Io Triumphe! A magazine for alumni and friends of Albion College

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N O i s t e A V Th o INn C h g n A i d N a g e e L Whatever you call it, the three alumni profiled in this edition of Io Triumphe—Paul Sandford, ’62, Denise Cortis Park, ’73,

and Richard Smith, ’68—have moved to the forefront of their respective fields because of their ability (and willingness) to seize opportunities, to address problems creatively, to envision the future and to take those leaps of faith that make change possible. We think you’ll find their stories on the following pages inspiring.

Chemist Paul Sandford, ’62: Inventing new uses for old compounds By Jake Weber Chemist Paul Sandford, ’62, has spent his career studying the slimy, the sticky and the often thoroughly unappealing. In the process, he has helped launch numerous multimillion-dollar industries that make environmentallyfriendly and safe products from the most unlikely sources. Whether it’s formulating better drug-delivery systems for cancer patients, designing nontoxic wastewater treatment methods or inventing revolutionary food-

processing products, Sandford’s creative genius has led to new uses for old compounds as well as to versatile new biomolecules. In both of these ways, his research has benefited the lives of virtually all Americans. Sandford has become a worldwide authority on polysaccharides, a class of biomolecules used in dozens of major manufacturing industries. One of Sandford’s early accomplishments was the development of xanthan, a nowubiquitous ingredient in foods such as salad dressings and mayonnaise as well as non-food products such as paint and oil-drilling muds. He recalls that xanthan was created as a solution to a problem: his employers wanted to develop a thickening agent that could be competitively marketed to industry, and Sandford was convinced it could and should be created from a non-toxic, organic substance. So, in opposition to the stereotypic model of a chemist mixing toxins in his laboratory, unsure of what might result, Sandford “literally went to the literature and looked for references to organic materials that were slimy and viscous,” he says. (continued on p. 4)

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