Monthly Mind - Dr. Dan Padmos

I’m a technical manager at the DuPont Kingston Technology Centre (KTC), soon a part of Qnity^TM Electronics, where I lead a team focused on streamlining and de-risking chemical process development for electronic materials. 

My path here was anything but straightforward. I grew up as an expat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for 13 years - an experience that taught me to adapt and see things from different perspectives. After moving to Kingston and then Halifax for high school, I entered Dalhousie University thinking computer science was my thing. It wasn’t. I took a two-year detour to travel, which was an amazing learning experience on many levels. That time away actually motivated me to return to school and learn about the world more scientifically.  

When I went back, I switched to chemistry because it seemed central to everything. I received a BSc Honours at Dalhousie, working with Peng Zhang on silver nanoparticles and synchrotron spectroscopy. Peng was a key mentor, encouraging me to dig deeper into the application of chemistry. That led me to a MASc in Biomedical Engineering at Dal, where I worked with Peng and Michael Dunbar, and was lucky to have other amazing mentors like Mike Lee, Mark Filiaggi, Jan Rainey, and Don Weaver. My research focused on using nanomaterials for orthopedic applications, which was a fairly new field at the time. The complexity and the unknowns of a new research field taught me how valuable establishing multidisciplinary mentors is. 

I jumped back to chemistry for my PhD, focusing on controlling and characterizing atomic locations in nanostructures, and their antibacterial and biocompatibility properties. More time at the synchrotron, lots of hands-on synthesis and characterization, and time with great mentors like Peng and Don, and others like Gianna Aleman. I also started mentoring students and spent a year teaching, which really reinforced my love for helping others grow. 

After my PhD, I did a postdoc at Queen’s, using my prior experience to study carbene absorption on metal surfaces. I led a lab and mentored students, with Hugh Horton and Cathy Crudden as mentors who inspired my passion for working on commercialization of chemistry and materials. 

That brought me to DuPont/Qnity KTC, where I’ve had a blast leading projects and cross-functional teams. We tackle challenges from scaling up polymer synthesis for semiconductors to developing new film deposition processes. Collaboration and operational excellence are what drive me, and digital strategies help us maximize our impact. I’ve also been fortunate to learn from fantastic mentors like Jeff Downey, Ran Xu, George Jacob, and many more who have had critical influence on me. I also mentor more people both within and outside of KTC now, and it is incredibly fulfilling.  

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that mentors matter - a lot. My journey is ongoing, but I encourage anyone starting out: find great mentors, be a mentor, keep learning, and don’t be afraid to take a detour or two. You might find that detour is the path that you are supposed to be on!