Developing the next generation of polishing pads with innovative and modern technology.
Onajite Shemi, PhD is the Founder and CEO of The Janus Company.
She is a chemical engineer and entrepreneur.
Shemi founded The Janus Company to transform the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) industry through cutting edge polymer engineering, combining her experience in developing polyurethane pads and expertise in colloidal chemistry and computational modeling. At Janus, Shemi bridges the gap between industry standards and scientific innovation. She recognizes that a polishing pad can be more than an aid in the removal of substrates during the semiconductor fabrication process.
Her deep interest in materials engineering was driven by her time at the University of Michigan where she earned her PhD from the Department of Chemical Engineering in 2016. She conducted research in polymer physics and showed the increased specificity of kinetic and thermodynamic properties of anisotropic materials. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she graduated in 2011 with Honors.
Before starting Janus, Shemi worked at two of the leading chemical companies, Dow and DuPont. In that time, she honed her ability to recognize and address customer needs, and learned the product-focused business-to-business model.