what we look like

More about us...

Jim Kaufman (yes it's a frog)
Dr. Kaufman is founder and President of The Laboratory Safety Institute and of Kaufman & Associates. He received his bachelors degree in chemistry from Tufts University and his doctorate in organic chemistry from WPI.

After two years as a post-doctoral fellow in the WPI Chemical Engineering Department converting garbage into fuel oil, Dr. Kaufman joined the Dow Chemical Company's New England Research Laboratory as a Process Research Chemist. During his four years with Dow, he became increasingly involved in laboratory safety related activities. He authored "Laboratory Safety Guidelines." Originally distributed by Dow, now over two million copies of the widely-requested and reprinted brochure are in circulation.

The Laboratory Safety Institute is a national, non-profit center for safety in science education. LSI's lectures and training programs, av lending library, and publications help academic institutions throughout the world. LSI is supported by grants from individuals, foundations, companies and professional societies. Dr. Kaufman's extremely entertaining and competent approach to seminars and workshops has earned an international reputation.

His company, Kaufman & Associates, conducts seminars, short courses, audits and inspections for schools, colleges, and companies. They also provide expert witness testimony, advice on regulatory compliance, safety program development, facilities design and editorial commentary on laboratory texts.

Dr. Kaufman is a former member of the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Council Committee on Chemical Safety and is past-chairman of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. He is the author-narrator of the ACS Audio Course on Laboratory Safety and editor of "Waste Disposal at Academic Institutions" from Lewis Publishers. Most recently he recorded and edited the "One-Day Laboratory Safety Audio Seminar" and "Two-Day Lab Safety Video Course."

Linda Swihart
Dr. Swihart is Laboratory Safety Manager at Purdue University, where she earned her doctorate in organic chemistry in 1989 and promptly went into the safety-and-hazardous-waste business by joining Purdue's department of Radiological and Environmental Management. Her hobbies include web page making, and when Jim called for a volunteer to work on the LSI website, she decided it was an extremely worthy cause. She welcomes all email regarding electronic communications in general.

That's all there is right now. Hope to have more photos and bios eventually.