The Vice President of Research, Development and Engineering at Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company, recently visited the Department of Chemistry for the Alumni in Industry lecture and discussed how his company helps its customers conserve vital resources, like water, and explained the critical role chemistry plays in finding solutions.

Dr. Steven Govoni (BS, ’88, chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Ph.D., ’94, chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison) told undergraduate and graduate students and faculty that the company has 1,600 people dedicated to research, development and engineering, including chemical scientists, and their job is to develop technologies that make a difference for their customers, and they are also making a difference in the world through resource conservation.

“We preach sustainability,” said Govoni, whose lecture was titled, “Ecolab: Addressing Water Availability, Hygiene, and Food Safety for a Changing World.”

His lecture was the second in the Alumni in Industry series hosted by the Department of Chemistry.