Marinda Wu

Dr. Marinda Li Wu is a role model for countless students and professionals in the chemistry industry. She grew up in an academic family and, over decades, parlayed her experience in industry research and management into serving the global chemistry enterprise.

Dr. Wu started her research career at Dow Chemical. She was later recruited by Dow Plastics Marketing to advise customer CEOs on environmental challenges. After Dow, she held executive roles at small chemical industry companies.

Throughout her career, Dr. Wu has promoted chemistry and science passionately – by highlighting the value of chemistry through public outreach, by developing students’ interest in science through community classes and camps, by assisting others as a career consultant, and by volunteering for professional societies. In her 50+ years as an ACS member, Dr. Wu has served on countless committees at the student, local, regional, and national levels, including its Board of Directors. In 2013, she became the 8^th woman and 1^st Asian American elected ACS President. Dr. Wu is also Past Board Chair of the Chinese American Chemical Society.

Dr. Wu is an ACS Fellow with seven patents and innumerable honors. Most recently, she received the 2022 Shirley Radding ACS Award, was named a 2023 Fellow of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, and was honored as a 2023 IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. She holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and a B.S. cum laude with Distinction in Chemistry from The Ohio State University.