UW ChemE
January 25, 2018
Winston Ciridon, Research Technologist in BioEngineering and ChemE is nearing his 40th anniversary at the UW. During his time here, his contributions to the departments and the University over the years have embodied the qualities expected of a UW Distinguished Staff Award nominee: “integrity, diversity, excellence, collaboration, innovation and respect.”
He has worked with the Ratner Group for most of his tenure at the UW. Professor Ratner commented on Winston’s positive impact on faculty, students and staff, “Everyone in the lab holds him in the highest respect. They respect him because he respects them. Winston goes out of his way to assist everyone. He does this with generosity and enthusiasm. He voluntarily contributes, not just to my effort, but to the efforts of each student and other staff in the lab. He simply assists others because it is his nature to do so.”
Winston is also known for his technical excellence. As the guru behind almost all the equipment in Prof. Ratner’s labs, and the most accomplished in the group at a few key experimental procedures, he is the expert on the group’s four home-built plasma reactors. These are complex vacuum-electrical systems and Winston understands them better than anyone else in the labs. The reactors are vital to many experiments and he keeps them running, generates outstanding experimental work on them and trains others to approach his high level of expertise. Because of his technical excellence, Winston is also a co-author on many scientific papers.
In a nod to Winston, Prof Ratner said, “Winston Ciridon is simply the nicest guy! He’s just a lovely person.” Those of us who know him whole-heartedly agree!