Gene Banucci
2006 Recipient
Connecticut Medal of Technology
The 2006 Connecticut Medal of Technology was awarded to
Gene Banucci, founder and Chairman of the Board of Danbury-based ATMI, Inc., at the Alliance for Connecticut Technology Award Dinner at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on October 19, 2006. The award, modeled after the national Medal of Technology, was established by the Connecticut General Assembly and is administered by the Board of Governors for Higher Education. It is the state’s highest award for technological achievement in fields crucial to economic competitiveness.
Banucci co-founded ATMI in 1986 and has led the manufacturing company ever since. Today, the company employs more than 750 people worldwide. ATMI went public in 1993, and has grown to over $300 million in annualized revenues with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion. The key technological advance made by ATMI is a revolutionary method of safely storing hazardous gases as solids so they can be safely transported and efficiently used in semiconductor manufacturing. The resulting product, called SDS® (Safe Delivery System), is now used in nearly every semiconductor plant in the world. Semiconductor associations have called it “one of the greatest safety, environmental and productivity innovations in the history of the industry.”
Banucci holds a PhD in chemistry, and began his career at General Electric, where his work earned 21 patents. In 1981, he was named Director of Discovery Research at American Cyanamid Company in Stamford and in 1986, he founded ATMI. A founding member of the Connecticut Technology Council, he actively promotes the state’s technology-based companies.
William C. Stwalley
2005 Recipient
Connecticut Medal of Science
Professor William C. Stwalley, whose pioneering research has helped pave the way for some of the most exciting developments in physics today, was awarded the state’s highest honor for scientists and engineers— the 2005 Connecticut Medal of Science — by Governor M. Jodi Rell during ceremonies at the Alliance for Connecticut Technology’s Innovation Day and Award Dinner on September 28, 2005 at the Connecticut Convention Center. Professor Stwalley has played a seminal role in the creation of a new subfield of physics that bridges atomic and molecular physics, condensed matter physics, and the evolving field of nanoscience. In addition, he has pioneered the development of precise laser spectroscopic techniques for accurately determining the forces of interaction between two atoms.
The University of Connecticut’s (UConn) ultracold-research group, which Professor Stwalley leads, has an established international reputation for excellence. The study of ultracold matter is one of the frontiers of physics today; its potential impacts range from fundamental science to important new applications such as quantum computing and improved clocks, interferometers and gyroscopes.
He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, and a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Professor Stwalley has edited six books, published over 300 articles, holds six patents and was awarded the Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award at UConn.
