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Profile Story

Were you to visit John Santini at his office in Bedford, Massachusetts, it wouldn’t take you long to figure out where his allegiance lies. Whether it be the stuffed wolverine sitting on his desk that plays The Victors or the beautifully framed Detroit Free Press article on the wall heralding Michigan’s first national football championship since 1948, you would soon realize that this man makes little effort to hide his personal views when it comes to Michigan. John assures us that he and his wife, Cathy, make sure their three children have an ample collection of Michigan apparel.

John received his BSE in chemical engineering from Michigan in 1994. While an undergraduate in the department, he saw a flyer on the bulletin board outside the undergraduate office advertising a summer internship at MIT in the Materials Processing Center. He applied and was one of four students selected to spend the summer in Cambridge. There he would first meet the professors with whom he would later do research as a PhD student, and eventually form a company, MicroCHIPS.

Today John is president and CEO of MicroCHIPS, (www.mchips.com) an organization that develops implantable devices for the controlled release of drugs and the selective exposure of biosensors using its patented reservoir array technologies. He is a recognized expert on the use of microtechnology in healthcare and has authored or co-authored over 60 issued/pending patents and several technical papers.

MicroCHIPS came out of his research work at MIT (PhD ’99), but John says he would not be where he is today without the fundamental training he received at Michigan. He remembers the excellent instruction he received in courses such as thermodynamics and reaction engineering. He also remembers the camaraderie that developed within his ChE class after having been in classes together for three years and spending many late nights in the computer labs in the north campus commons working on group projects and homework.

John says, “When you leave Michigan, you leave with a sense of pride and belonging that alumni at many other schools do not experience when they graduate.” He adds, “Fond memories from our years in Ann Arbor remain with us for a lifetime.” As a member of the newly-formed alumni board, he is pleased he will be able contribute his time to the department and University on a regular basis.

Article from the 2007 Chemical Engineering Newsletter.