Retired 3M chemist re-elected to board of world’s largest scientific society

Judith L. Benham, Ph.D., a former business director at 3M Co., St. Paul, Minn., and now retired, has been re-elected to the board of directors of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. She will begin a second 3-year term in January 2007 as director of District V, which encompasses 45 ACS Local Sections across the nation.

Benham earned her B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1969 and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1978. She and her husband, Dick Pyle, live in St. Paul.

Prior to serving as business director of the 3M Industrial Services & Solutions Division, Benham held the same management position for the company’s Packaging Systems Division. Before that she was technical director for the packaging division. Because of her prominence in the field, in 1989, Benham was listed in Business Month’s “Managers: 100 Women to Watch in Corporate America.”

A member of ACS since 1969, Benham has been active in Society business locally and nationally. She has served on numerous national committees, including those focusing on science, budget and finance, and women in the chemical workforce. She has also been chair of the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry and has been a leader in planning sessions on polymer chemistry at the Society’s national meetings.

Benham says that “with national competitiveness in math, science and technology challenged, we must renew our efforts to engage students in pursuit of excellence in science education. K-12 education must prepare younger students to appreciate the significance of science in their daily lives and provide background for those who pursue scientific careers.”