MATRIC opens its doors to Dow workers
Charleston Gazette
December 11, 2007
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007121021
By Sarah K. Winn
Staff Writer
Technologist George Bernath has been working at Dow Chemical Co. for 12 years. He expected the Dow layoffs announced last week, but he didn’t think they would be so soon.
“We have been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while,” he said Monday during an open house with the Mid-Atlantic Technology Research and Innovation Center (MATRIC). “It would be a shame for the state to lose that kind of knowledge.”
Bernath and other Dow employees, along with local and state economic development leaders and elected officials, joined MATRIC on Monday for the open house.
MATRIC has committed to giving displaced Dow employees a new working home, but isn’t sure how many, just quite yet, officials with the nonprofit center said.
“The future for West Virginia is not dark. It’s not bleak. It’s not over here,” said Keith Pauley, president and chief executive officer at MATRIC.
MATRIC was formed in 2003 and conducts chemical research for contract clients and for commercial startups that are spun off into independent businesses. It operates in a South Charleston Technology Park building left vacant by Dow.
Less than a week ago, Dow announced that it would cut 150 research and development jobs from its Union Carbide Corp. division at the South Charleston Technology Park by the end of the 2009. The cuts are a part of a massive Dow downsizing since 2000 and will leave just 550 Dow employees in the state.
Many of the former Dow and Union Carbide scientists have left the Kanawha Valley, but MATRIC has hired more than 40 others.
Company officials hope to hire more, something they envisioned when they founded the nonprofit center.
“The forces are now lining up to support us even more,” said Paul Arbogast, chairman of MATRIC’s board of directors. “There are some world-class scientists and researchers that this valley cannot afford to lose.”
By the end of the 2008, MATRIC plans to complete more than $26 million in research and development in the chemical and environmental sciences, health and life sciences and advanced engineering systems, Pauley said.
In the next three years, MATRIC will have completed $50 million in research, have 200 full-time and part-time employees, will start 10 new companies and expand its facilities, he said.
MATRIC has 75 employees, including 27 Ph.D.-level researchers, he said.
However, potential new hires don’t necessarily need a doctorate degree, he said. Jobs will be available for plant operators, technicians and others.
MATRIC is listing openings on its Web site, www.matricresearch.com, and plans on working with Dow during the employees’ transition, Pauley said.
Jim Guidarini, site manager for Dow’s West Virginia operations, said MATRIC could be a star for the company’s soon-to-be former employees.
“While job loss is never a good thing, the bright spot here is MATRIC,” he said.
Rep. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was on hand for the MATRIC open house, lending her voice to the company’s possibilities in the Kanawha Valley.
“Dow and Union Carbide are really part of the heart and soul of this community,” she said. “Someday, everyone will have a MATRIC story.”
For Bernath, he just wants to stay in his home state.
“We are looking for a carrot dangling, and are still looking for information ourselves,” he said about why he attended the open house. “Everybody has ties here. Let’s just see what happens.”
To contact staff writer Sarah K. Winn, use e-mail or call 348-5156.