About Mr. Davenport

Parents & Students,

I started teaching chemistry at Shenendehowa High School in 2015. I am a career changer that always wanted to be a teacher, but spent time on the corporate side as a technician, engineer, chemist, and entrepreneur for over 22 years.

I started my career at 19 taking a full load of college credits and working 45-60 hours a week at at Corning Inc. as a technician. I was responsible for designing and conducting experiments in a pilot factory manufacturing ceramic substrates used as catalytic converters in light truck diesel engines.

While finishing my BS in Chemistry, I started an internship at Imaging & Sensing Technology which was a former division of Westinghouse. I was responsible for designing and improving light sources used in analytical chemistry and astronomy applications. I continued my full time college courses and worked part time as a co-op. When I graduated I was offered a full-time position as an Engineering Technician. After a short time I was promoted to R&D Engineer and I obtained three patents for my inventions. I have several devices I built in service on satellites including the Hubble Space Telescope.

I changed careers from engineering to the commercial side of the business when I joined CoorsTek in Golden, CO as a Regional Sales Manager. There I was responsible for customer sales and management of many different products including ceramic armor protection for soldiers, police and light armor vehicles. I flew hundreds of thousands of miles and traveled to Europe, Australia, South America and all over North America. I finished my work with CoorsTek as General Sales Manager with responsibility for $40 million in sales and factories in Colorado, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

Family brought me back to NY where I rejoined my former employer, Imaging & Sensing Technology as a Director of Sales & Marketing. I was responsible for many of the same products which I engineered and I enjoyed working with all my former colleagues again. We were acquired by a well-known German Company, Heraeus and I stayed on as Sales Director for the Americas.

In 2006 I started a company with business partners in England. We manufactured and distributed products used to analyze pharmaceuticals, forensics, environmental samples and other applications. I added a research lab to our business in 2009 to develop applications, demonstrate instruments for customers and support undergraduate chemistry research. We had research interest in plant and animal toxins that are used for chemical defense such as cardenolides in milkweed and tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the eastern red eft.

After 8 years of successfully developing a growing and profitable business the time was right for a change and I elected to sell my part of the company do what I always wanted to do - teach high school chemistry. I took a year off for sabbatical and started a Teacher Education Program. I spent time in classrooms from 4th - 12th Grades including Gifted & Talented at the Elementary level. In June 2017 I obtained my Master of Arts in Teaching degree from SUNY Empire State College. The action research and intense level of observations in my first two years of full-time classroom teaching challenged me to be my best every day and gave me the tools I will use to continuously improve my practice. I am certified for teaching Chemistry 7-12 and General Science 5-9.

As a hobby, I enjoy making and playing string instruments from recycled and repurposed materials including wooden boxes and metal tool boxes. A guitar I made is played by a blues musician in Chicago, Frank Bang, and it has been part of his regular set since 2015. In August 2015 I got to see Frank play at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. Frank Bang is a former guitarist for Buddy Guy's band. The Sawzall box guitar, Frank says, is the crowd's favorite member of the band. There's video of Frank playing a song on the guitar on a page I dedicated to a few of the instruments I have made.