Pradeep Jain

Biography

  Pradeep Jain is a process technologist and one of the world’s leading experts in polyethylene production. His success is rooted in an insatiable curiosity that goes back to his childhood. He was the type of kid who thrived on taking things apart and figuring out how they work. In graduate school, he began working on cars and it’s still one of his favorite hobbies today, whether it’s repairing his son’s Land Cruiser or adding underbody lights to his convertible. “If I wasn’t a process technologist at Dow, I would probably be designing cars,” Pradeep said. “When I’m at home, I’m always working on our cars. Sometimes I lose track of time and before I know it, I’ve been tinkering out in the garage for eight hours.” Pradeep’s passion for figuring out how things work was central to his career choice as a scientist, even though it wasn’t what his father had expected or hoped for. “When I was growing up in India, my father wanted me to be a doctor,” Pradeep said. “But early on, I knew it wasn’t for me. Medicine seemed so routine, and obviously, you can’t experiment with people. So I was drawn to engineering, where there is ample freedom to experiment. I’m still passionate about practicing experimentation today.” Working to Make a Difference During his 25-year career at Dow, Pradeep has worked on process technology development for some of the Company’s most profitable plastics. He is one of the early pioneers of molecular catalyzed polyethylene resins, known as INSITE™ polyolefin plastomers and elastomers. Pradeep is also the primary inventor and developer of a novel reactor technology for olefin solution polymerization. This technology is currently used to produce more than two-thirds of Dow’s 10-billion pound capacity of various polyethylene products. Looking back to his early career, Pradeep credits one of his first mentors, Che-I Kao, for teaching him how to make a difference. “Che-I Kao was like a father figure to me,” Pradeep said. “He taught me to look ahead, anticipate adversity and act to eliminate it.” That advice still motivates Pradeep today, as he works on a difficult challenge in the polyethylene market. “We are in a good position today in polyethylene, because Dow is a major supplier in a tight market and demand has been growing,” Pradeep said. “However, other suppliers are expanding to take advantage of cheaper raw materials, and a lot more capacity will be coming online in the next three to four years,” he said. “That presents us with an incredible challenge, and it’s the most exciting part of my job. As a process technologist, I’m working to further improve our polyethylene processes at Dow so we can make better products for less – and compete with the products coming online in the future.” Pradeep admits the challenge may seem daunting at times, but that’s when his natural curiosity takes over. “To be a successful engineer, sometimes you have to be intuitive, curious, tenacious and almost dogged as you search for solutions,” he said. “That’s the advice I give to young engineers and scientists, including my own son, who is studying electrical engineering. It is critical to understand what it takes to make a difference.” By the way, when it came to his son’s career choice, Pradeep was much like his own father and wanted him to be a doctor. But Pradeep’s son has inherited his father’s passion for experimenting, so he is following in his footsteps and is studying electrical engineering and computer science. However, Pradeep’s daughter may fulfill her father’s and grandfather’s dream of having a doctor in the family. Even though she is a talented artist, Pradeep’s daughter is thinking about combining her artistic abilities with physiology and is planning to study medicine. When that time comes, Pradeep will make sure her car is ready for the journey.

Research Interest