostak and D. Renfrow Green Chemistry Gordon Conference, August, 1999

R. Szostak, “Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in the U.S. Army” Briefing for the Presidential Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents, Washington DC, Oct. 27-28, 1998

R. Szostak and P. Temkar, “Depleted Uranium (DU): Environmental Speciation and Migration” National Defense Industry Conference Proceedings, Tampa, Fl., 1998

R. Szostak and P. Temkar, “Modeling Movement of Depleted Uranium (DU): Surface and Groundwater Impact”, Environmental Security Modeling and Simulation Workshop, Washington DC, 1998

Patents

“Novel Blue Pigment,” British patent application 1996 (assigned to Unilever)

“Modified Ferrisilicate Molecular Sieves” U. S. Patent No. 4,92,385 (1990), Szostak, V. Nair (assigned to Georgia Tech)

“Ferrisilicate Molecular Sieves” U. S. Pat No. 5,077,026 (1986), R. Szostak, V. Nair (assigned to Georgia Tech)

More Information

“Preparation of Crystalline Silicate ZSM-12” U.S. Patent No. 4,585,639 (1986) (assigned to Mobil)

“A Synthetic Crystalline Zeolite, Its Preparation and its Uses” U.S. Patent No. 4,637,924 (1985) (assigned to Mobil)

“A Synthetic Crystalline Zeolite” Eur. Pat. Appl. 8,6304,605.8 (assigned to Mobil)