ChBE News—Spring/Summer 2010

ChBE News

School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

SPRING/SUMMER

VOLUME 17

2010

Coca-Cola Enterprises Chairman and CEO Presents ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Lecture As the leader of a Fortune 500 company with more than 70,000 employees, John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, shares his expertise and insight on what it takes to be an ethical leader.

I

Photo by Rob Felt

n the beverage world, John Brockʼs name is almost as famous as the Coke brand itself. Most of his career has been in leadership roles with companies that manufacture high‑profile brands like Dr Pepper, Beckʼs, and of course, Coca‑Cola. John has earned respect and high regard throughout the food and beverage industry for his insightful leadership and unyielding ethical business prac‑ tices. As the spring 2010 ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Lecturer in Ethics and Leadership, John joins the company of some of the nationʼs finest thinkers and business leaders who have served as past lecturers, including Garry Betty, ChE ʼ79, James Mulva, and Pete Silas, ChE ʻ53, himself.

Johnʼs career began with twelve years of service at Procter & Gamble. In 1983, he was recruited

by Cadbury Schweppes, where he served in several management roles, including president of the European and North American divisions. During that time, he led the acquisition of Dr Pepper/Seven Up. John was then named COO of Cadbury Schweppes and chairman of Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bot‑ tling Groupʼs Board of Directors in 2000. Later that year, he was named Beverage Industryʼs Execu‑ tive of the Year.

As his resume grew, so did Johnʼs determination to continually improve and strive to be a win‑ ner. During his address, John shared his philosophy on success and its relationship to ethics. He said, “In business just as in life, winning beats losing, and coming in second place is not much better than coming in tenth.” He said that like a basketball game, people say that it was a great game but ulti‑ mately what people remember is who won. “Winning is important, but youʼve got to win the right way and there is no substitute for it . If you win the wrong way, ultimately you are going to be penal‑ ized, you are going to get caught, and you certainly arenʼt going to feel good about it,” John added.

In 2003, John marked another milestone when he was named CEO of Interbrew. One year later, he led the merger of Interbrew with AmBev, which resulted in the formation of InBev, making it the largest brewer in the world by volume. He was appointed CEO of InBev, whose global brands in‑ clude Stella Artois, Beckʼs, and Brahma.

It is only natural that one of the most well‑known executives in the beverage world would rise John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE, ʻ71, Coca‑Cola to the helm of the company responsible for the worldʼs most valuable and iconic beverage brand.

Enterprises Chairman and CEO. When John joined Coca‑Cola Enterprises (CCE) as CEO in April 2006, he knew that it was the right thing to do. Clearly, the feeling was mutual. John was named chairman two years later.

Not surprisingly, John has been recognized extensively for his many accomplishments. His advice and leadership have been utilized in many venues. He serves as chairman of the Americas for the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), and he is also a trustee on the international IBLF board. In addition to other positions, John serves as co‑chair for Georgia governor Sonny Perdueʼs water contingency task force. In January 2011, he will begin service as chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. As a College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, John has served his alma mater as a past member of the Presidentʼs Advisory Board and a current member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board.

Pulling from his vast experience as a business leader, John charged the audience to remember that “ethics is a journey; it is not a destination.”

He advised that a company must create what CCE calls the “RIGHT” culture enriched with constant communication beginning at the top level of the corporate structure. To maintain the highest levels of integrity in the workplace, the five components of the CCE “RIGHT” way are respect, integrity, good judgment, honesty, and trust.

Energy: Production &

2

Conversion of natural resources into convenient, safe, and easy‑to‑use energy or fuels has become even more challenging. New energy‑efficient technologies give immediate payback and reduce stresses on limited resources. ChBE faculty members take on a broad range of research topics designed to meet current challenges and address long‑term societal needs associated with sustainability and environmental concerns.

Professor of the Practice Ron Chance holds a joint appointment in ChBE and the School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, a position he as‑ sumed after retiring from ExxonMobil in 2006. His main research interests are in CO2 capture and utilization. However, for the past year and a half, he has spent the major‑ ity of his time as executive vice president in charge of engineering for Algenol Biofuels, one of the largest algae‑based biofuel companies in the country. In that role, Dr. Chance established a research program at Georgia Tech that in‑ volves five research projects and seven professors, including ChBEʼs William Koros, Chris Jones, Sankar Nair, Matthew Realff, and Victor Breed‑ veld; ISyEʼs Valerie Thomas; and CEEʼs Haiying Huang. All of the projects are aimed at analysis and system development related to the commer‑ cialization of Algenolʼs technology for producing ethanol and other chemicals from blue‑green algae (cyanobacteria). These projects now form the core of the R&D portion of a $25 million grant from the Depart‑ ment of Energy (DOE) for building a pilot‑scale biorefinery based on Algenolʼs technology. Other partners in the DOE project are Dow Chemi‑ cal Company, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), University of Colorado, and Membrane Technology & Research, Inc. Thus far, re‑ search has demonstrated via a state‑of‑the‑art life cycle analysis (LCA)

that the Algenol system can deliver a transportation fuel with a carbon footprint up to 80% lower than gasoline, which easily meets the U.S. Re‑ newable Fuels Standard for a renewable biofuel. The work has also pro‑ duced novel systems for gas management (CO2, O2, ethanol) in photo‑bioreactors. Although this research focuses on the Algenol system, there is demonstrated potential for broad applicability to algae‑to‑fuels technologies. Additionally, two Algenol scientists who are in residence at Georgia Tech are working on synergistic projects. This partnership has benefited enormously from financial support from the Georgia Research Alliance in the formative stages of the program.

Photo by J. Giles

Dr. Pradeep Agrawalʼs research is focused on the development of thermochemical pathways for converting lignocellulosic bio‑ mass into fuels and chemicals. One ap‑ proach involves hydrolysis of hemi‑cellulose, cellulose, and lignin into monomers which offer an alternate platform for transporta‑ tion fuels and chemicals. The results offer promise for developing a green chemistry approach so that organic acids derived from the biomass can be utilized for biomass hydrolysis. Another project involves high pressure biomass gasification under conditions that mimic the next generation of gasifica‑ tion processes (short contact times and high heating rates). The aim is to develop mathematical models for high pressure biomass gasification.

Gasification offers the advantage that all types of biomass (including agri‑ cultural waste and forest residue) can be gasified to produce syngas (CO + H2). Biomass gasification involves pyrolysis and char gasification in se‑ ries. The results have identified the role of heating rates, pressure, alkali metals, and transport effects on biomass gasification.

Dr. Carsten Sieversʼs research group devel‑ ops catalytic processes for the production of fuels and chemicals from biorenewable re‑ sources. A biomass‑based economy pres‑ ents new challenges for catalysts because the reactants are more complex than oil‑de‑ rived compounds, and little is known about their interaction with solid catalysts. Dr. Sieversʼs research group addresses these is‑ sues by developing spectroscopic techniques to identify surface‑bound intermediates and their reaction pathways. In combination with detailed characterization of the catalysts, these studies provide design criteria for new selective catalysts for the production of specific chemicals and fuels.

In parallel, Dr. Sieversʼs group improves the stability of solid catalysts in water, which serves as the medium in many processes for biomass con‑ version. In addition to these fundamental studies, his research group also develops specific catalytic processes for upgrading of pyrolysis oils, con‑ version of glycerol to value‑added chemicals, and production of biofuels via gasification. The combination of fundamental and applied studies en‑ ables novel processes for future biorefineries.

Photo by Caroline Joe

Photo by J. Giles

Photo by Caroline Joe

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto

Management

Methane makes up the majority of natural gas and has the smallest carbon footprint of any fossil fuel since each carbon carries with it four hydrogen atoms. Natural gas for en‑ ergy production is available, but it must be economically produced. Dr. William Korosʼs work, supported by the Georgia Research Alliance and many government and indus‑ trial sponsors, focuses on membranes and sorption separators that can reduce both energy consumption and CO2 emissions in natural gas purification. Membranes developed by Dr.

Dr. Matthew Realff's research focus is sus‑ tainable systems engineering, which has emerged as an important interdisciplinary topic between engineering and both physi‑ cal and social sciences. He works on devel‑ oping processes to make fuels from trees and crops, as well as analyzing supply chains that start with plants or trees in the field, convert them into fuels, and distribute the fuels to end use customers. For example, graduate student Korin Reid is building models to study the interaction of biofuel systems with cli‑ mate change. To advance this topic, Dr. Realff is working with Tony Giar‑ russo and Dr. Steve French of the Geographic Information Systems Center and ChBEʼs Dr. Athanasios Nenes and Earth and Atmospheric Sci‑ ence professor Dr. Armistead Russell. For this project, computationally in‑ tensive climate‑change models are coupled with models that can predict how altered rainfall, temperature, and sunlight impact crop yields. The long‑term goal of this project is to create biofuel systems that do not negatively impact climate change by increasing land use change in an ef‑ fort to maintain fuel production.

Ambient temperature fuel cells hold the potential to be very high‑energy, density power sources for portable electronic ap‑ plications; however, current methanol cells based on proton exchange mem‑ branes present many challenges that hin‑ der their utilization, including high cost due to platinum catalysts and high fuel loss. Dr. Paul Kohlʼs group is exploring a

Photo by Caroline Joe

new approach to high‑energy‑density, low‑cost cells based on anionic conducting membranes. Anion‑based methanol fuel cells can use non platinum catalysts and high methanol concentrations, including pure methanol feed. The research involves synthesis of new anionic conduct‑ ing membranes, electrode structures for high catalyst utilization, and sys‑ tem engineering. Research in Dr. Kohl's group has led to the creation of new membranes and ionomers for making electrodes. In addition, the anionic conduction allows new approaches to fuel cell systems. A hybrid design has been created using both cationic and anionic bipolar mem‑ branes which self‑humidifies the cells, thus reducing the total balance of plant and simplifying the operation. Cells have been operated with exter‑ nal humidity ranging from 0% to 100% relative humidity. The impact of the work includes creating portable power sources with applications for soldiers in the field and similar civilian uses. Methanol would provide a very low‑cost and light‑weight fuel, lowering the overall size and weight of the power supply. Dr. Kohlʼs research on anionic conducting mem‑ branes is in collaboration with DuPont, Inc. Dr. Rachel Chen and her research group focus on engineering microbial biocatalysts for conversion of cellulose and hemicellu‑ loses into biofuels molecules. While there now exist many natural and engineered mi‑ crobes that readily convert monomer sugars into biofuels (e.g., butanol), they are typi‑ cally unable to use polymeric sugars. Conse‑ quently, additional process steps are needed, including pretreatment, enzyme production, and enzymatic de‑ polymerization, adding significant costs to the process. A radically differ‑ ent approach known as “consolidated bioprocessing” aims to simplify the process by combining all these steps into one. However, microbes capa‑ ble of turning cellulose into biofuel in a single step (in a single reactor) have yet to be developed. Dr. Chenʼs research group is applying meta‑ bolic engineering and synthetic biology to create such catalysts. They mix and match ʻʻbiological parts” functioning as “transporter,” “sugar‑de‑ polymerizer,” and “biofuel‑synthesizer” from different microorganisms and eventually integrate these parts into one microbe that is capable of multitasking as required in a consolidated bioprocess.

Dr. Michael Fillerʼs research program lies at the intersection of chemical engineering and materials science, emphasizing the sci‑ entific and engineering challenges that cur‑ rently limit widespread deployment of solar power generation. This research leverages properties inherent to the nanoscale to cre‑ ate custom‑designed light harvesting ma‑ terials, particularly semiconducting nanowires. The majority of this work comprises two important research thrusts: (1) prototyping novel materials and photovoltaic device nanoar‑ chitectures and 2) fundamentally interrogating nanomaterials during the fabrication process. More specifically, the ability to tune atomic composi‑ tion beyond what is possible in the bulk is being utilized to create earth‑ abundant and non‑toxic alloy nanowires with the potential to capture photons from across the solar spectrum. The study of model nanowire systems with in‑situ spectroscopic techniques is providing an atomic‑ scale understanding of the bulk and surface chemistry that dominates nanowire photophysics. Through these studies, Dr. Filler's group is gain‑ ing the knowledge and synthetic control necessary to realize ultra‑high‑ efficiency and simultaneously scalable solar cell technologies.

Photo by J. Giles

Photo by Caroline Joe

Dr. Tom Fullerʼs research addresses chal‑ lenges in sustainable transportation, specifi‑ cally lowering emissions of greenhouse gases and reducing dependence on petro‑ leum. Meeting these challenges requires greater use of batteries and other electro‑ chemical devices. Dr. Fullerʼs research group emphasizes the fundamental causes of degradation in these systems and provides both guidance for the development of new materials as well as system ar‑ chitectures and control strategies to mitigate these failures. This research involves detailed understanding of the mechanisms of performance loss in specific components and is a blend of experiments and physics‑based models. For the last couple of years, the emphasis has been on batteries for hybrid‑electric and electric vehicles. A prominent application has been power sharing between a fuel cell and battery for a hybrid vehicle. The re‑ search has shown that relatively minor changes in control strategies have minimal impact on system efficiency, but dramatically improve life, and therefore life‑cycle cost. This research has the potential to fundamentally change the manner in which these systems are designed.

Photo by Caroline Joe

Photo by Caroline Joe

Korosʼs group are hollow fibers with diameters the size of a human hair.

Bundles of these fibers can provide more than two football fields worth of separation area in compact modules smaller than an office desk. Their compact nature makes membranes attractive for off‑shore applications where available space is scarce. In addition to membranes, Dr. Korosʼs group makes fiber sorbents to capture CO2 from massive flue gas streams. Integration of materials science with traditional chemical engi‑ neering to make both membranes and sorbents is made possible by col‑ laborations with Drs. Ron Chance, Chris Jones, Carson Meredith, Sankar Nair, Victor Breedveld, Krista Walton, David Sholl, and Ronald Rousseau.

3

ChBE Class Notes 1970s

1980s

2000s

Richard Ferrazzuolo, ChE ʻ71, taught math to sixth‑, seventh‑ and eighth‑graders at Otwell Middle School in Cumming, Ga., for a portion of the 2009‑10 academic year. He previously had been a substitute teacher for the Forsyth County School System since August 2008.

Richard earned a teaching certificate for mid‑ dle grades math and science and high school math in 2008.

Marcus Lewis, ChE ʻ83, was named industrial vice president for Rhodia, North America, in Cranbury, N.J., in January. He is responsible for health, safety, environmental, and security programs for the North American zone and oversees the manufacturing services activi‑ ties. He has been with Rhodia for more than 12 years. He and his wife, Lauri Miller Lewis, ISyE ʻ83, have two children: Erica, a junior at Davidson College, and Matt, a freshman at Elon University.

Kenyata Martin, ChE ʻ01, of Cincinnati, received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in mar‑ keting, strategic management, and entrepre‑ neurship. Kenyata is global assistant brand manager for Old Spice at Procter & Gamble.

Robert Paul Sherwood Sr., ChE ʻ74, received a master of divinity degree from Columbia The‑ ological Seminary in May 2009 and joined Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Au‑ gusta, Ga., as associate pastor in January.

Keith J. Aspray, ChE ʻ75, has been promoted to vice president and general manager of the Middle East for Honeywellʼs UOP business group. Keith, who has been with UOP since graduation, will be relocating to Dubai. He most recently was managing director of UOP India, located in New Delhi, and business di‑ rector for Petrochemicals. He earned an MBA from Northwestern University in 1984 and currently is living in Palatine, Ill., with his wife, JoAnn. Curt Harrington, ChE ʻ77, partner in the Long Beach, Calif., patent and tax law firm of Har‑ rington & Harrington, served as vice chair of the California State Bar Board of Legal Special‑ ization Taxation Law Advisory Commission for the 2009‑10 term.

Tom Hendricks, ChE ʻ84, has been named vice president at Fluor Corp. He is responsible for the Southeast Asia operations of the manu‑ facturing and life sciences business segment.

Tom, a registered professional engineer with an MBA from Clemson, has worked for Fluor for 22 years.

1990s Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse, ChE ʻ96, and her husband, Scott, of Huntsville, Ala., celebrated the first birthday of son Scott Alan “Scotty” Laughinghouse II on June 16. The couple also have a daughter, Tai, 3. Tawnya is a nozzle materials engineer for NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Wendy Lemoine Bosmans, ChE ʻ97, and her husband, Olivier, announce the birth of a son, Lucas, on Sept. 3, 2009. He joins sisters Silvie, 2, and Eliza, 4, at home in Durango, Colo.

Wendy is an engineer with BP America.

Duncan A. Mellichamp, ChE ‘59, Receives the 2010 CACHE Award of the ASEE, Chemical Engineering Division Duncan A. Mellichamp, ChE '59, received the 2010 CACHE Award of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Chemical Engi‑ neering Division. Sponsored by the CACHE Corporation, the award rec‑ ognizes significant contributions in the development of computer aids for chemical engineering education.

A founding member of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California‑Santa Barbara, Dr. Mellichamp initiated devel‑ opment of the process dynamics and control programs in 1966‑67. His pioneering work with computers led to the publication of Real‑Time Computing: Applications to Data Acquisition and Control (Editor, 1983) and to the award winning undergraduate text‑ book, Process Dynamics and Control, (3rd Ed: 2010, co‑author). He was elected to CACHE early in his career, as trustee (1973‑87) and president (1977‑78).

A Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Academy of Distin‑ guished Engineering Alumni in 1995, and the Engineering Hall of Fame in 2004, Dr. Mellichamp is the author of more than 100 research publications on process modeling and plant‑wide con‑ trol. He has served as professor emeritus at the University of California‑Santa Barbara since 2003, where he teaches and conducts research, pro bono, on profitability measures for plant concep‑ tual designs subject to risk.

Robert Madayag, ChE ʻ02, was selected as a di‑ rector of the management division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for a two‑year term. He is an attorney in the Atlanta office of Woodcock Washburn LLP and a trus‑ tee of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.

Alexis Nicole Fairweather, ChBE ʻ06, and Craig Alan Simpson, ChBE ʻ06, were married Aug. 1, 2009. Buzz directed traffic at the wedding, and the Ramblinʼ Wreck served as the coupleʼs getaway vehicle. Alexis, who graduated from law school in December, accepted a position as a patent attorney with Finnegan. Craig is a Flash developer for EyeWonder. The couple live in Atlanta.

In Memoriam 1930s Alexander Hewatt McGraw, ChE ʻ34, of Doerun, Ga., on Feb. 16. He managed Shepard Fertilizer Co. for many years. He later earned a masterʼs degree in education from Valdosta State and taught chemistry and physics at Westover High School in Albany, Ga. for 10 years. Survivors include grandson Lex Mc‑ Graw, Mgt ʻ93.

1940s Millard R. Dusenbury, ChE ʻ40, of Jekyll Island, Ga., on April 23. He spent 35 years working for Hercules Inc. A member of Sigma Chi and the marching band while at GT, he served as an Army captain during World War II, participat‑ ing in the Middle East, North African, and Ital‑ ian campaigns, and was the commander of the German and Italian POW camp at Fort Rucker, Ala., upon his return to the U.S. Robert Curtis Barrett, ChE ʻ42, a resident of Cartersville, Ga., on April 1. He was sales man‑ ager for Chemical Products Corp. in Cartersville for more than 35 years, retiring in 1987. Mr. Barrett previously worked in Venezuela for Standard Oil of Louisiana. He was a deacon and elder at his church.

Class Notes continued on page 8

4

EAB: Member Profile

Monty Alger

Monty Alger is full of surprises̶who would have guessed that when he is not leading the global R&D efforts for Air Products, you may find him playing the trombone or performing home renovations?

Photo courtesy of Air Products

A

“Chemical engineering is a great education and provides a background that can help take you to lots of different places during your career.”

ir Products recruited Montgomery Alger, known as “Monty” to just about everyone, to the position of vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) in early 2007. He brought with him more than 23 years of technology, engineering, and business man‑ agement experience acquired during his career at General Electric (GE), where he served most recently as general manager of technology for GE Advanced Materials. Montyʼs di‑ versified career at GE included serving as manager of GE Superabrasives and leading technol‑ ogy development programs for GE battery, lighting, appliances, and plastics businesses. His career prepared him well for his role at Air Products, where he has oversight responsibility for all global research and development activities.

Monty, who is a native of Rumney, New Hampshire, comes from a family who has pro‑ duced engineers for many generations. “My great‑grandfather, my grandfather, and my father were all electrical engineers,” he says. Monty was especially fond of chemistry in high school, so the logical decision for him was to alter the family tradition a bit and enroll in a chemical engi‑ neering program. “Chemical engineering is a great education and provides a background that can help take you to lots of different places during your career,” he says.

“I selected MIT because of its reputation and its many opportunities and majors,” says Monty. “Boston is a fun city̶that helped, plus MIT accepted me,” he adds with a chuckle. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering in 1978 and then went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign in 1982. Montyʼs Ph.D. advisor was ChBEʼs Dr. Charles Eckert, who left the University of Illinois to join the Georgia Tech faculty in 1989 as the J. Erskine Love, Jr. Institute Chair in Engineering.

While at MIT, Monty played the trombone as part of a jazz program led by Herb Pomeroy, who was an influential jazz trumpeter on the faculty at the Berklee School of Music. Mr. Pomeroy played with musicians such as Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton, as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century, and founded the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble.

After graduation from Illinois, Monty returned to MIT as the director of the GE Plastics Chemical Engineering Practice School Station. Two years later, he joined the GE R&D Center as a research staff member. “It was there that I started to work with some of the marketing people in GE Plastics and learned about a whole new world of opportunity for chemical engineering in business,” he says.

Monty worked in the GE materials business for 15 years, combining his scientific training with sound marketing and business development skills, thus paving the way for his current po‑ sition as CTO at Air Products. After serving three years at Air Products, Monty says that “the in‑ dustrial gas industry is a chemical engineerʼs dream̶anyone who is graduating should attend one of Air Productʼs hiring sessions or send in an application!”

In addition to serving on ChBEʼs external advisory board, Monty is a member of similar advi‑ sory councils at the University of Massachusetts‑Amherst, Lehigh University, and the University of California‑Santa Barbara. He also serves on the board of directors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

As diversified as his career has been, Montyʼs personal interests are also varied, and include home renovations and computer programming. He worked for a general contractor growing up and still enjoys construction. However, his demanding work schedule does not always leave enough time for him to devote to his other interests. “My wife finally had enough of temporarily cooking in the basement, so we bought a new house in Pennsylvania,” Monty admits with a smile. And yes, he still plays the trombone when he can find the time.

5

Dr. Lakeshia Taite Assistant Professor “I guess the thing that strikes me most is the student response. . . female and minority students just want to talk to me and find out how I got where I am because it has been so rare for them to see young minority female professors. It always feels good to encour‑ age the next generation of students who hadnʼt considered the ChBE career path so as to further diversify the field.”

Dr. Martha Grover Associate Professor

ChBE Alumnae on the CoE Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni: Denise Chastain‑ Knight Christine Grant Linda Griffith Kellye Hafner Paula Hammond Joy Jordan Barbara Knutson

Lisa Korslund Kristina Kwalik Sylvia Little Cheryl Perkins Brittany Robinson Joan Schork Vandana Vishnu Cheryl Weldon

“When I started at GT in 2002, there were two women on the ChBE faculty and now there are nine of us. It is great to have so many women on the faculty, so that everyone can see how different we all are.”

Dr. Sue Ann Bidstrup Allen Professor & Associate Chair for Strategic Initiatives “When I started my career as an assistant professor in 1988, there were no other female professors in chemical engineering and fewer than 10 female professors in the College of Engineering at GT. I am delighted to see that the gender diversity of our ChBE faculty, particularly among our new hires, is now starting to more closely approach the diversity found among our undergraduate students studying chemical engineering.”

2010̶Anne Talley received the Garry Betty Scholarship for Inter‑ national Studies. She served as vice president of the ChBE Stu‑ dent Advisory Board (SAB) and the Alpha Chi Sigma chemistry honor society. Anne graduated this summer and is now pursuing a Ph.D. at University of California–Santa Barbara.

Women in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

The 2010 Women in Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet recognized Dr. Sue Ann Bidstrup Allen with a Faculty Excellence Award.

Dr. Hang Lu Associate Professor “When I was an undergrad, I had one female ChemE professor; in grad school, I had four female professors; now look at my colleagues̶we have nine female professors in ChBE!”

Dr. Krista Walton Assistant Professor “The majority of the time, I consider myself simply an engineer...not a ʻfemaleʼ engineer. However, there have been times when Iʼve been reminded that women are still a minority in my research field.

I recall a particular conference where the book of abstracts listed only the authorʼs first initial and last name. Over the first few days of the conference, I lost count of how many people upon meeting me exclaimed, ʻOh, youʼre K. Walton! Youʼre a woman!ʼ Their genuine surprise was truly funny.”

Photos by Rob Felt, J. Giles, & Gary Meek

Dr. Elsa Reichmanis Professor “Iʼve been truly fortunate to have been in diverse environments throughout my career as a chemical engineer. One event that oc‑ curred early in my career led to a long‑time friendship with a Japanese engineer working in the same field. I was attending a specialized conference when I entered into a discussion with that Japanese engineer at a coffee break. We were discussing research results when he suddenly exclaimed, ʻOh, you a lady!ʼ We both had a good laugh and then continued our discussions.”

ChBE Alumnae in the CoE Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni: Decie Austin Gerri Dickerson Sandra Fryhofer Linda Griffith Elizabeth Moore

Dr. Rachel Chen Associate Professor 1983̶Adesola O. Kujore, a chemical engineering major, becomes the first African‑American woman to receive a Ph.D. from GT.

“I always liked chemistry and I liked to make things, so chemical engineering was a natural choice for me. I never stopped to consider that it was out of the ordinary for me to be an engineer just because I am a woman.”

Dr. Julie Champion Assistant Professor “I suppose I have been lucky that I don't have a story about being a woman chemical engineer. In college, half of my ChemE class‑ mates were female and several of my professors were, so my ini‑ tial impression was that it was normal to be a woman ChemE. They say first impressions last a lifetime, and this one has stuck with me even though the number of women has decreased at every step in the rest of my education.”

Research Scientist Galit

Undergraduates Courtney Brown and Jemilat Taiwo received a Shell Mentoring Award and a Caterpillar Mentoring Award, respec‑ tively, at the 2010 Women in Engineering Excellence Awards Banquet.

Dr. Michelle Dawson Assistant Professor

Levitin recently co‑founded the Green Chamber of the South, a non‑profit organi‑ zation that supports the growth and success of sustainability in businesses.

“When I was in graduate school, my faculty advisor had four female graduate students and no male graduate students.

Three of us went on to faculty positions in chemical or bio‑ medical engineering. Our lab was unique. I would say that the ratio of male to female grad students in my department at Johns Hopkins was at least 2:1, so to recruit four students all female was really uncommon. However, being female didnʼt stop any of us from achieving our goals.”

Dr. Helen Grenga (1938‑2006) Chemical Engineering Professor Emeritus, GTʼs first full‑tenured female engi‑ neering professor, & one of the first full‑tenured female chemical engineering professors in the U.S. Coming to GT as a post‑doc in chemistry, Dr. Grenga remembered the head of the program was concerned about her teaching classes because he didnʼt think the male students would accept a female teacher. “The program was primarily research and we had a lot of camaraderie. Thatʼs not to say we didnʼt have problems, but this institution (GT) is bigger than any individual.”

7

Thomas H. Pigford, ChE ‘43, Remembered for His Contributions to Nuclear Engineering

Photo by Peg Skorpinski

Thomas Pigford, ChE ʻ43, a nuclear engineer who pushed for stronger safety standards for nuclear reactors, died Feb‑ ruary 28 at his home in Oakland, California. He was 87 years old.

Dr. Pigford, professor emeritus and founding chair of the department of nuclear engineering at the University of Cali‑ fornia‑Berkeley, served on the 12‑member presidential commission that investigated the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania. He later served on the Secretary of Energyʼs expert consultant group that evaluated the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine.

His daughter, Julie Pigford Earnest, told Berkeley media, “My father spoke truth to power, which gained him respect from both proponents and opponents of the nuclear power industry. Everything he said or did was based on analysis of the data and not on politics or emotion. That said, he was also insightful about the impact of politics on scientific decisions and had a sense of how human error and concerns contribute to scientific policy.”

Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Dr. Pigfordʼs studies at MIT were interrupted by service in the Navy during World War II. He earned masterʼs and doctoral degrees from MIT, where he became an associate professor of nuclear and chemical engineering, helped launch the graduate program in nuclear engineering, and served two years as director of its graduate school of engineering practice in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

He was a founding staff member of the General Atomic laboratory in La Jolla, California, before joining Berkeley as a full professor in 1959.

According to an article on the Berkeley Web site, Dr. Pigford led a research program at the university to develop means for predicting long‑ term behavior of radioactive and chemical waste that resulted in the design of underground radioactive waste repositories in the United States and abroad. He retired from the university in 1991.

Dr. Pigford was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 1995.

pany. A graduate of the Georgia Military Academy, he stood guard at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of Gone With the Wind while a cadet at the academy. He served in the Army during World War II.

day school teacher and a volunteer for the Judeo Christian Outreach Center in Virginia Beach. He was married to the former Nancy Sampson, ChE ʻ75.

Moses Collins Murphey, ChE ʻ43, of Sewickley, Pa., on Jan. 7. He retired as chief plant engi‑ neer of Koppers Co./Arco Polymers in 1985.

A deacon and elder at his church, Mr. Mur‑ phey enjoyed golf, stamp collecting, and ball‑ room dancing.

Wayne F. McWhorter, ChE ʻ51, a resident of Louisville, Ky., on May 30. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II and re‑ tired from Celanese Chemical Corp. as a chemical engineer.

John Stiles “Jack” Baldwin, ChE ʻ46, of Hous‑ ton, in March. He retired as vice president of Exxonʼs Far Eastern operations, headquar‑ tered in Texas, in 1983. An ROTC member at GT, he was commissioned as an ensign in 1943 and served on the USS Sea Cat. He re‑ tired from the Navy Reserve as a lieutenant in 1954. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Georgia Tech College of Engineer‑ ing Hall of Fame in 1994.

Carl Bernard Drees Jr., ChE ʻ65, MS ChE ʻ71, PhD ChE ʻ72, of San Rafael, Calif., on Nov. 26, 2009. A member of Chi Psi, he moved to Cali‑ fornia to join Chevron Overseas Petroleum. Dr. Drees worked for Chevron for 30 years, most recently in international human resources.

Leigh Bielenberg, ChE ʻ83, of Atlanta, on March 8, from metastatic colon cancer. She was a chemical engineer for industrial and manufacturing firms in Georgia and Louisiana before working for Forsyth Fabrics in Atlanta and as a designer of fabric trims for Passe‑ menterie Europa, a job that included travel to Cairo to oversee the manufacturing of her designs. She was executive director of the Georgia National Abortion Rights Action League in the 1990s.

1940s LeRoy A. Aarons, ChE ʻ43, a resident of Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 31. He was a member of Alpha Phi Omega while at GT and retired from the Navy.

Robert Herman “Bobby” Maurer, ChE ʻ47, of Dallas, on Feb. 18. He was a longtime Celanese Chemical Corp. employee. A Korean War vet‑ eran, he was a first lieutenant with the 1st Ma‑ rine Division and received the Purple Heart.

1950s Homer Watkins Jr., ChE ʻ50, of High Point, N.C., on April 6. Mr. Watkins retired from Burlington Industries in 1989 after a 39‑year career as a cost accountant with the com‑

8

1960s

1970s John M. Reynolds II, ChE ʻ73, of Aiken, S.C., on Dec. 23, 2009. He was a nuclear engineer for the Department of Defense naval shipyard in Charleston, S.C., for 20 years. After retiring from the Department of Energyʼs Savannah River Site in 2007, he joined Parsons Corpora‑ tion as a project engineer.

Jeffrey L. Jackson, ChE ʻ77, on Nov. 25, 2009, in Virginia Beach, Va. He had been self em‑ ployed since 1998. Previously, he was a plant manager for Texaco Chemical in Port Arthur, Texas, and a vice president for Huntsman Corporation in Chesapeake, Va. He was a sun‑

1980s

Visit our web site at www.chbe.gatech.edu for the latest news and events from the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

Alumni and Friends of the School:

Photo by Caroline Joe

Once again, we are looking for‑ ward to the beginning of the fall semester and reflecting on accomplishments from the past academic year. Here is an ab‑ breviated list of some of the highlights: the ChBE interna‑ tional programs in Metz and London continued this past summer with enrollments of 22 and 29, respectively. We are particularly pleased with how these have developed because each provides students a unique opportunity to have an international experience that contributes to their intellectual growth. The program in Metz is designed for the summer between sophomore and junior years, and it enables students to spend the summer in France and complete two chemical engineering courses and up to two others, while also having the opportunity to travel to a variety of destinations throughout Europe. Professor Victor Breedveld taught the two ChBE courses this past summer. The unit operations laboratory course at Imperial College in London replaces a course in which we participated for more than 30 years at University College London. Professor and Associate Chair Pradeep Agrawal led the students to London and reports that both the course and student experiences were exceptionally successful.

Among news items from the faculty, we congratulate Dr. Agrawal, who has been promoted to the rank of professor, and Hang Lu on her pro‑ motion to associate professor with tenure. In addition, Charles Liotta, who holds a joint appointment in ChBE, was reappointed to a term as chair of the School of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Charlie also is celebrating his 45 years (!) at Georgia Tech and was selected as the Instituteʼs 2010 Distin‑ guished Professor.

This past year, Provost Gary Schuster announced his wish to return to his duties as a faculty member in Chemistry & Biochemistry; after a national search, Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson announced his selec‑ tion of Rafael Bras as the new Provost and Executive Vice President.

Enrollments in the School continue to increase, and projections are that we will approach 800 ChBE undergraduates in the fall; we also will welcome an incoming graduate class of 45. There has been substantial growth in research funding over the last several years: FY10 expenditures were more than double those of FY06. This clearly shows the results of out‑ standing efforts by our faculty, whose creativity and vitality stimulated the generation of these resources. The School demonstrated strong leadership with a proposal that led to an $11.5 million award from the National Insti‑ tute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which Georgia Tech matched with another $11.5 million, for construction of a 45,000 square‑foot Car‑ bon‑Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory. This facility is to be built on Georgia Tech property off North Avenue and will house pilot‑scale re‑ search involving combustion, gasification, and CO2 capture.

I began this note by outlining international activities in which our stu‑ dents are involved. In June, Georgia Tech celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Georgia Tech Lorraine campus in Metz. Even after 20 years, I still find it somewhat startling to drive down the Avenue de Strasbourg in Metz and see off to the left a grand building adorned with huge letters reading “Georgia Tech.” I attended the celebration, which featured meetings and speeches by several officials and dignitaries from Metz and the region of

Ron Rousseau Lorraine, as well as by Dr. Peterson, Georgia Tech Lorraine President Yves H. Berthelot, ChBE alumnus and Coca‑Cola Enterprises chairman and CEO John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, and several others from Georgia Tech.

The delegation from Atlanta participated in one of the regular activi‑ ties scheduled for students in the summer program at GTL: a visit by the 200 Georgia Tech students to the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memo‑ rial in St. Avold, France. History is a great teacher, but it often overlooks roles played by ordinary citizens, or, in this case, soldiers. This was brought home vividly in the trip to St. Avold. The usually rambunctious students grew solemn as Dr. Peterson placed flowers at a designated site and the national anthem was played from the carillon. A French guide then de‑ scribed the cemetery and, in recounting battles fought by the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies, gave overall numbers̶10,489 graves, including those of 26 pairs of brothers and four winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor, 151 Unknown Soldiers, 444 names on the tables of the miss‑ ing̶but for all present, the most moving moments were descriptions of specific individuals, including the young flyer whose picture is shown in the photograph below. The guide used these stories of lost lives to remind everyone that each grave is that of an individual who made the ultimate commitment to liberty.

I was proud of our students on that day; they understood what events that must to them seem an eternity ago meant to soldiers buried in that cemetery, and I hope they understand what those same events still repre‑ sent to us today.

So letʼs come back to current times at Georgia Tech. We are mindful of the continuing struggles faced by many of our citizens, and especially those on the Gulf and in my home state of Louisiana. While the challenges at Georgia Tech are serious, they are less severe than those faced by many others. Moreover, the resourcefulness and initiative that characterize Geor‑ gia Tech give me assurance that ChBE remains on an upward trajectory, providing ever‑greater opportunities for students. As I said in the last newsletter, we remain confident that ChBE faculty members are delivering outstanding education and training to our students, and we are grateful for critical support from alumni, friends, and corporate supporters.

When you are in Atlanta, stop by and say hello!

Photo by Ronald Rousseau

Reflections:

from the desk of

A French guide holds a photo of a young flyer, one of the more than 10,000 U.S. soldiers who are interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in St. Avold, France.

9

Making a Difference: Mak-

Amit Roy, MS ChE ‘71, PhD ChE ‘76

As the president and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Amitʼs reputation as a scientist and researcher in the area of fertilizers is matched only by the size of his heart and the depth of his compassion.

Photo by Jason Wallis

A

”In the United States, people do not understand the use of fertilizer since the cost of food is less than 10 percent of their income. But in devel‑ oping nations, food can be 90 percent of their income.

Fertilizer is their lifeblood.”

10

mit Roy, MS ChE ʼ71, PhD ChE ʼ76, has spent more than 30 years fighting the global war on hunger. His weapon against the formidable beast is NPK, which sounds a lot more intimidating than what the acronym represents̶nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K)̶the es‑ sential elements of fertilizer. These three nutrients combine with about 20 other secondary or “trace” minerals, such as copper, iron, manganese, zinc, and boron, to form the right combinations of nutri‑ ents required for plants to grow, flourish, and produce viable feedstock.

“About half of the worldʼs population is alive today because of increased food production fueled by mineral fertilizers,” Amit says, who joined the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1978 as a chemical engineer and special projects engineer. Over the years, Amit has earned respect as one of the worldʼs leading experts on fertilizer technologies and solutions, and in 1992, he was promoted to president and CEO of IFDC. IFDC was established in 1974 on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Reservation in Muscle Shoals to address global food security challenges through improved use of fertilizers and related technologies. Origi‑ nally founded as a private, nonprofit corporation, IFDC now holds the designation of a “Public International Organization,” which was granted in 1977 through a presidential decree by Jimmy Carter, Cls ʻ46. This des‑ ignation allows IFDC to receive widespread support, cooperation, and backing of the world community for which it was created and has contributed greatly to the organizationʼs success over the years.

Amitʼs work has taken him to more than 100 countries, where education is paramount to implement‑ ing a viable agricultural program. Providing only technological tools, such as innovative urea granules that are twice as efficient as traditional urea fertilizer, is useless if farmers do not understand how to use them effectively. “If you donʼt teach farmers how to use existing land, theyʼre going to cut down the trees, get all the nutrients out of the soil by farming two or three years, then go to a new area,” Amit says.

For more than 200 days out of the year, Amit spends time in some of the hungriest places in the world, including Bangladesh, Albania, and Kenya. He and his team work hands‑on with the people of these na‑ tions to implement real solutions to their agricultural challenges. The rest of his time is spent interacting with donors, government officials, and heads of state, in addition to overseeing research projects and mak‑ ing presentations before the U.S. House of Representatives when called upon. Amit moves seamlessly be‑ tween these roles, bringing with him the knowledge of a well‑trained engineer tempered with the compassion of a man with a genuine heart.

Witnessing the reality of the worldʼs hunger crisis reinforces Amitʼs commitment to IFDCʼs official mis‑ sion, which has remained unchanged since its inception in 1974: “to increase sustainable agricultural pro‑ ductivity through the development and transfer of effective and environmentally sound plant nutrient technology and agricultural marketing expertise.” Amit says that “When you go to the poorer countries, whether itʼs in Asia or Africa, and you see the starvation, particularly in children, who from morning to evening are looking for food, it certainly is a very sobering experience. It makes you get up and gives you the ambition to solve these problems.”

IFDC has contributed to the development of institutional capacity building in 150 countries through more than 700 formal training programs, primarily as part of IFDCʼs long‑term agricultural development projects. Field demonstrations and training have assisted millions of farmers in developing countries.

Amit is ready for the next 30 years. Under his leadership, IFDC recently launched its newest global re‑ search initiative, the Virtual Fertilizer Research Center (VFRC). The goal is to create the next generation of fertilizers and production technologies as rapidly as possible by linking researchers together virtually through the Internet and other communication technologies. Thus the VFRC will allow scientists worldwide to collaborate on innovative fundamental and applied fertilizer research. New and improved fertilizers are critical elements in the effort to help feed the worldʼs growing population, provide sustainable global food security, and protect the environment.

“The time has come for developing practices and technologies to improve the use of land and labor resources, reduce emissions into the air and water, and conserve natural resources,” Amit says. “These are global issues and they require global solutions.”

news Briefly: from ChBE Michael Casciato, a graduate student who works with Dr. Martha Grover and Dr. Dennis Hess, was tapped as the recipient of two fellowships, the NSF Grad‑ uate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and the GT Goizueta Fellowship.

Dr. Klavs F. Jensen presents the 25th Annual Ashton Cary Lecture

Ryan Hart, a graduate student who works with Dr. Charles Eckert, is a winner of a 2010 AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Award. This highly competitive award is sponsored by Praxair, Inc. Seda Keskin, ChBE PhD, ʻ09, who conducted her graduate research under the direction of Dr. David Sholl, received a Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from the Georgia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi.

Dr. Carson Meredith is leading a team of researchers in a multidisciplinary project funded by the Department of Defense (DoD). The $7.5 million project entitled “BioPAINTS: Bio‑enabled Particle Adherents for Interrogative Spec‑ troscopy” was one of 32 projects selected by the DoD as part of the Multidisci‑ plinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program for 2010.

Chemical Engineering Magazine tapped DuPont for an honorary 2009 Kirk‑ patrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award for its work on the Cerenol® family of renewably sourced, high‑performance polyether glycols.

Ray W. Miller, ChE ʻ72, is the Cerenol® global business manager for DuPont Ap‑ plied BioSciences. He serves on ChBEʼs External Advisory Board and is a mem‑ ber of the CoE Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

Graduate student Rich Moore, who works with Dr. Athanasios Nenes, received a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for the 2010‑11 academic year. Addi‑ tionally, Rich was one of 75 U.S. graduate students chosen to attend the 60th Annual Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.

Dr. Athanasios Nenes gave the Deanʼs Distinguished Lecture at Columbia University entitled “Aerosol‑cloud Interactions: the Elusive Component of Climate Change.”

Mark your calendar. . . ► Thursday, September 16, 2010 • 2:00 p.m.‑3:00 p.m.

Marcus Nanotechnology Bldg. • Room 1116‑1118 Fall 2010 ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership Lecture Michael J. Dolan, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corporation “Engineering Success through Ethical Leadership” ► Friday, October 8, 2010 • 9:45 a.m.‑10:45 a.m.

Global Learning Center • 2nd Floor • Technology Square Homecoming 2010 Seminar–Emerging Medical Solutions to Cancer Seminar–Powering a Sustainable Future: Current Energy Research Laboratory Tours in the Ford ES&T Bldg. Immediately Following

Photo by J. Giles

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Georgia Tech $1 million for mem‑ brane research and carbon capture, one of 37 projects selected to help de‑ velop clean energy potential in the U.S. Additionally, GT partners with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on a second project̶budgeted at $987,547̶involving membranes and carbon capture. ChBE professors and GRA Eminent Scholars William Koros and David Sholl lead these projects.

This spring, Dr. Klavs F. Jensen presented the 25th Annual Ashton Cary Lecture entitled “Chemical and Biological Microsystems–What Are the Advantages of Small Systems?” Dr. Jensen, who is the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering, and a professor of materials sci‑ ence and engineering at MIT, also presented a special lecture enti‑ tled “Integrated Mini‑ and Micro‑flow Systems for Chemical Synthesis and Separation.”

Dr. Mark Prausnitz presented the 2010 Medtronic Lecture in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford entitled “Biophysical Methods of Drug Delivery.”

School Chair Ronald Rousseau received des Docteurs Honoris Causa from the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse. This honorary degree is one of the highest distinctions awarded by a French educational institution. It recog‑ nizes Dr. Rousseauʼs career achievements and his instrumental role in estab‑ lishing international ties between GT and the University of Toulouse.

Dr. David Sholl, the Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Chair & GRA Eminent Scholar for Energy Sustainability, is one of 86 young engineers selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineeringʼs (NAE) 16th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium in September. The symposium will examine cloud computing, autonomous aerospace systems, engineering and music, and en‑ gineering inspired by biology.

The National Academy of Engineering appointed Dr. Arnold Stancell to a com‑ mittee entitled “Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future.”

Dr. Stancell is the Turner Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Emeritus. He had a 31‑year career with Mobil Oil and led the development of the now $70 billion natural gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) joint venture between Mobil and Qatar. He was elected to the National Acad‑ emy of Engineering in 1997.

Dr. Krista Walton was invited to participate in the National Academy of Sci‑ ences German‑American Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium in Potsdam, Germany in June. Approximately 25 attendees are selected for this honor from a pool of exceptional young researchers (under 45) who have made significant contributions to science. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Academy funded Dr. Waltonʼs participation.

11

Georgia Institute of Technology School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering 311 Ferst Drive, N.W. Atlanta, GA 30332‑0100 www.chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE Researchers Sample Air after Gulf Oil Spill

A

s part of the federal governmentʼs response to the BP oil spill, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) implemented extensive air quality monitoring along the Gulf Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the EPA worked collabo‑ ratively to take advantage of NOAAʼs highly specialized atmospheric research capabilities, which can detect concentrations of compounds in the atmos‑ phere with greater sensitivity than standard operational monitoring flights.

Dr. Athanasios Nenes and his graduate students Rich Moore and Kate Cerully sampled the chemical characteristics of particles that formed from the photo‑oxidation of volatile hydrocarbons emitted from the oil on the ocean surface. The team worked to determine the impact those particles have had on local visibility and local clouds in the Gulf region.

The NOAA WP‑3 Orion “hurricane hunter” plane is configured as a high‑ tech flying chemistry laboratory with instrumentation onboard that collects and provides near‑real‑time air‑quality data to scientists on the aircraft and scientists on the ground. Sampling and analyzing the particles is necessary to determine if the air is safe for coastal residents as well as for workers on the water.

View of the Gulf Coast oil spill as seen from the NOAA WP‑3D Orion air‑ In addition to assisting with the evaluation of air quality and safety, craft during sampling by Dr. Nenesʼs research team.

Dr. Nenesʼs team also used a cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNC) in‑ strument onboard the Orion to collect particles and measure the evolution and impact of semi‑volatile hydrocarbons on the climate.

We Welcome Your Questions, Comments, or News

ChBE News & Alumni News

ChBE Development

ChBE Program Information

Josie Giles (404) 385‑2299 Fax: (404) 385‑0185 josie@gatech.edu

Melisa Baldwin (404) 894‑0987 Fax: (404) 385‑0185 melisa.baldwin@chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE Main Office (404) 894‑1838 grad.info@chbe.gatech.edu ugrad.info@chbe.gatech.edu

Photo by D. Lack, NOAA

Copyright 2010 • Georgia Institute of Technology • School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Non‑Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 3023 Atlanta, GA