Unidym, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corporation, announced that Dr. Malcolm Gillis has been appointed to its Board of Directors. Dr. Gillis served as the president of William Marsh Rice University from 1993 until 2004, and guided Rice to become a leader in the then emerging field of nanoscience. His distinguished academic career focused on economics and environmental public policy and included appointments at Duke University and Harvard University.

"During his tenure as president of Rice, Dr. Gillis was a champion of Rice's outstanding Center of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, where Nobel Laureate Professor Richard Smalley and his research group pioneered the development of carbon nanotubes," said Mark Tilley, Unidym's CEO. "Unidym is proud to welcome Professor Gillis to the Board. His broad professional experience and success in advancing nanotechnology in both business and academic settings are great assets to Unidym."

Dr. Gillis' career includes substantial service to his profession, governments and foundations. He served for five years as coeditor of the oldest economics journal, "Quarterly Journal of Economics." He sits on a diverse array of boards, including the Houston Advanced Research Team, AECOM and the advisory board of Texas Council on Economic Education. From 2004 to 2008, he was the chair of BioHouston, a non-profit corporation founded to establish the Houston region as a vigorous global competitor in life science and biotechnology commercialization.

Dr. Gillis has served as the director of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston and on the advisory board of Texas Commerce Bank.