In honor of Professor J.D. Lindsay, Texas A&M’s first chemical engineering department head, the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering established the Lindsay Lecture Series to bring speakers to the university. Coming from both industry and academia, the lecturers are recognized for their accomplishments in the practice, teaching and/or research of chemical engineering. The series also allows the lecturers several days for visiting the university and the department and for exchanging ideas on teaching and research objectives and methods.

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J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series 2008- 2009 Schedule
Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering
Texas A&M University
Fall 2008

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, August 7, 2008 – Thomas K. Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his work in modifying bacteria so that they produce hydrogen that can be used as an energy source.

Wood, who is working with colleagues from the University of Central Florida and the University of Connecticut, was awarded $300,000 to continue his research into genetically modifying a strain of Escherichia coli.

His initial work with the bacteria has shown promise, resulting in a strain that produces more than 140 times the amount of hydrogen than is created in a naturally occurring process. That early success could prove to be a significant stepping stone on the path to a hydrogen-based economy that has the potential to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil in an environmentally friendly way.

Still, Wood acknowledges that there is more work to be done, and he says support by the NSF will enable his research to move into its next phase.

For more information on Wood’s research in this area, click here.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 17, 2008 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been invited to participate in a group tasked with identifying key research areas that could improve the nation’s capabilities for countering terrorist attacks that utilize improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The group will be convening March 17 and 18 in Washington, D.C. at a National Academies workshop, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the National Research Council. The workshop, “Disrupting IED Terror Campaigns: Predicting IED Activities,” is bringing together experts from a variety of areas, including graph theory, criminology, statistics, data fusion, pattern recognition, law enforcement and discrete-mathematics.

Laird’s research focuses on large-scale nonlinear optimization, parameter estimation, and parallel computing. As part of his past research, Laird has worked on developing algorithms as part of an early warning contaminant detection system in municipal drinking water networks. In addition, he is involved in the modeling and optimization of infectious diseases, working to determine the fundamental driving forces affecting the spread of infectious disease in both time and space.

IEDs are a threat to national and international security. These destructive devices can be assembled relatively easily and are difficult to detect or prohibit. Those who employ them have typically shown a cycle of adaptation that is short relative to the rate at which counter-IED efforts are implemented, says a workshop representative.

However, because there are generally many individuals and activities associated with the deployment of these devices, prediction of IED-related activities from intelligence data, including visual, electronic, transactional, narratives and other data forms has been identified as a key element in countering the IED threat.

The National Academies recently issued a report on basic research for countering improvised explosive devices IEDs. As a follow-up to this report, the committee on basic research for countering IEDs organized this workshop to allow more challenging research areas to be explored in additional depth with a larger cross-section of the research community.

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