Department of

Chemical EngineeringFall 2006

The Consumer Product Manufacturing EnterpriseTM wasawarded first place in the Engineering Enterprise competitionat the annual Undergraduate Exposition in April. TheEngineering Enterprise program, according to the MTU web-site, “gives teams of students the opportunity to participate inreal-world settings to solve engineering, design, and commu-nication problems in partnership with industry sponsors.”CPM received a $300 cash prize for its top-rated efforts.

Housed in theChemicalEngineering Dept.,CPM beat 22 otherenterprises in thePoster andPresentation categorywith its 2005-2006project, a small-scale canning machine design. The can-ning machine project was undertaken for the KeweenawBrewing Company, a Houghton microbrewery. KBC co-owner and MTU alum Richard Gray has provided financialsupport for the project, which is expected to produce adesign appropriate to meet the canning needs of mid- andsmall-size beverage producers. Major funding for CPMcomes from the Kimberly-Clark Foundation, which also

New Inductees forChemicalEngineeringDistinguishedAcademy HonoredSee page 3

CPM representatives pose in their laboratory. Left to right, Dana Bowlby, Adetoun Ayorinde, Dr. Sean Clancey(co-advisor), Tiarah Winston, Roberta Larsen, Dr. Tony Rogers(co-advisor)

Continued on page 7

Pardon our dust! The ChemicalSciences and Engineering building isundergoing a major $1.3 million dollarupgrade, the first since it was built in1968. Last fall, when state physicalplant funds became available, we hada classroom renovation proposal pre-pared and were able to respondpromptly. Working with the adminis-tration and facilities group, we haveplanned and carried out a major reno-vation of all the public areas andclassrooms in our building. We nowhave new furniture and the bestteaching technologies available in allof our classrooms. We take our repu-tation as one of the best programs forundergraduate engineering educationseriously, and we continue to improveour excellent undergraduate training.

Over the past year:• Our department has instituted a

new minor and courses in bio-process engineering.

• We have redesigned our processcontrol curriculum to incorporatea studio laboratory experience.We have invested in new com-puter facilities and software, andhave proposals in place to fund anew dedicated process controllab.

• We have revised and implement-ed a new one semester thermo-dynamics course.

• We have hired a new instructor,Katie Torrey, to concentrate sole-ly on academic advising.

• The engineering communicationscourse in our department hascontinued to receive strong

industrial support, and is nowbeing adopted by other engineer-ing departments.

• For the last 2 years, 3 of the 12finalists for the outstandingteaching award were from our

Continued on page 2

Letter from the chair –

CPM awarded First Place in Competition

We are also continuing to enhanceour status as a leader in chemicalengineering research. We havefocused with great success on 4 majorareas of research: bio-processing,alternative energy, mineral processing,and polymers. To accommodate thisgrowth, we have just completed aresearch laboratory renovation of over$200K. We have devoted a portion ofthis newsletter to discuss the researchcurrently going on in the departmentin greater detail. A few of the high-lights include:

• We have obtained a second con-gressional earmark for $500K andother funds to help rebuild ourdepartmental research infrastruc-ture, which had fallen into disre-pair. Using these funds for infra-structure and “seed money” hasbeen very successful, directlyresulting in 3 major new grantsfrom other sources.

• Drs. Gerry Caneba and DavidShonnard have received and suc-

cessfully started a significant newmaterials research project well inexcess of $1 million.

• Our strategic efforts in AlternativeFuels Research that we began 3years ago have positioned us wellto be a major player for the rapidlygrowing research in this area. Wehave received a major NSF grantfor the “wood-to-wheels” program,which places us at the forefront ofthe bio-processing field.

• Drs. Komar Kawatra and TimEisele continue to conduct nation-ally recognized research in miner-als processing and sustainable useof resources.

• Overall, our total research expendi-tures reached approximately $3million this year, and we continueto be among the most productivedepartments in the graduation ofPh.D. graduates at MTU.

Our department also continues to bea place where employers know theycan find the best-prepared chemicalengineering graduates. We now havea 16-member Industrial Advisory Boardthat is actively engaged in our depart-

ment and assessment process. Thiswas especially important during ourrecent successful accreditation visit.

Our relationships with both our oldindustry friends and several new oneshave been growing. This is showingup in increased support and studentemployment. We are especially grate-ful to the Grain Processing Corporation,which has agreed to fund our seminarseries for the next 5 years. In thisseries, we have been able to bring thetop chemical engineers and scientiststo Michigan Tech to speak to both ourundergraduates and graduate students.

I hope you will take the time to readthrough the newsletter and discovermore about what has been happeningin the Department of ChemicalEngineering at Michigan Tech. Also,please let us know what is happeningin your life by filling out and sendingin the Alumni and friends update cardattached at the end of this newsletter.

Letter from the chair-Continued from page 1

“He is a great teacher, and has avery good personality. He will try hishardest to help you succeed.”

“At my 4 year stay at MTU as achemical engineer, Dr. Sandell hasbeen the most helpful and under-standable professor I have had.”

“He goes out of his way to help stu-dents.”

“He puts our education and successfirst.”

These are a sampling of studentcomments that helped AssociateProfessor John Sandell become therecipient of the university’s 2006Distinguished Teaching Award. Theaward is given each year by theCenter for Teaching, Learning, andFaculty Development to faculty in twocategories: Professor/AssociateProfessor, and AssistantProfessor/Lecturer. Award winners are

chosen from a list of 10 finalists, 5 ineach category.

The finalists are chosen based on areview of more than 45,000 teachingevaluations. The award winner isthen selected by a committee madeup of faculty, staff, and student repre-sentatives. The decision is made fol-lowing a canvassing of the finalists’

current classes, during which the stu-dents are asked why the finalistshould win the award. Commentsfrom the general university popula-tion, including alumni, are also solicit-ed. The winner receives a $2,500cash award.

Dr. Sandell, a several-time finalist,came to the Chemical Engineeringdepartment from the School ofTechnology, and maintains a positionas adjunct associate professor in theCivil and Environmental Engineeringdepartment. He has also been arecipient of the Faculty of the Yearaward from the MTU chapter of theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers.John is a deserving recipient, accord-ing to William Kennedy, director of theCenter and chair of the selection com-mittee. John “…has exhibited excel-lence in the classroom,” wroteKennedy in an e-mail.

Sandell Recipient of Distinguished Teaching Award

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Dr. Michael E. MullinsChair and Professor

— 3 —

Established in 1995 to recognize alumni and special friends of the department, theDistinguished Academy of Chemical Engineering has inducted numerous honoreeswho have obtained the highest levels of leadership in their careers, communities,and society as a whole. We are pleased to announce the six new members inductedfor 2006:

New Inductees Honored

Dr. Edward R.Fisher

Ed was born inDetroit, Michigan in1938. In 1943 he movedwith his family toOceanside, California justnorth of San Diegowhere he completed hisearly schooling. Hegraduated fromMiraCosta College in1958, from the University

of California, Berkeley in 1961, and from Johns HopkinsUniversity in 1965 with a Ph.D. in Chemical EngineeringScience. After a year at the H.C. Orsted Institute of theUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark, he joined theGeneral Electric Space Sciences Laboratory in King ofPrussia, Pennsylvania. Ed began his academic career by

joining Wayne State University in 1968. He becameProfessor in 1974 and Associate Dean for Research andGraduate Programs in 1978. In 1985, he joined MichiganTech as Professor and Chair of the Department ofChemistry and Chemical Engineering. After thirteenyears as chair of Chemical Engineering and one year asInterim Dean of Engineering, Ed retired in 2003 asProfessor Emeritus. After retirement, Ed continues to beactive by serving on committees of the AmericanChemical Society in support of chemical technician edu-cation and as a Life Trustee of the Michigan Tech Fund.He also is active in village governance as an electedmember of the Lake Linden Village Council and as aboard member of the Lake Linden DowntownDevelopment Authority. Ed has a small but growingwood crafts business and supports his wife Nancy in herretail business, Yarns & Threads, in yarns, knitting, fab-rics, and related fiber crafts. Ed and Nancy live in LakeLinden and have five children and four grandchildren.

Thomas P. Meinz

A native of Escanaba, MI, Mr. Meinz was awarded hisB.S. in Chemical Engineering from MTU in 1969. He thenbegan what is now a 37-year career with the WPSResources Corporation, serving as a power plant engineerand an engineer for the Kewaunee, WI, nuclear plantstart-up. From 1974-1986 he held the position of Directorof Environmental Services, and in 1986 was namedDirector of Power System Regulatory

Projects. In 1989 he became Director and President ofthe Wisconsin River Power Company, which owns andoperates the Castle Rock and Petenwell flowages withthe Wisconsin Power and Light Company.

In 1996 he added the title of Director and VicePresident of the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company,which regulates the Wisconsin River watershed. Since2000, Tom has become Executive Vice President ofPublic Affairs for WPS, and Chairman of the UpperPeninsula Power Company, which provides electricity to a4,500 square mile area in the U.P. Additionally, he serves

as Director of WPSServices and Directorand Vice President ofthe charitable WPSResources Foundation,and holds Directorshipsof Michigan GasUtilities and MinnesotaEnergy Resources. Hiscommunity activitiesinclude service on theBoard of Advisors ofthe Greater Green BaySalvation Army and asCommissioner of the Green Bay Metropolitan SewerageDistrict. In 2003 he served as director of a company thatamong other responsibilities manages the Resch Center inGreen Bay and the Brown County Arena. Married to hiswife Susan for 38 years, the couple have two daughters,Jen, a chemical engineer, and Sara, a physician.

— 4 —

John J. Simmons

A native of Ironwood, MI, Mr. Simmons learned thebasics of business at the age of 10 with two paper routes,and by the age of 13 he was operating five Sunday paperselling locations. He graduated Summa Cum Laude fromMichigan Tech in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree inMetallurgical Engineering. While at MTU, he was a four-year member and captain of the Michigan Tech boxingteam, and was a member of Alpha Sigma Mu and the TauBeta Pi and Blue Key National Honor Societies . Upon grad-uation, Mr. Simmons worked in the iron ore industry inMinnesota for six years as a plant manager and as theleader of a team that worked on the successful develop-ment of heavy media and cyclone iron ore beneficiationtechnologies. He then formed his own engineering compa-ny, Simmons and Associates, developing technology forsuch clients as Kennecott Copper Corporation, United StatesSteel Corporation, and the Ethyl Corporation.

Moving to North Dakota in 1969, Mr. Simmons managedseveral major construction projects until he returned to hisown engineering firm to develop technology that would bethe basis for the formation of Carbontec Energy Corporationand Thermo Technologies, LLC. Chairman and CEO of

Carbontec and ThermoTechnologies, Mr.Simmons has more thana dozen patents in areassuch as energy, coal,wood products, chemi-cals, and oil spillcleanup. Carbontec’ssynthetic coal technologyis use to produce morethan 12 million tons ofsynthetic coal per year,while ThermoTechnologies developsand markets super absorbent fire retardant polymers for thefire suppression and fire protection industry.

An Air Force veteran, John is a member of the AmericanInstitute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and is onthe Board of Directors of the Theodore Roosevelt MedoraFoundation. He received the North Dakota Entrepreneur ofthe Year Award from the University of Mary in Bismarck, NDin 2005. John resides with his wife of 52 years, Nancy, inNaples, Florida.

Manila G. (Bud)Shaver

Mr. Shaver, a retiredMajor General in theUnited States Army, is a1955 graduate in chemi-cal engineering fromTech. Upon graduation,he was commissioned a2nd Lieutenant, Artillery.Over the subsequentyears, with periods ofactive and reserve duty,

he was employed as a chemical engineer, salesman, mar-keting manager, and manager of the 3M Company’sResource Recovery Department. In that capacity, from1981 to 1987,

Mr. Shaver reports that it would have taken more than

one billion dollars in sales to produce the pre-tax incomethat 3M’s US Divisions realized from the surplus disposalactivities of that department. While in the Army, Mr.Shaver received the General John J. Pershing award as aDistinguished Graduate of the Army’s Command andGeneral Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS. He is also agraduate of the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA.

Upon retirement from 3M in 1990 and relocation to NorthCarolina, Mr. Shaver has been a past president of theMoore/Sandhills Coalition for Human Care, a coalition ofchurches which provides emergency care to those in need,and past president of the local Sandhills chapter of theMilitary Officers Association of America. For his efforts inproviding Christmas food baskets to the needy, Mr. Shaverwas awarded a Patrick Henry Citation by the U.S. NationalGuard Association. Mr. Shaver is a co-sponsor of a lawschool scholarship fund that will award its first scholar-ships this fall. Manila, who has five children and twelvegrandchildren, lives with his wife of 22 years in West End,North Carolina.

New Inductees Honored Continued

— 5 —

Vincent A. Vellella

President and Owner of Veltec Corp., Mr. Vellella graduat-ed from Michigan Tech in 1960 with a B.S. degree inMetallurgical Engineering. Mr. Vellella then signed on withthe Republic Steel Corporation, where he worked on thedevelopment of ultra-pure flotation processes for the ironore division and invented slag metal recovery systems.

He served as a consultant in the mid-60s for the UnionCarbide Corp. and Materials Separators, Inc., both in Ohio,and for Inmetco in Ellwood City, Pa, eventually becomingthe founder and president of the Pittsburgh PacificProcessing Co. From 1986 to the present, Mr. Vellellabecame founder and director of Veltec Laboratories, andserved as director of the Western Pacific TechnologyCorporation and the Ferrous Environmental RecyclingCorporation.

Other consulting positions include the Scientific EcologyGroup of the Westinghouse Corporation and RougeIndustries, and other companies in Venezuela and France.

In all, Mr. Vellella hasbeen a consultant in themineral processing areafor 15 corporations, andhad held director or part-ner positions seven cor-porations. Mr. Vellellaholds many professionalmemberships, includingthe metallurgical honorsociety Alpha Sigma Muas a Tech student, theAmerican Institute ofMetallurgical Engineers,the Mining and Mineral Engineering Industrial AdvisoryBoard, and the Metallurgical & Materials EngineeringAcademy. Mr. Vellella also served for four years in the U.S.Air Force, and was a Special Weapons supervisor. He cur-rently resides in Moon Township, PA.

New Inductees Honored Continued

Thomas J.Smegal

Mr. Smegal receivedhis bachelor’s degree inchemical engineeringfrom what was thenthe Michigan College ofMining and Technologyin 1957, and graduatedCum Laude with a JurisDoctor from the GeorgeWashington UniversityLaw School in 1961. A

specialist in providing expert witness testimony in intellec-tual property disputes,

Mr. Smegal has been a frequent lecturer on intellectualproperty law and litigation at the Center for American andInternational Law and the Tuck School of Business atDartmouth, as well as in educational seminars sponsored

by the state and national intellectual property law associa-tions. Mr. Smegal was a partner in the San Franciscooffice of Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear from 1998, whenhe opened that office, through 2005, and now practiceslaw in his own San Francisco firm.

He has been nominated by two presidents to serve onthe Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation,and in recognition of his life-long dedication to deliveringlegal services to the indigent, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association honored him in 1987 as the recipientof its prestigious Arthur Von Breson Award. He has beenlong active in professional associations, including positionsas President of the American Intellectual Property LawAssociation (1986); Chair of the American Bar AssociationSection of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law (1990-1992), President of the Board of Directors of theInternational Association of Intellectual Property Lawyers(1995-2001). Mr. Smegal is the author of numerous articlesregarding intellectual property law, and has practiced full-time in the field for 43 years.

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Alumni notes

Joshua Ackerman, - Grad Year2004 - I have worked with BASF attheir steam cracker in port Arthur, TXand MDI unit in Geismar, LA. InJanuary I’ll be moving to Wyandotte,MI to work in Amino Resins. By mid2006 I’ll be posting internally for amore permanent location.

Lori Andersin, (Hodgkinson) -Grad Year 2000 - I had a baby girl onAugust 16,2005, and named herAvery Tatum.

Lawrence D. Carbary - Grad Year1982 -June 2005 I was awarded theASTM Committee C24 Sealants Hall ofFame Award. This was in recognitionof 23 years of construction sealantsexperience, national and internation-al construction experience, andnumerous publications in IndustryJournals. I encourage other Chem E’sto look at the construction industry asa career.

Ray Darby & Laura Krehn -Graduation Year 1984 - Ray and Laurahave been granted New Zealand citi-zenship in March of 2006. They con-tinue to live aboard their yacht “Ariel”and enjoy sailing and hiking.

Bruce G. Davey - Grad Year 1965- I retired in 2/04 after 30 years withLonza Inc. The last 14 years I wasPlant Manager of their Illinois facility.I built a new home and moved toNew London WI. I’m currently volun-teering 3 days a week at the soupkitchen/food pantry and local animalshelter.

Michelle Fitzgerald - Grad Year1996 - I completed my MSE inMechanical Engineering from theUniversity of Michigan in April 2000while working for Chrysler in AuburnHill, MI. I continued my education bycompleting an MBA in April 2005from the Ross Business School at the

University of Michigan and accepteda position with the Boeing Companyin Seattle, WA where I am currentlyworking on structural testing for the787 air frame.

Sarah Garchar (Wakely) - GradYear 2002 - I married Bryan Garchar,an electrical engineer working forGeneral Motors on 9/4/05. I haverecently started a new job workingas a process engineer for LyondelChemical Company in Astabula, OH.We are living in Youngstown, OH.

James & Kristin Jensen (Minich)– Grad Year 2002. Married June 20,2003, the couple lives in Anchorage,Alaska. James is a process engineerfor the Emerald Consulting Group,and Kristin is a process engineer forBP. Prior to taking his process engi-neering position, James was a mete-orologist in the U.S. Air Force.

Continued on next page

New Presidential Council of Alumnae Member

Jill M. (Caimotto)Meister

Jill graduated fromMichigan Tech in 1988with a bachelor’s degreein Chemical Engineeringand began an eighteenyear career with UOP LLCin Des Plaines, Illinois.Her first position withUOP was as DevelopmentEngineer, followed byadvancing positions ofTechnical Advisor,

Modular Systems Product Engineer, Modular SystemsProduct Manager, and Alkylation & Oxygenates TechnologyManager. Since 2002 she has held the position of SeniorAlkylation Specialist in the Development area.

As a senior specialist, Jill is responsible for preparingand delivering technical presentations and papers world-wide, as well as overseeing research and developmentprojects to support these technologies. Jill has one patentfor Hydrocarbon Recovery from Corrosive Effluent Stream,

two patents pending; and several Memorandum ofInventions with potential for future patents. Additionally,she has published in several trade magazines and books,and has presented at trade conferences around the worldon alkylation and oxygenate technologies. This March Jillpresented at the National Petrochemical and RefineryAssociation (NPRA) Annual Meeting. She presented at the2005 Science Career in Search of Women Conference atArgonne National Laboratory, the Japan Petroleum Institute(2004), and the Harts Conference (2000).

While a student at Michigan Tech, Jill was a member ofthe Michigan Tech Student Foundation and the AmericanInstitute of Chemical Engineers. After graduation, Jill hascontinued her involvement with the University, serving onthe Michigan Tech Alumni Association Board of Directorsfrom 1994 until 1998; since 1989 she has served as theTreasurer of the Chicago Chapter of the Michigan TechAlumni Association. In her community, Jill and her hus-band, Peter, have been a presenting couple at DiscoveryWeekends for the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1994.

Jill and her husband reside in Elk Grove Village, Illinoiswith their daughters Michelle and Jessica.

— 7 —

James Johnston - I marriedAngela Campau, class of 2000grad in CLE. Our daughter Janewas born July 5,2005. Jim worksat Stora Enso and Angela worksat Kimberly-Clark.

Mark Konecki - GraduationYear 1979 - As of January 2006I transferred to BP’s joint ven-ture in Russia, whose name isTNK-BP.

Lisa Lindberg - Grad Year1998 - I am now a Staff Engineerat Affyrnetrix in Sacramento, C A.

John Paige - Grad Year 1960 -I have relocated from Townsend,TN to Dublin, OH and enjoy hear-ing about Chem Eng activities atTech. Keep up the good work.

Lisa M. Parks (Nemecek) -Grad Year 2000 - We had a newbaby girl January 3, 2006, andnamed her Kaitlyn Rose.

Gene Renzaglia - Grad Year1969 - Retired January 1, 2006,as U.S. Manufacturing Director forElementts Chromium, a division ofElementts PLC.

Rahul & Rebecca Saxena(Puumala) - Grad Year 2001/1991- Rahul is Sr. Research Scientistin Furniture & Floor Products at S.C. Johnson & Son Company inRacine, WI. Rebecca is a Chemistwith Rustoleum Corporation in

Pleasant Prairie, WI. We have twodaughters, Johanna (11) andNatasha (8).

Tina Schmiedel (Taylor) -Grad Year 1984 - I received anMBA from UW - Oshkosh. After 17years with Procter & GambleOperations Manager, I’m nowworking at Oshkosh TruckCorporation as CorporateMarketing programs manager. Imarried Gary Schrniedel, a 1983MTU grad in ME, and have 3 chil-dren, Sarah, Rebecca and Jacob.Gary is Vice President, AdvancedProducts at OTC.

Melissa F. Sorensen.(Golembiewski) - Grad Year 1997- My second child was bornOctober 11, 2005, and namedAndrew John. My first child,Matthew Dean, is now two yearsold.

Scott Stachowiak - Grad Year1995 - I am a manufacturing andquality engineer for Dow Coming.My wife, Aimee, and I have twochildren. Brendan was born inOctober 2003 and Lydia was bornin June 2005.

Daniel P. Starin - Grad Year1958 - Passed away 10/20/05.

Rick Stevens - Grad Year1987 - I received an MS

provides mentoring for project teams. CPM is advised by faculty members Tony

Rogers and Sean Clancey. Student officersfor the award-winning project were RobertaLarsen (President), Michael Baker (Vice-President), Adetoun Ayorinde (Secretary),Jessica Ruth (Treasurer) and DanielleSchneider (Documentation). The CPM teamshowcased their project at the Expo with aroot-beer can filling demonstration thatproved popular with onlookers. CPM’s win-ning project built on a tradition of success.Since its founding in Fall 2000, CPM haswon two other first-place awards in thePoster and Presentation category, and hasbeen the co-winner of the ManagementTeam of the Year award.

The project will continue next year underthe leadership of President Laura Strokirchand Vice-President Ruth. CPM will have theuse of KBC’s current canning machine,which is being taken out of service. Onefocus of CPM’s work, besides upgrading theold machine with sensors that identifyimproperly-filled cans and a computer-con-trolled system to overcome other canningfaults, will be designing and building adepalletizer for full-size pallets of cans anda rinsing and drying station for filled cans.

These additions are expected to be usedon canning machines at KBC’s new SouthRange canning facility. “I’m looking forwardto working on the project again this fall,”Strokirch said. “It’s exciting to be part of aproject from start to finish.”

Continued on next page

The Industrial Advisory Board is an indispensable means of seeing that we are keeping our programtop-notch. This board meets semi-annually to “consult on ideas and visions that will continue to keep ourchemical engineering program in tune with the long-term needs of the chemical and materials process-ing industries”. We would like to thank the following people for their willingness to serve on this board:

Mark MlezivaKimberly-Clark Corporation

John WrightPfizer Inc.

Ron CarrollCambrex Corporation

Gene ChamberlainArcher Daniels Midland

Susan L. Korpela3M

Dave ReifEmerson

John SparksGrain Processing Corporation

Wayne E. EnderleBASF Corporation

James SandersonDow Corning Corporation

William HammackUniversity of Illinois

Mary KorpiNewmont Mining Corporation

Chris GoslingUOP LLC

Karen MikkolaMosaic

Joseph CarrabbaCleveland-Cliffs

Scott CollickDow Chemical

Industrial Advisory Board

CPM Awarded Continued from page 1

Alumni notes (Continued)

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Nam Kim Retires

Nam Kim retired effective June 30,and is now Professor Emeritus. Dr. Kimgraduated from National University inKorea in 1964, and pursued a career inengineering for 15 years before receiv-ing his PhD from Montana StateUniversity. Since coming to MTU in

1982, Nam has excelled in researchand teaching. His accomplishmentshave included bringing in more than$600,000 in research grants, co-authorship of 11 refereed publications,sole authorship of two textbooks, andthe receipt of three U.S. patents,including one for a superfastener,awarded in 1986. His research inter-ests were centered around processcontrol and energy conservation andoptimization.

A finalist for MTU’s DistinguishedTeaching Award, and an inductee intoboth Who’s Who Among America’sTeachers and The Best Teachers inAmerica, Nam says that his teachingphilosophy was based on creating apositive environment for his students.“I’ve been excited and enthusiasticabout teaching,” he said. “I looked atmyself as more of a ‘big brother’ figurerather than as a course instructor. Iencouraged students to ask questionswithout fear.”

University service was also one ofhis hallmarks, including his work inpromoting diversity as a member ofMTU’s holiday committee. The commit-tee recommended that the universitycelebrate the holidays of more of theworld’s religions than just Christianity.“ There are a number of other religionsthat embrace all kinds of cultures,”Nam said. ”We wanted to give otherreligions their opportunity to displaythemselves.”

A 7th degree black belt holder inTaekwon-Do, Nam enjoys drawing,water color, and skiing. Nam will alsocontinue to keep his hand in teaching,leaving in August to spend a sabbaticalyear teaching chemical engineering atChonnam National University in Korea.Along with his teaching, Nam says thatin his retirement “I’ll be activelyinvolved in serving society, especiallyhelping people who cannot help them-selves.”

Nam Kim

"Visitors to the Chemical Sciences andEngineering Building will see this newlyrenovated first-floor hallway, a part of thebuilding renovations that were completedthis summer."

Building Renovations completed

Engineering Technology degree5/05 from the University ofMemphis. I was promoted toCorporate Quality Manager atAssociated Rubber Company inTallapoosa, GA in July 2005. Imoved to Tallapoosa with my wifeStacy.

Lynn Sygnecki - Grad Year 2001- I moved to Osaka, Japan to contin-ue work on a lightemitting polymerproject which was transferred fromthe Dow Chemical Company(Midland, MI) to Sumitom ChemicalCo., Ltd. Via a business acquisition. Iwill work in Osaka for one year inthe Process & Production TechnologyCenter at the Osaka Works plant.

Steven Weiss - Grad Year 1965 -I began a sales marketing effort for astart-up company, AdvancedSeparation Technologies in 1999. In1996, sold company and retired in1999.

Alumni notes (Continued)

— 9 —

Focus on ResearchBy Jason Keith, Associate Professor

and Graduate Program Chair

Today’s Michigan Tech is a lot dif-ferent than the Michigan Tech youstudied at. The university is focusingmore and more of its resources inresearch and graduate educationwhile maintaining excellence in itsundergraduate programs. Within theDepartment of Chemical Engineering,we have been working on severalexciting research projects whichengage our students at a whole newlevel. A listing of major projects issummarized in the following table.Some projects are highlighted in ourspotlight articles. If you have anyquestions or know of some promising

graduate students, drop me a line atjmkeith@mtu.edu.

Researchers Receive $1.7Million Grant to Create Light,Strong Green Foams

Michigan Technological Universityresearchers have been awarded $1.7million to develop structural foams thatcould be used in security applications.

The 15-month Phase 1 contract wasawarded by Raytheon Company as partof a $3.7 million program funded by theDefense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA) to develop lightweight,portable barriers that could be used tohelp protect vulnerable targets andprovide safe crowd control.

“We need very strong and light-

weight barriers that could be erectedquickly at any location and can beremoved very quickly, and we can dothat with polymer foams,” said princi-pal investigator Ghatu Subhash, a pro-fessor in the Department ofMechanical Engineering-EngineeringMechanics. “They will also be envi-ronmentally benign, fire-resistant, andpose no health hazards.”

The research is being conductedthrough Michigan Tech’s Center forEnvironmentally Benign FunctionalMaterials (described below) and itsSustainable Futures Institute. Co-prin-cipal investigators on the project areassociate professor Gerard Caneba andprofessor David Shonnard, both of theDepartment of Chemical Engineering.

Agency &Dates Description Chemical Engineering

InvestigatorsChemical EngineeringFunding (est.) Other Information

NSF2005-2010

Material Use – Science,Engineering, Society(MUSES)

Shonnard $293,000Collaboration betweenforestry, engineering, socialscience

NSF2004-2009

Integrated GraduateEducation and ResearchTraining (IGERT)

Shonnard, Keith, King,Holles, Rogers $1,500,000 Collaboration with

Sustainable Futures Institute

DARPA2006-2007 ReBar (Reversible Barriers) Shonnard and Caneba $1,100,000 Collaboration with

Mechanical Engineering

NSF2005-2008

Thermoplastics for Fuel CellBipolar Plate Applications King and Keith $300,000 Collaboration with Dana

Corporation

Dept. ofEducation2002-2006

Graduate Assistantships inAreas of National Need

Kawatra, King, Eisele,Rogers $742,000 PhD fellowships

DOE2002-2006

Energy Efficiency in IronMaking Kawatra and Eisele $548,000

AIChESince 1991

Thermodynamic Data andStructure-PropertyEstimations

Rogers $40,000 per year

USAID Unison-MTU program Barna $300,000 PhD fellowships

Caterpillar Bio-based EnergyTechnologies Shonnard $150,000

Collaboration betweenforestry, engineering, andsocial science

Continued on next page

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Center for EnvironmentallyBenign Functional MaterialsEstablished

As part of the $1.7 Million DARPAgrant, the Center for EnvironmentallyBenign Functional Materials (CEBFM)has been formed. The center willhave high throughput experimentation(HTE) equipment, which will facilitatethe completion of a large number ofchemical engineering experimentswith the assistance of a few dedicat-ed manpower resources. It is an off-shoot of the combinatorial analysismethods that were developed andused to complete the human genomeproject way ahead of schedule.Currently envisioned HTE systems inCEBFM include:

1. A robotic arm system for multiplefluids dispensing, within a controlled-atmosphere and enclosed chamber forhandling dangerous chemicals. Thesame robotic system can be fittedwith an automatic solid weighing anddispensing station.

2. A shaker system for multipleposition block experiments.

3. A 64-position block heating/cool-ing system for simultaneous atmos-pheric physical and chemical transfor-mation experiments.

4. A 25-position block heating/cool-ing system for simultaneous mediumpressure (up to 8 atm) physical andchemical transformation experiments.

5. A 20-position high pressureblock heating/cooling system forsimultaneous physical and chemicaltransformation experiments.

HTE is one of the new trends in thechemical industry, which is beingimplemented across the board inorder to reduce the foreign outsourc-ing of research activities. The experi-ments are of small scale and high effi-ciencies that they are suitable asteaching tools for concepts in thermo-dynamics, chemical kinetics, transportprocesses, and control systems.

Researchers Investigate NewMaterials for Fuel Cell BipolarPlates

Associate professors Julie King andJason Keith are working with graduatestudents Michael Miller, RodwickBarton, and Rebecca Hauser on poly-mer composites for fuel cell bipolarplate applications. The researchers areusing a liquid crystal polymer withmultiple carbon fillers to achieve highthermal and electrical conductivity.Testing is also being performed on thetensile strength and rheology (in col-laboration with associate professorFaith Morrison) of the new materials.The work is funded through the UnitedStates Department of Energy, theNational Science Foundation, and theMichigan Space Grant Consortium.Significant technical input is beingprovided by Dr. Eve Steigerwalt ofDana Corporation. Graduate studentsare funded through grants from theNational Science Foundation and fromthe United States Department ofEducation. King and Keith have alsoworked with 20 undergraduate stu-dents in their laboratory since the pro-gram inception.

Alternative Bio-Based Fuelsand Chemicals

Professor David Shonnard isinvolved in a multidisciplinary NSF-funded research project to investigaterenewable fuels from forest resources.His involvement in this project coversresearch to improve the conversion ofwoody biomass to soluble sugars andthen fermentation of these sugars toethanol. The graduate students (1 MSand 1 PhD) will investigate dilute acidpretreatment of the wood to determinekinetic parameters that will lead to abetter mechanistic understanding ofthe reactions and to higher yields offermentable sugars. Another aspect ofthe research will develop improvedcellulases (enzymes to degrade cellu-lose to glucose). Life cycle assessmentresearch of the wood-to-ethanol

process will focus on developinginventory data for different forestmanagement alternatives.

Hydrogen Combustion UpdateHydrogen has been proposed as an

alternate energy source for the future.The main motivation for using hydro-gen is due to the fact that hydrogencombustion produces only watervapor as a product without producingany carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxidehas been implicated as a major com-ponent to global warming.

Hydrogen is a flammable gas and,as such, requires special storage andhandling procedures to prevent a fireor explosion. These safety require-ments depend on a full understand-ing of the flammability and combus-tion behavior of hydrogen.Unfortunately, the publicly availableflammability data for hydrogen isvery outdated and incomplete.

Herbert H. Dow Professor forChemical Process Safety Daniel Crowlis working with visiting professorYoung-Do Jo from the Institute of GasSafety Technology of the Korea GasSafety Corporation on measuringhydrogen flammability data andunderstanding its significancetowards a hydrogen economy. Theyare using the 20-Liter combustionsphere in professor Crowl’s laboratoryto obtain high quality hydrogen com-bustion data over a very wide rangeof stoichiometries and operating con-ditions. The data includes high pre-cision pressure vs. time data.

To date, over 400 runs have beencompleted. This includes flammabili-ty triangles at 1, 1.25, 0.75 and 0.5atm showing the flammable composi-tions. The results show that hydro-gen has very wide flammability limitsand burns with a very high burningvelocity compared to hydrocarbonfuels. These data will be of enor-mous benefit to design safe hydrogenprocesses.

Focus on Research (Continued from previous page)

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