Thomas Dobbins

Thomas Dobbins has a long and varied career in research and development. Thomas began their career in 1985 as an Optical-Mechanical Design Engineer at Gilford Instrument Laboratories. In 1988 they moved to Actron Manufacturing, where they worked as a Senior Design Engineer and was awarded US Patent 5,138,666. In 1990, they joined Organic Technologies (Wiley Companies) as the Director of Research Development, where they managed a staff of research chemists and technicians. In 2010, they moved to Milliken & Company as a Senior Research Chemist, where they developed processes for the synthesis of silane and siloxane compounds for electronic applications and was awarded the 2012 Milliken Innovation Award. In 2017, they became the Pilot Plant Manager at Optima Chemical Group LLC. In 2018, they moved to SynQuest Laboratories as the Director of R&D and Manufacturing Manager. Finally, in 2022, they became the Director of Source R&D at Pallidus, Inc. In addition, they have been a Contributing Editor for Sky & Telescope Magazine since 2002, where they have authored or coauthored scores of articles and book reviews.

Thomas Dobbins attended John Carroll University from 1976 to 1977, and then Hillsdale College from 1977 to 1980, where they earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Administration.