2000 Alumni Fellow

Arjmand founded Centre Analytical Laboratories Inc. in 1986. The company helps create environmentally friendly pesticides and performs environmental chemical analyses such as testing residential drinking and waste water. In 1993 he was a finalist for the Ernst & Young/Inc. Magazine/Merrill Lynch Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Arjmand, a native of Iran, earned a B.S. in plant protection from the University of Tehran in 1969. In 1978 he became an assistant professor of entomology and pesticide chemistry at Isfahan Technological University in Isfahan, Iran. One year later, he accepted a job as assistant professor and chair of the Department of Biology at Shiraz University in Shiraz, Iran. In 1981, with the Iranian revolution unfolding, Arjmand left Iran. He eventually settled in what was then West Germany, accepting a position as a research scholar in plant biochemistry at the University of Freiburg in Germany. In 1985 Arjmand left Germany to become a research scholar in Penn State's Pesticide Research Laboratory, where he worked until founding his company.

Arjmand is active in the Penn State Grand Destiny Campaign as chair of the volunteer capital campaign committee for the College of Agricultural Sciences. In 1996, he established the Ralph O. Mumma Endowed Professorship in the college. He has received numerous awards, including the Small Business of the Year Award from the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County in 1999, the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 1997, the Employer of the Year from the Professional and Business Women's Clubs of Pennsylvania in 1996, and the Ag Research Team Award from Rohm and Hass in 1995.