•scientist OF THE YEAR•

Education: PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo;  Bachelors in Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Brazil  

As Vice President for Dow Core R&D, Dr. Rui Cruz consistently pushes frontiers in science and engineering, society and business, and most remarkably on human resources development.  

As he pursues world-class innovations in STEM, Dr. Cruz leads an elite team of 1,000 researchers in engineering, materials science, chemistry and computer science, while serving as a role model for the company’s Hispanic scientists and engineers.  The impact is felt well beyond the Dow corporate walls. 

Dr. Cruz guides the strategy and direction of Dow Core R&D, which generates more than $50 billion in revenue per year. He also oversees investments in research and development at renowned academic institutions, leading not only to massive technical advancements, but more importantly facilitating 25-30 doctoral graduates every year to join the workforce.

Whether as a researcher at the start of his career or more recently as strategic leader in R&D, Dr. Cruz’s footprint on technology and value creation is remarkable.  Under his leadership, Dow launched new disruptive catalysis technology in ethylene oxide, generating hundreds of millions of dollars to the bottom line.  

As Global R&D Director for Dow’s Industrial Solutions Business, Dr. Cruz’s strategic decisions over the last six years resulted in development of the most innovative and profitable alkoxylation portfolio in the industry via disruptions in process research, product developments and application expertise, generating more than a billion dollars of profit.  

Dr. Cruz brings physics and computer science to research.  Developing partnerships with organizations in these fields, he leads efforts to bring quantum computing into Dow, and drives a series of programs on the use of machine learning into chemistry, catalysis and formulated systems. 

Dr. Cruz provides visionary direction to the research organization in these nascent and disruptive technologies. His passion inspires his team, and his strategic thinking and positioning provides the programs with the stability they need to succeed and expand.   His humility, commitment to helping people, and devotion to impact those in need are just as powerful as his technical brilliance and his strategic thinking. 

Despite the magnitude of his responsibilities within the corporation, Dr. Cruz also commits time to mentor and guide Hispanics.His devotion to Dow’s Hispanic Latin Network is remarkable.  He has been the primary driver for the Dow Scholarship support for GiMS every year since 2018.   

Dr. Cruz exemplifies qualities shared by every great engineer and scientist:  brilliance, passion, humility, and efficiency and all in service to an insatiable pursuit of impacting people, especially Hispanics, while aspiring to change the world through innovations and advancement.

Born in Brazil, Dr. Cruz  soaked up his civil engineer parents’ enthusiasm for science and technology from a young age as well as a dedication to studying music and competitive athletics.  

While still in college, he conducted research on topics such as pollution control, biochemical engineering, and molecular biology, developing a method to dispose of dangerous chromium waste from the local leather treating industry in cement matrixes improved with modified clays.  

There he worked on the optimization growth conditions for aspergillus awamori to maximize productivity of an enzyme important for the food industry.  He studied the structure of membrane proteins, which was of fundamental importance for designing delivery systems for new drugs. 

While later studying in Germany, Dr. Cruz researched adsorption of pollutants in synthetic liposomes under Professor Clemens Posten and held a summer internship at Wacker Chemical in Burghausen, where he helped develop online analytical methods before returning to Brazil to earn his chemical engineering degree, taking first place in the chemical engineering category of the National University Exam, earning him the title of Brazil’s top chemical engineer graduate in 2002.

Coming to Dow as an intern, he began in Human Resources, where he programmed the first multilingual version of the web-based training tool used by the company.  In Customer Services, he developed tools and reports to speed up and improve reliability of order entry and handling.  Finally, in Research and Development, Dr. Cruz helped to scale up new solid epoxy resins and optimize formulations for electrical laminates.

Dr. Cruz’s impressive performance during his internship led Dow soon after to make him an offer as a full-time employee.  He joined the R&D team, where his work generated millions of dollars in value from new product introductions, new application development and margin upgrades. 

He also became involved in alternative feedstock research, supporting commercial projects in Brazil and interacting with universalities, technology suppliers and start-up companies on the evaluation of breakthrough Research. 

Moving to Texas in 2010, Dr. Cruz initially led the Polyglycols and Surfactants group, and was soon appointed leader for the Epoxy Process Research organization, responsible for the development of new processes with improved costs and sustainability for the production of new and existing molecules.  

In 2012 he received additional responsibilities, also becoming R&D Director for Amines and Chelants and Plastics Additives.  In 2014, Dr. Cruz became Global R&D Director for Industrial Solutions, a flourishing new business at Dow developing better and more sustainable solutions supporting our customer’s manufacturing processes in areas such as Pharmaceuticals, Agricultural Adjuvants, Electronics, Lubricants, Fuel Additives, and many others. 

Under his leadership the group grew to over 200 researchers around the world and delivered several high revenue, awarding winning technologies such as high selectivity catalysts, sustainable surfactants and high efficiency lubricants. He has been responsible for recruiting Chemical Engineering PhDs for the Performance Materials Division since 2011 and for recruiting for R&D in Latin America.

Dr. Cruz’s influence extends far beyond Dow, he actively participates in collaborations between industry and academia.  As a member of the Industry-Academy task force, he actively proposes improvements to Chemical Engineering Education, ensuring alignment with the evolving needs of the industry. Within AIChE, Dr. Cruz serves as the Management Division Director and a member of the Awards Committee leading the Young Leader Award since 2023.

His influence also extends to academia, where he contributes as a member of Caltech’s CCE Chair Advisory Council and UC Berkeley College of Chemistry Advisory Board. Moreover, Dr. Cruz actively shares his expertise as a speaker and panelist in numerous industry and academic conferences, addressing critical topics such as innovation, sustainability, and talent development.

 “Rui's track record of delivering innovation is exemplary,”  Mauro Gregorio, President Dow Performance Materials & Coatings, said in his letter of nomination.  “He has been instrumental in reshaping Dow's innovation process across various business sectors, introducing a multitude of cutting-edge products and solutions. His leadership  has resulted in improved data acquisition tools, enhanced lab automation and expansion of modeling capabilities driving efficiency and competitiveness.”