Staying Connected

Dr. Edward Bozzi’s career in the biotechnology industry, launched by a B.S. in Chemistry from URI, took him around the world.

After 30 years in the industry he has returned to work at URI’s Feinstein Campus near his boyhood home in Providence. Bozzi, who received his Ph.D. from Brown, directs and teaches in the Biotechnology Manufacturing Program.

He has also returned to URI as a member of the board of the Alumni Association and as a committee chair with his wife, Anne Mazzie Bozzi ’68, of the Big Chill Weekend.

“After growing up in Rhode Island, I left the state for 30 years, but I promised my wife that some day I would teach,” Bozzi says. “I was fortunate to get this job at my alma mater.”

Bozzi worked at Dow Chemical but spent the bulk of his career (26 years) working for the Swiss company CIBA-Geigy, including two years in Brazil with Anne and their daughters, Christina ’06 and Laura. He also lived in Switzerland where he managed one of CIBA-Geigy’s global billion dollar businesses.

In URI’s Biotech program he deals mostly with older, returning students, many of whom have suffered layoffs. “We have a small number of true freshmen,” he says, “but our older students are from diverse backgrounds and situations. It’s a unique program.”

Undergraduates immerse themselves in chemistry, biology, and biotechnology in their first year, then follow that with a summer internship at a regional biotech firm. Those that land a job can complete their undergraduate degree part time at Feinstein.

“The key is staying connected to the companies,” Bozzi says. “It’s a rapidly growing field, but you have to fight for jobs. We arrange a lot of interaction between our students and folks from companies such as Amgen and Avant Immunotherapeutics.

An avid URI football and basketball fan, Bozzi’s alumni activities began three years ago: “It takes a lot of time, but it’s my small way of giving back to the University.”

—John Pantalone ’71