Peaks of Interest

Phenomenex CEO Fasha Mahjoor Awarded an Ellis Island Medal of Honor

Fasha Mahjoor, CEO of Phenomenex (Torrance, California), has been awarded an Ellis Island Medal of Honor. The awards are given annually by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO) in recognition of leaders who are philanthropic, who preserve and celebrate the values of their ancestry group, and who promote tolerance and acceptance.

More than 10,000 nominations are received each year, and this year 98 were presented at an awards ceremony held in the Great Hall on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. The awards are recognized by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and are read into the congressional record. Past awardees have included United States presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Mahjoor was selected by NECO for his dedication to humanitarian efforts globally. The American Red Cross publicly recognized Mahjoor and his companies for their support of Superstorm Sandy disaster relief efforts. He recently abseiled over 1000 feet of the Shard skyscraper (London, UK) to raise funds for The Outward Bound Trust educational charity, and sponsored the making of over 200,000 meals for starving children in developing countries at Phenomenex companies in the United States and Italy.

Malvern Breaks into Grinding and Dispersing Market

Malvern Instruments (Malvern, UK) has entered a three year co-marketing agreement with Netzsch Grinding and Dispersing (Selb, Germany). The two companies serve shared markets including food, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, nano-technology applications, and surface coatings through to metal and mineral mining.

Particle characterization is becoming increasingly important for fine grinding to the submicron- or nanometer range because product properties often depend directly on particle size, according to Dimitrios Makrakis, Netzsch Grinding & Dispersing Business Unit managing director. He added: "The correct and reproducible analysis of particle size is a prerequisite for process optimization and quality control. As Malvern is a world-leading manufacturer in particle and materials characterization, we have the ideal partner to deliver the best overall solution for both grinding technology and particle characterization and clients of both companies will benefit from this partnership."

Under the terms of the agreement, Malvern instrumentation will be installed in Netzsch demonstration and test laboratories in China, Brazil, Germany, Korea, India, and Russia. Customer materials in Netzsch facilities will be routinely tested using Malvern instrumentation, with Malvern staff available for consultation about analyzing data. The companies will work together to organize seminars and other initiatives to target key markets.