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Dr. Alvaro Ramirez Garcia visits the department
Dr. Ramirez received his Ph.D from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. For the
past eight years, he has been the director of the School of Chemical Engineering
at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Five years
prior to that, he was the Provost of the university. His research areas include
polymers and reactor design, among others.
(10/22/04)
Kletz to Present Seminars
Dr. Trevor Kletz,
Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering at TAMU, presented two half-day
seminars last year. They took place on October 21st and 22nd. Dr. Kletz is
known throughout the process industries as a gifted communicator on safety
matters. After recieving his degree in chemistry, Dr. Kletz worked for 38
years with Imperial Chemical Industries in research, production management,
and as a safety advisor. After retiring from ICI, he joined Loughborough
University of Technology. Dr. Kletz has written many books, papers, and articles
on process safety and loss prevention. View the flyer here.
(10/11/04)
Bevan, Ford, Mannan to receive Engineering
Program awards
Each year during the Engineering Program Fall Faculty Meeting, outstanding
faculty are recognized through the presentation of various awards. This year,
three chemical engineering faculty were chosen to receive awards:
• Dr. Michael Bevan,
Assistant Professor - TEES Select Young Faculty
• Dr. David Ford, Associate
Professor - Tenneco Meritorious Teaching Award
• Dr. Sam Mannan,
Professor - TEES Fellow
The awards will be presented at the Engineering Program Fall Faculty meeting
on October 6th. The department would like to congratulate each of them for
their accomplishments.
(9/31/04)
Hahn named Best Referee by Journal
of Process Control
The Journal of Process Control named Dr.
Juergen Hahn, Assistant Professor, as the recipient of the Best Referee
Award for the year 2004. Thomas McAvoy, Editor in Chief of the journal, said, “The
award is given to the referee who in the opinion of the Regional Editors has
been the most thorough, comprehensive, and objective in reviewing manuscripts,” for
the journal.
(9/31/04)
Hall received award for Best Fundamental
Paper from STS-AIChE
On September 2nd the South Texas Section of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers presented Dr.
Kenneth R. Hall the Best Fundamental Paper Award for 2003 for the paper entitled “An
Algebraic Method that Includes Gibbs Minimization for Performing Phase Equilibrium
Calculations for Any Number of Components or Phases.” Co-authors of the
paper were G.A. Iglesias-Silva, A. Bonilla-Petriciolet, P.T. Eubank, and J.C.
Holste. Hall is the holder of the Jack E. and Frances Brown Chair, Professor
and Head of the Chemical Engineering Department.
(9/31/04)
ChE Highlights Brochure Released
The '04-'05 department highlights brochure was released recently.
Check it out here.
(9/22/04)
Ruth and William J. "Bill" Neely continued their generosity toward the department with the endowment of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. During their lifetime the fellowship will support the teaching, research, service and professional development of an outstanding scholar in the discipline.
Future estate gifts of life insurance and a charitable gift annuity will
combine with the fellowship to endow the William and Ruth Neely Professorship
and the William and Ruth Neely Department Head Excellence Fund, both in chemical
engineering. Full
story...
(Courtesy of Aggie Engineering Weekly)
(8/20/04)
Richey establishes second scholarship
Alvan E. Richey, Jr. of Houston endowed a second scholarship for high-achieving
chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University. “I decided
to give this gift to help chemical engineering students have the same broad,
excellent education that I was able to get,” said Richey. Recipients
of the Alvan E. Richey Scholarship, part of the department’s J.D. Lindsay
Scholars Program, will be chosen on the basis of scholastic superiority, leadership
potential, and financial need. Dr. Kenneth R. Hall, department head, said, “We
are grateful to Al Richey for his support of the Lindsay Scholars Program,
which is critical to the chemical engineering department’s goal of attracting
the most outstanding students.”
Read
more...
(Courtesy of Aggie Engineering Weekly)
(8/20/04)
Major General Hess to present lecture
The 2004 Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center Symposium was held Oct.
26-27 at Reed Arena at Texas A&M
University. Major General Kenneth W. Hess, member of the Columbia Accident
Investigation Board, presented the Frank P. Lees Memorial Lecture, "The
Columbia Disaster, NASA Culture and Lessons Learned." Maj. Gen. Hess’ keynote
address provided details of the board’s findings and recommendations,
and how these lessons learned can be applied not only to the space shuttle
program but to other high-hazard processes as well. Kathleen Shaver, president
of The Chlorine Institute, presented the keynote speech, "Process Safety
Challenges for the Chlorine Industry," on the first day of the symposium.
Also presenting in general session was Scott Berger, CCPS director. Papers
were presented in many areas during the two-day conference, including case
histories, safety culture, reactive chemicals, LNG, security and management
systems. For more information, contact Donna Startz at donnas@tamu.edu or
979/845-5981.
More on the symposium: http://process-safety.tamu.edu
(Courtesy Aggie Engineering Weekly)
(8/20/04)
60th Annual Instrumentation Symposium
The department was pleased to announce the 60th Annual Instrumentation Symposium
for the Process Industries. This three-day educational event took place on
January 25-27, 2005, and it focused on new technologies and trends in instrumentation
and process control that can improve facility performance in areas such as
safety, reliability, and cost performance. It included presentations, workshops,
discussions, and exhibits hosted by end user, contractor, and supplier leaders
in the process industries. For information please contact the Symposium Coordinator,
Mary Cass, at mary-cass@tamu.edu or
by phone at (979) 458-1863.
For more info visit http://instrumentation-symposium.tamu.edu
(8/20/04)
Ford to attend Engineering Symposium
David Ford, associate professor, [is the] holder of the Kenneth R. Hall Professorship in Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M and recipient of the P.E.C.A.S.E. (President's Early Career Award for Science and Engineering).
[Ford] had been selected to attend the National Academy of Engineering's
(NAE) 10th annual Frontiers of Engineering Symposium which took place on
Sept. 9-11, 2004, along with 85 of the brightest young engineers in the nation. More...
(Courtesy of The Battalion)
(8/4/04)
Brown Building Receives Award from Texas Construction
The
Jack E. Brown Chemical Engineering Building received an Award of Merit
for Architectural Design from Texas Construction, a monthly publication
of McGraw-Hill. The statewide, monthly magazine provides local and comprehensive
coverage on heavy engineering, highway, building, and industrial construction
news in Texas. The Brown building was designed by Houston-based architectural
firm of
3D/International.
(Courtesy of Texas Construction)
(8/2/04)
New faculty join department - Welcome!
Drs. Perla B. Balbuena, Jorge M. Seminario, and Dr. Arul Jayaraman are joining the Department of Chemical Engineering. Dr. Balbuena and Dr. Seminario arrived in the department in May and are well underway in setting up their research areas in the department. Dr. Jayaraman just recently arrived in the department and is starting to set up his research area in the department.
New Faculty Acceptances:
In addition to Drs. Balbuena, Seminario and Jayaraman, two new faculty will be joining the department for 2004/2005 academic year. We are pleased to welcome Drs. Tahir Cagin, Zhengdong Cheng, and Mariah Hahn. Dr. Cagin will be transferring from the California Institute of Technology. His research interests include:
- Computer simulations of physical and chemical properties of Metals and
Alloys, Glasses, ceramics, zeolites; Polymers and Dendrimers
- Computational Nanotechnology
- Tribology, surface and interfacial properties of materials
- Development and applications of computer simulation methods
- Development and application of mesoscopic approaches to study
Dr. Cheng is currently a post-doctoral fellow with the Dave Weitz group, Harvard University. His current research interests include:
- Microfluidics
- Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, Jamming & Glassy Dynamics
-· Biological and Biologically inspired Physics
- Order in Soft Condensed Matter, Fabrication and Application of Photonic Crystals
We would like to emphasize how pleased the Chemical Engineering Department is to have all these talented people join us!
Read about our new professors...
(7/22/04)
Uwe Kruger visits the department
Dr. Uwe Kruger visited our department for ten days to collaborate with assistant
professor Dr. Juergen Hahn. Dr. Kruger who received his Ph.D. in 2001 from
the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and currently
holds the position of lecturer with tenure in the School of Electrical & Electronic
Engineering at Queens University Belfast in the United Kingdom. Dr. Kruger’s
current research interests include system identification, multivariate statistical
process
control, fault detection and diagnosis, model predictive control, and process
optimization.
To view Dr. Kruger’s webpage please click on the link below: http://www.ee.qub.ac.uk/staff/academic/uk.htm
(7/12/04)
Research Funding Awards: February - May
ANTHONY
Title: Methane Conversion Catalyst (Marcus Oil). Sponsor: HRD Corp.
Title: Kinetics of the Side Reactions of Ethylenzene to Styrene. Sponsor: Dow
Chemical Co.
APPLEBY
Title: Advanced Lithium Ion Polymer Batteries for Aerospace Aplications Sponsor:
NASA
BEVAN
Title: CAREER: Direct Measurement & Manipulation of Colloidal Interactions & Dynamics
in Template Directed Photonic Crystal Assembly. Sponsor: NSF
Title: Mapping Potential Energy Landscapes Using Diffusing Colloidal Probe
Microscopy. Sponsor: American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund.
Title: REU Supplement: Career: Direct Measurement & Manipulation of Colloidal
Interactions & Dynamics in Template Directed Photonic Crystal Assembly.
Sponsor: NSF
EL-HALWAGI
Title: Rubayat Mahmud Internship with FM Global. Sponsor: FM Global Research.
Title: Food and Biomass System Analysis and Integration for NASA's Advanced
Life Support Systems. Sponsor: Tuskegee University.
FROMENT
Co. PI: Anthony Title: Modify the VGO Hydrocracking Program Sponsor: Conoco,
Inc.
HOLTZAPPLE
Title: Food and Feed Processing Technology. Sponsor: Highland Interests.
KUO
Title: SGER: Identifying & Characterizing Reliability Properties for a
Sub 5nm High K Dielectric Device. Sponsor: NSF
MANNAN
Title: Subsystm Hazard Analysis for Chemical Agent Destruction Process. Sponsor:
Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group Inc.
Title: Consortium Sponsor: Multiple (9)
Title: Subsystem hazard Ananlysis for Chemical Agent Destruction Process. Sponsor:
Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group Inc. (2)
SEVICK
Title: Immobilized FRET Sensing Using FDPM. Sponsor: NIH
(6/1/04)
AIChE Honors Faculty
The AIChE Student Chapter held their end of the year picnic on May 8th. At the picnic the following faculty were honored:
Dr. Lale Yurttas - Mentor of the Year
Dr. Daniel Hanson - Professor of the Year
Mr. Jerry Bradshaw - Faculty of the Year
(5/10/04)
Featured Researcher - Dr. Michael A. Bevan
Our
research focuses on measuring and manipulating colloidal and macromolecular
interactions, dynamics, and structures on macroscopic substrates. This research
has broad relevance to traditional complex fluid applications and emerging
nanotechnologies involving material and device fabrication. The objective
is to develop experimental and analytical tools to rationally manipulate
material properties and process characteristics with explicit consideration
of thermodynamic and kinetic factors inherent to the colloidal domain. We
are developing novel optical microscopy techniques to investigate colloidal
photonic crystal assembly on templated substrates, the use of colloids as
novel probes of biomolecular microarrays, measurements of metal nanoparticle-surface
interactions, and "imaging" of chemically and physically heterogeneous
surfaces. We employ analytical and simulation techniques to rigorously model
kT particle interactions and many-body hydrodynamics critical to equilibrium
self-assembly and nonequilibrium directed-assembly processes. Our initial
work has focused on a stepwise escalation from single-particle/wall to multi-particle/wall
systems to provide a foundation for understanding increasingly complex problems.
(4/10/04)
C.D. Holland to be Honored by AIChE for Lifetime Achievement
Dr.
Charles D. Holland, Professor Emeritus, will be recognized for lifetime achievement
by the South Texas Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
(AIChE) at thei Spring Distillation Symposium in Houston on April 29, 2004.
Dr. Holland will be honored for his contributions to chemical engineering,
notably modeling of distillation and of staged equiliburium processes. Dr.
Holland is also president of the Texas Institute for the Advancement of Chemical
Technology and was head of the department from 1964 to 1987.
(4/10/04)
Zagazig University Honors Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi
The
University of Zagazig Senate approved the nomination of Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi,
upon the recommendation of the Faculty of Engineering, to become Professor
Emeritus at the Department of Environmental Engineering. Professor Kamal
T. Ewida, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering recently informed Dr. El-Halwagi
of the receipt of this honorary title. The title of Professor Emeritus allows
co-supervision of graduate students at Zagazig University and visiting scholars
studying at Texas A&M University.
(3/10/04)
Curriculum Planning Grant Awarded
The National Science Foundation has awarded the Department of Chemical Engineering
a $100,000 planning grant for departmental curriculum reform. With the one-year
grant, project coordinators will devise ways to put more applications such
as electronics materials and nanotechnology into the classroom. The aim is
to integrate design and synthesis instruction, traditionally part of upper-level
courses, into lower-level courses, says Charles Glover, associate department
head and professor of chemical engineering. Glover, who also directs the
Center for Asphalt and Materials Chemistry , will serve as the projects principal
investigator and will oversee the creation of computer software and presentation
modules, packaged for professors to use in their classrooms. Other faculty
members involved with the project are Aydin Akgerman, Chevron II Professor
of Chemical Engineering and director of the Kinetics, Catalysis and Reaction
Engineering Center; David Ford, holder of the Kenneth R. Hall Professorship;
Mahmoud El-Halwagi, McFerrin Professor and associate head of graduate programs;
and Lale Yurttas, assistant head for upper-division programs and senior lecturer
of chemical engineering. The team hopes to follow this grant with a three-year
implementation grant. (Courtesy of Aggie Engineering Weekly)
(2/25/04)
Research Awards for January 2004
Rayford G. Anthony/Gilbert
Froment
Title: Modify the VGO Hydrocracking Program
Sponsor: Conoco
Mahmoud El-Halwagi
Title: Pollution Prevention through Functionality Tracking & Property Integration
Sponsor: Gulf Coast
Title: Biomass for Tomorrows Energy & Greenhouse gas management needs:
an economic, engineering and environmental appraisal of opportunities and
policies
Sponsor: TAES
Sam Mannan
Title: MKOPSC - Consortium
Sponsor: Dow Chemical
Title: MKOPSC - Consortium
Sponsor: Berwanger
(2/6/04)
Ford Named Kenneth R. Hall Professor
David
Ford, associate professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University,
has been named holder of the Kenneth R. Hall Professorship. A Texas A&M
faculty member since 1997, Ford’s research interests are in the areas
ofstatistical thermodynamics, molecular simulation, adsorption, transport
in microporous materials and diffusion in polymers. Ford is a member of the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Materials Research
Society, the North American Membrane Society and Tau Beta Pi. Among his honors
and awards are the 1999 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and
Engineers and the 1999 U.S. Department of Energy Defense Programs Early Career
Scientist and Engineer Award. He was named Teacher of the Year by the Texas
A&M AIChE Student Chapter for 1999-2000 and received the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station (TEES) Select Young Faculty Award in 2001. Ford holds
a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo,
and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania –– all
in chemical engineering. The Kenneth R. Hall Professorship was established
in 2003 by the Gas Processors Suppliers Association of Tulsa, Okla. The organization
previously endowed the GPSA Professorship in the Texas A&M Department
of Chemical Engineering. Hall, current department head, has a long-standing
relationship with GPSA through advisory committees, research projects and
writing standards.
Five ChE students receive Dow Scholarships
Congratulations to the following students who received scholarships from Dow Chemical Company: Benjamin Cormier, Shannon Eichmann, Jonathan Lunn, Clint Titzman, and Tyler Watt.
(12/21/04)
Fall 2004 Plant Design winners announced
On December 7th Celanese hosted the Fall 2004 Plant Design Competition. Following the competition, awards were presented to the following student teams:
1st Place ($100 each) - Jeff Liniger, Paul Lobrecht, Clint Mitchell, Kristen Svatek, and Andrew Tomlinson
2nd Place ($75 each) - Allen Bulick, Jennifer Lau, Todd Pangburn, and Bothland Ung
3rd Place ($50 each) - Kari Howard, Errol Johnson, Cheryl Keel, and Andy Lahaye
The department would like to congratulate the students for their efforts and thank Celanese for their generosity in sponsoring the competition.
(12/9/04)
Kimberly Babcock named Outstanding Senior Engineer
On October 1, 2004 senior chemical engineering student Kimberly Babcock was one of seven students to receive the Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award. This award is the most prestigious honor bestowed upon a graduating senior by the College of Engineering. Congratulations Kimberly! (Courtesy Texas A&M Engineering News)
(10/1/04)
Assistance fund established for victims of University Apartments fire
On the evening of July 31, tragedy struck chemical engineering graduate student Saquib Ejaz and his family when an explosion rocked their unit at the University Apartments. The subsequent fire lead to the death of Ejaz’s four-year-old daughter, Lamiya, and several weeks later, that of his mother, Rabeya Chaudhury. Ejaz’s wife, a civil engineering graduate student, and father continue to receive treatment at the John Sealy Burn Unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. Ejaz was away from the apartment at the time of the explosion and did not sustain any injuries. State officials later determined that the explosion was caused by a natural gas leak. The Association of Former Students has established a fund to help defray medical and related expenses for the Ejaz family. Contributions to the “Assistance Fund for the Saquib Ejaz Family” can be given via check made out to “The Association of Former Students” with the name of the fund noted on the memo line. Checks should be sent to The Association of Former Students, 505 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840. Contributions can also be made online at www.AggieNetwork.com.
For up-to-date info visit http://www.tamu.edu/univrel/fire.html
(9/31/04)
AIChE Student Chapter acknowledges sponsors
The Texas A&M AIChE Student Chapter would like to recognize all of its sponsors for the 2004 Annual Student Conference which was held Nov. 6-8 in Austin, TX. Texas A&M co-hosted the student conference with the University of Texas at Austin. The Texas A&M AIChE student chapter has reached its goal of raising $5000 through the gracious donations of the following companies/organizations: ConocoPhillips, Frito~Lay Technology, KMCO, and the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. The AIChE student chapter and the Chemical Engineering Department thanked them for their generous support.
(9/31/04)
Graduate Study Area Named for Tromblee in New Texas A&M Engineering Building
COLLEGE STATION – Rank has its privileges. Graduate students in chemical engineering will enjoy a coded-access study room in Texas A&M University’s new chemical engineering building scheduled to open this fall.
The Gene L. Tromblee ’70 Graduate Study Area bears the name of the retired Sterling Chemicals executive who with his wife Donna contributed almost $103,000 to construction of the seven-story, $38 million building.
“We chose to give a gift for others to enjoy and from which to benefit as much as we have from my education at Texas A&M,” said Tromblee, who earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the university in 1970.
Now in the final phase of construction, the 205,000-gross-square-foot Jack E. Brown Engineering Building is located at the corner of University Drive and Spence Street.
“The department and its graduate students deeply appreciate the generosity of the Tromblees. The graduate study area will provide a room for graduate students to gather for joint projects or for manuscript review while being next to the computer laboratory,” said Dr. Kenneth R. Hall, chemical engineering department head and holder of the Jack E. and Frances Brown Chair.
Other naming opportunities include state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, seminar and conference rooms, faculty offices and administrative headquarters for the chemical engineering department. The facility also will house the internationally known Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center.
A native of Minnesota, Gene Tromblee graduated from high school in Huron, Ohio. He received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1956 from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio.
He began his career with Monsanto as a technical service engineer at its Texas City plant.
After several moves culminating in a return to Texas City as plant manager, Tromblee became involved in the leveraged buyout of the plant by the Sterling Group in 1986. He retired as vice president of operations of Sterling Chemicals in 1991, and is active in several volunteer organizations in the Houston area.
At Texas A&M Tromblee serves on the chemical engineering department’s advisory council. He is one of only four representatives accorded the title of Permanent Member in recognition of significant and frequent contributions to the department over an extended time.
Donna Tromblee, formerly Donna Pauli from Coon Rapids, Iowa, graduated in 1955 from Mercy Hospital school of nursing in Des Moines, Iowa. She moved to Galveston where she met her future husband and continued to work in the nursing profession a few years after their marriage. She maintains an interest in the profession and volunteers at a local hospital in the Houston area.
The Tromblees previously endowed scholarships for high-achieving chemical engineering undergraduates in the department’s Lindsay Scholars Program.
Their recent gift will be counted in One Spirit One Vision Campaign, the university’s multi-year fundraising campaign aimed at helping Texas A&M attain national top 10 status among public universities, and in Campaign for Excellence, the endowment portion of the chemical engineering department’s Stepping Up to the Challenge multi-year fundraising campaign.
Established over 50 years ago, Texas A&M's chemical engineering program emerged in the last quarter-century as a national leader for chemical engineering research, now ranking in the top 10 nationwide based on annual expenditures. Its undergraduate and graduate programs are nationally ranked at 18th and 27th, respectively.
The department’s fall 2003 enrollment was 477 undergraduate and 132 graduate students. Texas A&M chemical engineering graduates are heavily recruited (887 interviews by 127 employers during the 2003-04 school year) by the petrochemical and refining sectors and a variety of other industries including semiconductor, food processing and paper.
by E. York, (979) 862-3567
(8/25/04), e-york@tamu.edu
Alvan E. Richey Endows Second Scholarship
Alvan E. Richey, Jr. of Houston will endow a second scholarship for high-achieving chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University. The Alvan E. Richey Scholarship will be part of the department’s J.D. Lindsay Scholars Program. Recipients are chosen on the basis of scholastic superiority, leadership potential and financial need.
"I decided to give this gift to help chemical engineering students have the same broad excellent education that I was able to get," said Richey. Full story...
(Courtesy of Aggie Engineering Weekly)
(8/20/04)
Plant Design Competition - Spring 2004
Shell International Exploration and Production, Inc. hosted the Spring 2004 Plant Design Competition on May 4, 2004. Following the competition, an awards ceremony was held at the home of Dr. John Baldwin. Dr. Scott Wellington of Shell presented the awards to the following teams:
1st Place ($500): DTM
Tasha Desai, Brian Gahan, Kathleen Glenn, and Mark Standlee
2nd Place ($300): PCM-Oasis
Achilles Arnaez, David Breaux, Peter Brown, Curtis Fletcher and Megan Young
3rd Place ($200): SDS
Matt Jackson, Rian Kacer, Angela Kallus, Manasi Parikh
(5/15/04)
Spring 2004 Graduation Reception & Awards
On Thursday, May 13th the department held its Spring 2004 Graduation Reception honoring students who graduated this semester. The following awards were presented:
Chemical Engineering Excellence Award: Jaclyn Miles, Achilles Arnaez, David Breaux, and Tasha Desai (not pictured).
Outstanding Graduating Senior (left): Angela Jones
Omega Chi Epsilon Senior Award (right): Rian Kacer
(5/14/04)
Celanese has scheduled their annual reception and dinner for Friday, April 16, 2004. This dinner is held annually to recognize scholarship recipients and students chosen by their respective departments for the Celanese Outstanding Achievement Award. The Chemical Engineering Dept. has chosen three undergraduate students and two graduate students to receive this award.
ChE Undergraduate Recipients:
Lindsey Moore
Lillian Rodriguez
Jacob Hilbrich
ChE Graduate Recipients:
Dustin Harel
Charles Shane Carr
(4/19/04)
