Each year, BASF invites some of the most promising graduate and post-doctoral students to its North America Research Forum to establish relationships with these future leaders and share insights into how BASF tackles research and innovation for its customers.

Through presentations, discussions, lab tours and cultural events, participants are able to exchange experiences and ideas and connect with BASF representatives from research and business management.

Peter Eckes, President, Bioscience Research, welcomed this year’s group and shared his professional journey, highlighting how he chose his fields of study, his career path in industry, the importance of working with the right people, researching for innovation, leading and motivating a team, and understanding the customer.

“What has always been a strong motivator for me in R&D in BASF is that our science has an impact on day to day life through our products,” said Eckes. “This is a great feeling.”

“The research forum was a deeply valuable experience that helped me reshape my goals for the remainder of my Ph.D. work,” said Jordan Theriot, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Thirty-six talented science and engineering students from 24 major universities across North America participated in this year’s event held in Southfield, Michigan on Aug. 31 – Sept. 2. The students represented a variety of disciplines such as chemistry, industrial biotechnology, plant biotechnology, chemical engineering, and materials science.

Participants, who kicked off the event with short presentations followed by a poster session about their work, were nominated by their academic advisors and selected based on excellence in research, evidence of leadership potential, and relevance to BASF’s research topics.