Thomas Edison invented the first incandescent light bulb 130 years ago, which greatly contributed to the advancement of civilization. However, that technology is antiquated, economically inefficient to operate, and fragile. Fluorescent lights are energy efficient but they are bulky and have to ‘warm-up’ when turned on. Their bulbs contain phosphorus and mercury, which are toxic to the environment. Today’s LED lights are also energy friendly but are expensive and difficult to manufacture. The process to make conventional LEDs is very complicated, as it involves the growth of single crystal layers on the single crystal substrate. Each layer has to contain low defects for it to work. The cost of LED ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 28, 2012 – Carl D. Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been elected a director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division. CAST, the leading division for process systems engineering in the chemical engineering community, is responsible for the wide range of activities within AIChE that involve the application of computers and mathematics to chemical engineering problems including process design, process control, operations and applied mathematics. Laird, who will serve a three-year term, intends to enhance retention efforts for the organization by further developing existing initiatives aimed at creating and maintaining an active body ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 10, 2012 – M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering at Texas A&M University, has announced that M. Nazmul Karim has been named head of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, effective Sept. 1, 2012. Karim will hold the Mike O'Connor Chair II. Prior to joining Texas A&M, Karim was a member of the faculty at Texas Tech University, where he served as chair and holder of the Whitacre Endowed Department Chair in chemical engineering. He previously was a professor of chemical engineering at Colorado State University and has been a visiting professor at Helsinki University of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Osaka University and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 10, 2012 – Rudy and Susanne Dismuke of Houston have endowed a $60,000 memorial scholarship in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University. This funds will establish The Chieko T. Dismuke Memorial Scholarship, which will be funded through the Texas A&M Foundation. The recipient of this scholarship will be a full-time chemical engineering junior or senior student. “I am grateful for the education I received at Texas A&M," Rudy Dismuke said. "I will never be able to give back to Texas A&M what Texas A&M has given to me. I am honored to endow scholarships that allow students to have access to a great education and a launch ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Aug. 8, 2012 – For people suffering from diabetes and other hormonal disorders, staying healthy means staying vigilant; effective treatment requires periodic and precise doses of drugs throughout the day. The constant upkeep can make for an inconvenient and stressful way of life, but managing these disorders could become easier thanks to drug-delivery technology being developed by Zhengdong Cheng, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Cheng’s work, which is detailed in the scientific journal “Drug Delivery Letters,” is exploring a new method for manufacturing the tiny particles that once inside the bloodstream deliver drug treatments to targeted areas of the body. Unlike previous ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 6, 2012 – Substantial risk remains for serious industrial incidents that could cost property and lives, but effectively integrating science and engineering principles into academia and industry can help mitigate and even prevent these incidents, according to a new publication released by the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University. The publication, “Process Safety Research Agenda for the 21st Century,” is the product of a 2011 conference that was sponsored by the center and attracted a host of international authorities in the field of process safety to help develop a blueprint for the study and integration of process safety in academia and industry. With the goal ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 11, 2012 – The dog days of summer can quickly transform a car’s interior into an oven, but imagine an automobile with high-tech windows that block out the heat, keeping its interior cool to the touch. Such a product might be a step closer to reality thanks to research by Jodie Lutkenhaus, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University whose work with thin-film coatings is helping advance the promising technology. Specifically, Lutkenhaus has developed a new method for measuring the miniscule, physical changes of thin-film coatings in response to shifts in temperature. The method, which she says achieves new levels of accuracy and reliability, is detailed ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 27, 2012 – Benjamin Wilhite, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named to the editorial advisory board of “Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (I&EC Res.)." He will serve a three-year term on the board, helping obtain feedback from readers, authors and reviewers as well as assisting in establishing long-range policies for the journal. In publication since 1909, I&EC Res. is a weekly publication of the American Chemical Society that reports industrial and academic research in the broad fields of applied chemistry and chemical engineering. In 2010, the journal featured more 1,400 peer-reviewed journal articles. Wilhite’s research focuses on reaction engineering ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 14, 2012 – Hae-Kwon Jeong, a faculty member in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received tenure and promotion to associate professor. Jeong joined Texas A&M in 2006. His research focuses on the development of novel methodologies to design, modify, deposit and microfabricate nanostructured materials and to build them into hierarchical structures and complex forms for wide ranges of applications including separation membranes, selective catalysts, adsorbents as well as micro systems, fuel cells, bio-separation and micro photonics. Jeong earned his undergraduate degree and master’s degree in chemical engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He also received a master’s degree in physics from the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 14, 2012 – Select students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Spring 2012 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department's spring graduates, Chibueze Amanchukwu was named recipient of the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Award." In addition, Eric Yang was named recipient of the "2012 Senior Award" from the RHO Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for chemical engineering. Also honored at the graduate reception were student recipients of the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Spring 2012 Senior Award." Those students are Stephen Davis, Matthew Gerich, Andrew Schaaf and Timothy Slinginger. “These students are graduating ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 4, 2012 – Three groups of students from Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognized by the Fluor Corp. for their designs of a gas processing plant. Ryan Mathews, Cristina Muko, Randy Nelson, Stephen Reddin and Amber Trull are members of the team awarded first place by Fluor for its original design of a gas processing plant that operates per Fluor's specifications and which was undertaken as part of an intense senior-level capstone chemical engineering course taught by John Baldwin, senior lecturer in the department. The team of Mahmoud Allaham, Sam Congiundi, Austin Lane, Pradeep Sedhain and Shangbin Sun was awarded second ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 24, 2012 – Juergen Hahn, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named policy committee chair of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). Hahn is the lone U.S. representative on the executive board of IFAC – considered the chief organization for all process controls professionals, regardless of which discipline in which they work. The chair of the policy committee is an ex-officio member of the board. As committee chair, Hahn will be largely responsible for participating in the strategic planning process that IFAC has recently initiated. At Texas A&M, Hahn conducts research that focuses on the development of new systems ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 19, 2012 – Regents Professor and Director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center M. Sam Mannan has been honored with the 2012 Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in Public Service. Mannan, professor in Texas A&M University’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, was recognized for his work in increasing knowledge about process safety in an effort to reduce the injuries, deaths and damage caused by industrial accidents. In recognition of the award, Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin and Executive Director of the Bush Foundation Roman Popadiuk formally presented Mannan with a plaque and a check for $2,500 at a dinner focusing on international excellence. Mannan has ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 16, 2012 — Zhilei Chen, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the Young Investigator’s Research Program Award (YIP) by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). This award will support Chen’s basic research on developing proteinaceous material for efficient enzyme immobilization onto electrodes to create more efficient and longer lasting enzymatic biofuel cells. Chen is one of only 48 recipients of this intensely competitive award, which has success rates of 13-19 percent for all applicants throughout the past three years. The YIP award fosters the early career development of young scientists and provides ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 16, 2012 – James Havlock and Joshua Light, undergraduates in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, have been named recipients of the Buck Weirus Spirit Award by The Association of Former Students. The Buck Weirus Spirit Award, named for Richard "Buck" Weirus, a 1942 graduate of Texas A&M, recognizes students for their outstanding contributions to the university. The award annually honors students who demonstrate high involvement, create positive experiences throughout the Aggie community, impact student life at Texas A&M and enhance the Aggie Spirit. “It is truly an honor to receive the Buck Weirus Spirit Award,” Havlock said. “Buck Weirus made a huge impact on Texas A&M during his ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 4, 2012 ­– Laura Bradt, an undergraduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M, has been awarded first-place honors at the university’s Student Research Week for her research presentation. Bradt, who presented “Analysis of Desalination Processes for Treatment of Produced Water for Irrigation Water Re-Use,” received top honors in the “Earth Sciences, Geosciences, Water Resources” oral presentation category. Her presentation detailed the re-use of the millions of barrels of produced water retrieved from oil wells each year for the purpose of irrigation. Her research will culminate in the publication of an undergraduate thesis on the subject and later a refereed journal publication. “Produced water has ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 30, 2012 – Mahmoud El-Halwagi and Yue Kuo, professors in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, have each been named recipients of the 2012 Distinguished Achievement Award by the university and The Association of Former Students. El-Halwagi and Kuo are two of only 24 members of the school’s faculty and staff to be honored this year for exhibiting the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M. El-Halwagi has been recognized in the teaching category, and Kuo has been recognized in the research category. In addition, Associate Professor Mohamed Nounou, of the department of chemical engineering at Texas A&M at Qatar, also has been ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 26, 2012 – Ali El-Halwagi, an undergraduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the Texas A&M Class Star Award. The university-level honor, which is sponsored by Texas A&M Class Councils, is annually bestowed upon outstanding students from each class year in the categories of academics, athletics, leadership, service and sprit. El-Halwagi, a member of the Class of 2013, is the university’s lone junior representative for the category of academics. He is scheduled to be formally recognized at the university’s Class Star Banquet in April where he will receive the award, which is based on nominations from peers ... Read More »

Wives, take note! A surefire way to surprise your husband at Christmas is to endow a Texas A&M University scholarship in his name. That’s what one enterprising Aggie spouse did, and now the Jeanne and Michael R. Niklasch ’84 Scholarship for chemical engineering students is well on its way to being funded. “I was totally shocked! I had no clue that Jeanne had been speaking with Texas A&M Foundation personnel regarding a scholarship. I should have known something was up when they kept coming to visit,” Mike Niklasch said with a laugh. “Mike is always talking about his experience at A&M, and what a great education he received, so I thought ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 2, 2012 – Zhilei Chen, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a recipient of the prestigious award, Chen will receive $400,000 throughout the next five years for her research, which will develop  a novel protein polymer hydrogel as a general scaffold for the immobilization of enzymes and bioactive proteins. Enzymes are versatile catalysts and are playing an increasingly prominent role in modern biotechnology, Chen notes. However, poor long-term stability and difficulties in recovery and recycling of enzymes in solution have greatly hampered their usefulness ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 3, 2011 – By manipulating the way bacteria “talk” to each other, researchers at Texas A&M University have achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the formation and dispersal of biofilms – a finding with potentially significant health and industrial applications, particularly to bioreactor technology. Working with E. coli bacteria, Professor Thomas K. Wood and Associate Professor Arul Jayaraman of the university’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have employed specific signals sent and received between bacteria to trigger the dispersal of biofilm. Their findings appear online in the January 3 edition of “Nature Communications.” The finding is a significant one, Wood said, because biofilms are notoriously difficult to break ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 16, 2011 – Select students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Fall 2011 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department’s spring graduates, Megan Fitzgibbons was named recipient of the department’s “Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.” Also honored at the graduate reception were three student recipients of the “Chemical Engineering Excellence Award.” Those students are Michelle Havlock, Stephen Kohn and Eric Yang. Addressing the students and their families in attendance, Professor and Interim Department Head Charles Glover lauded the students’ achievements, congratulating them on graduating with a degree in “one of the most demanding majors at ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 2, 2011 – A Texas A&M University research initiative that converts human wastes into biofuels has received a Phase 1 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant totals $100,000 with the opportunity for additional funding of up to $1 million. The 18-month grant will help fund the biomass research program run by Mark Holtzapple, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M. The grant is one of only 110 awards selected from a pool of 2,075 submissions. The objective of the research, Holtzapple says, is to demonstrate that carboxylic acid fermentation can be adapted as a sanitation treatment, providing health ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 21, 2011 – A powerful topical preventative for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, could be a step closer to clinical trials thanks to a newly discovered molecular compound that research at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute shows dissolves the virus on contact. The ability of the synthetic compound known as “PD 404,182” to break apart the AIDS-causing virus before it can infect cells was discovered by Zhilei Chen, assistant professor in the university’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and her team of researchers. Their findings appear in the November online edition of “Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy,” a journal of the American Society ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 21, 2011 - Two members of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering are among a select faculty group honored for contributions to teaching, research and service by Texas A&M University's Dwight Look College of Engineering. Professor Mahmoud El-Halwagi has been named a Texas Engineering Experiment (TEES) Station Fellow, and Assistant Professor Katy Kao has been named a TEES Select Young Faculty member. Holder of the McFerrin Professorship, El-Halwagi is internationally known for his pioneering contributions in the fields of sustainable design and process integration, and he has written three widely used texts on the subject. At Texas A&M, he conducts research and teaches senior-level undergraduate and graduate classes, ... Read More »

The following story is reprinted with permission of The Eagle. It can be found at http://www.theeagle.com/local/Grant-to-fund-cancer-research--6753172. By CASSIE SMITH cassie.smith@theeagle.com   More than $13.2 million was presented recently to Texas A&M University research groups and a College Station company to help with the exploration of new ways to detect and treat cancer. The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas gave the grant money to help find improved versions of a drug used to treat lymphoma and leukemia. Bill Gimson, executive director of the state agency, which was created by state voters' approval of a 2007 constitutional amendment, said Texas is acquiring a reputation as a leader in cancer research and prevention. The institute has ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 1, 2011 – Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is the author of a newly published textbook on process engineering, titled “Sustainable Design through Process Integration.” The book covers the fundamental concepts and practical techniques on the use of process integration to maximize the efficiency and sustainability of industrial processes. The book, El-Halwagi says, serves as a resource tool for systematically enhancing process performance and developing novel and sustainable process designs and is applicable to process engineers, industrial decision makers and researchers in the field. It’s also ideal for use as a text in an upper level undergraduate or an introductory graduate course on ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 18, 2011 – Former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, who served as vice chairman on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, is scheduled to speak about energy-related issues and the protection of the nation’s chemical infrastructure Tuesday, Oct. 25 as part of a three-day symposium aimed at making the process industry a safer place. The annual symposium “Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature” is scheduled for Oct. 25-27 at the Hilton Conference Center and is attracting authorities on safety from throughout the world. Sponsored by the Texas A&M University System Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, the symposium will feature ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 17, 2011 – Chibueze Amanchukwu and Aaron Trask, seniors in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, have been named recipients of the Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineering Award. The award is considered the most prestigious honor bestowed on a graduating senior in the university's Dwight Look College of Engineering and is presented to a student who demonstrates scholastic achievement, leadership skills and a strong moral character. Recipients must have a 3.5 minimum overall GPR, participate in numerous university organizations and posses such qualities as loyalty, honor, duty and integrity. Amanchukwu, who is from Richmond, is strongly respected by professors and peers alike, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 12, 2011 – The unit operations laboratory within the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering is experiencing a significant upgrade thanks to a gift from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. aimed at enhancing this critical component of chemical engineering undergraduate education at Texas A&M University. A gift of $25,000 from Air Products will help upgrade key experiments in the unit operations laboratory, which is used by nearly 140 chemical engineering students each academic year. “We are grateful to Air Products for its support of our endeavors,” said Charles Glover, professor and interim head of the department. “Our department takes immense pride in the educational environment available to our ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 6, 2011 – Andres Mejia, Serdar Ozturk, Rafael Callejas Tovar and James Winkler, graduate students in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, have been named recipients of department fellowships. Mejia, who is advised by Associate Professor Zhengdong Cheng, has been awarded the ConocoPhillips Fellowship. Ozturk and Tovar each have been awarded the Paul and Ellen Deisler Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. Ozturk is advised by Associate Professor Victor Ugaz, and Tovar is advised by Professor Perla Balbuena. Winkler, who is advised by Assistant Professor Katy Kao, has been awarded the Eastman Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Eastman Chemical Group. These fellowships, which include a ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 3, 2011 – Leo D. Durbin, professor emeritus in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the Donald P. Eckman Education Award by the International Society of Automation (ISA). Durbin is receiving the prestigious award for his outstanding contributions to education and training in the science, engineering and technology of instrumentation, systems, and automation. He is scheduled to be formally honored Oct. 17 during the ISA Honors and Awards Gala at the Renaissance Battle House Hotel & Spa in Mobile, Ala. The award, which is a memorial to Donald P. Eckman, formerly of Case-Western Reserve University, recognizes exemplary efforts and achievements ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 16, 2011 – Biofuels may present a promising alternative to the nation’s existing fuel crisis, but before they can be widely adopted, a series of technological hurdles must be overcome in order to facilitate large-scale production, says Daniel Shantz, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University. Working with 20 authorities from academia, industry, national laboratories and federal funding agencies, Shantz developed an extensive report detailing the complexities associated with biofuel production and adoption. “Developing New Paradigms for Biofuel Separations to Enable an Alternative Fuels Future” was released this month and is based on an NSF-sponsored workshop, co-facilitated by Shantz. The report, Shantz says, is intended to serve as a ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 12, 2011 – Jodie Lutkenhaus, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's 17th Annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium. As one of a select number of participants convening at this symposium, Lutkenhaus has been recognized as a faculty member who is actively teaching in a U. S. engineering program and has implemented significant innovations in her classes. The symposium is aimed at recognizing, rewarding and promoting effective, substantive and inspirational engineering education through a sustained dialogue within the emerging generation of innovative faculty. At the symposium, participants will engage ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 12, 2011 – Nancy and Daniel H. Zivney are savvy when it comes to college freshmen—after all, they’ve had two of their own. In today’s competitive environment for top students, they know scholarships can play a big role when high school seniors and their parents select a university. That’s one reason the Florida couple endowed the Nancy and Dan Zivney ’73 Scholarship for freshman chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University. The first recipient will be named for the fall 2011 semester. “We are especially grateful to the Zivneys for their support of our program. Their endowed scholarship will provide much-needed resources for deserving students year after year. ... Read More »

Phillip Toby Eubank, 75, of Bryan, passed away suddenly on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. He was at his home where he resided for more than 42 years. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. at the Hillier Funeral Home. Mr. Eubank was a professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University until he retired in 2005 with the status of Professor Emeritus. Mr. Eubank was born to Phillip and Mildred Eubank on May 12, 1936 in Greenup, Illinois. He grew up working with his father at their Ford Implement Dealership. In 1958, Mr. Eubank received his undergraduate degree from Rose-Hulman Institute and received his Ph.D, from ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 17, 2011 – Chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University are experiencing a significant upgrade to their working conditions, thanks to a gift from Chevron Corp. that will enhance the unit operations laboratory within the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. A gift of $50,000 from Chevron has helped upgrade the department’s gas permeation experiment, a critical component of the undergraduate unit operations laboratory, which is used by nearly 140 aspiring chemical engineers each academic year. “We are grateful to Chevron for this gift in support of our educational endeavors within the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering here at Texas A&M,” said Charles Glover, professor and interim ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 15, 2011 – M. Sam Mannan, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded the honorary degree of doctor honoris causa by the senate of the Technical University of Lodz in Poland. Mannan was recommended for the honor by the faculty council of the university’s Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering. He will be formally recognized at the University of Lodz convocation ceremony, which is scheduled for Sept. 20. Mannan, who holds the title regents professor, serves as director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. He is an internationally recognized expert on process safety and risk assessment. A professional ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 8, 2011 - Charles Glover, professor, has been appointed interim head of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. A faculty member for more than three decades, Glover earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. Rice University. His research focuses on asphalt materials rheological properties, oxidation kinetics, and developing a thermal and oxygen transport model for the oxidation of asphalt binders in pavements. Additionally, he collaborates with researchers in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering and the Texas Transportation Institute on the effects of binder oxidation on pavement performance such as age-related fatigue cracking, aggravated by binder oxidation. In 2001, he received the ... Read More »

Michael and Elizabeth Walzel of Houston will endow a scholarship for chemical engineering freshmen at Texas A&M University. "Attracting and retaining outstanding freshmen is a top priority for our department, together with helping to alleviate the high cost of a university education for our students. We really thank Mike and Liz for their leadership and generosity in providing this much needed scholarship. Endowments such as these not only help students immediately, but for many years to come," said Dr. Michael V. Pishko, chemical engineering department head and Charles D. Holland '53 Professor. The Michael L. Walzel '82 Scholarship will be established with a $30,000 gift to the Texas A&M Foundation. "My chemical engineering ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 27, 2011 – Mohamed Noureldin, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded the Eastman Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Eastman Chemical Group. Noureldin, who completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, is co-advised by Professors Mahmoud El-Halwagi and Nimir Elbashir. “Mohamed is very worthy of receiving such a prestigious accolade,” El-Halwagi says. “He is a brilliant researcher, a dedicated scholar and a thoughtful engineer.” “The uniqueness of his study," Elbashir adds, "is that it identifies the optimum routes and technologies needed for this conversion while simultaneously assessing several parameters, such as the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 20, 2011 – Viet Pham, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named one of two winners of the 2011 Sustainable Engineering Forum Best Student Paper Award, presented by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The paper for which Pham has been recognized is co-authored by Professors Mark Holtzapple and Mahmoud El-Halwagi, also in the chemical engineering department, and resulted in the article “Techno-Economic Analysis of Biomass to Fuel via the MixAlco Process.” That article appears in the “Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology." Pham’s paper details an integrated view for the synthesis, simulation, design and economic analysis ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 16, 2011 - Juergen Hahn, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University has been named associate editor for "Automatica," the flagship journal of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). "Automatica" publishes papers on original theoretical and experimental research and development in the control of systems, involving all facets of automatic control theory and its applications. As associate editor, Hahn will be responsible for obtaining expert reviews for submitted papers and making publication recommendations. At Texas A&M, Hahn conducts research that focuses on the development of new systems analysis techniques and their application in systems biology as well as for traditional chemical engineering processes. ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 24, 2011 - Juergen Hahn, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named to the policy committee of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). IFAC, founded in 1957, is a multinational federation of National Member Organizations (NMOs), each one representing the engineering and scientific societies concerned with automatic control in its own country. The federation promotes the science and technology of control in the broadest sense in all systems - engineering, physical, biological, social or economic - in both theory and application. IFAC is also concerned with the impact of control technology on society. At Texas A&M, Hahn conducts research that focuses ... Read More »

A process safety expert will endow a scholarship for chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University. The Dr. Ray A. Mentzer Scholarship, to be established with a $30,000 contribution through the Texas A&M Foundation, will be awarded to students with a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average who pursue a process safety certificate. Exxon Mobil Corp. matching funds will help complete the gift. "Chemical process safety is a critical area of education for all our students, and the safety certificate program helps develop the next generation of safety professionals for the chemical process and energy industries. We thank Dr. Mentzer for his leadership in this area and for his generous contribution to ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 14, 2011 - Select students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Spring 2011 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department's spring graduates, Sarah Stratton was named recipient of the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Award." In addition, Michelle Klumpyan received the "2011 Senior Award" from the RHO Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for chemical engineering. Also honored at the graduate reception were student recipients of the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Spring 2011 Senior Award." Those students are Renee McVay, Molly Morin and Kristen Young. "We're happy to have this opportunity to recognize ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 25, 2011 - Call them the Jason Bournes of the bacteria world. Going "off the grid," like rogue secret agents, some bacteria avoid antibiotic treatments by essentially shutting down and hiding until it's safe to come out again, says Thomas Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. This surreptitious and elaborate survival mechanism is explained in the online April edition of "Nature Chemical Biology," which details the research of Wood and his post doctoral student Xiaoxue Wang along with colleagues Breann Brown, Wolfgang Peti and Rebecca Page of Brown University. "Through our research, we're understanding that some bacteria go to 'sleep,' and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 12, 2011 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the prestigious Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software. Laird will receive the international award along with colleague Andreas Waechter of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center for their development of IPOPT, a software library for solving nonlinear, nonconvex, large-scale continuous optimization problems. The Wilkinson Prize is awarded every four years to the entry that best addresses all phases of the preparation of numerical software. It is sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory, the Numerical Algorithms Group, and the National Physical Laboratory. IPOPT is an object-oriented software library ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 11, 2011 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the Faculty of the Year Award, presented by Texas A&M's student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The Texas A&M AIChE chapter presents this annual award to a faculty member that has demonstrated outstanding dedication and service to the chemical engineering student body during the year. "This award means a lot to me coming from the students, especially from a fine student body: the AIChE Student Chapter," El-Halwagi said. "It is such a great honor and privilege to interact with Texas A&M's chemical ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 11, 2011 - In response to the chemical industry's growing interest in sustainability practices, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) plans to address the issue during a national conference featuring M. Sam Mannan, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Mannan, who serves as director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address May 18 at the 2011 EHS&S and Sustainability Conference in Houston. The conference, which is in partnership with the Informex Specialty Conference, is hosted by SOCMA's ChemStewards® program. It will focus on the concept of sustainability and ... Read More »

Associate Professor Benjamin Wilhite COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 4, 2011 - Benjamin Wilhite, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been elected to the board of directors for the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE), the premier organization in the field of chemical reaction engineering. Wilhite, who is the youngest member on the highly distinguished 12-person board, conducts research that focuses on understanding and manipulating interactions between chemical kinetics and transport processes for process intensification, primarily in the area of microreactors for portable power and membrane reactors for sustainable energy. His field of study - reaction engineering - is the discipline that quantifies the ... Read More »

Carl Laird is holder of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 15, 2010 - Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett has appointed Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, holder of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. The appointment is for a three-year period, effective May 1. Laird, who completed his undergraduate career at the University of Alberta, earned his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 and joined Texas A&M in 2007. At Texas A&M, Laird's research focuses on large-scale nonlinear optimization, parameter estimation, and parallel computing. Particular applications include network ... Read More »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Feb. 11, 2011 - Because the nation's chemical infrastructure was never designed with regard to preventing or responding to acts of terrorism, intensive research is needed to determine the most effective ways of safeguarding its existing aspects as well as new components, said M. Sam Mannan, a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor, testifying Friday before a key U.S. House of Representatives homeland security subcommittee. Addressing the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technology of the Committee on Homeland Security, Mannan underscored the importance of the development of updated standards and procedures for new chemical plants and delivery systems as well as the need to determine realistic implementation of ... Read More »

Daniel Shantz has been named a director of AIChE's Catalysis and Reaction Engineering division. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 8, 2010 - Daniel Shantz, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been elected to serve as a director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Catalysis and Reaction Engineering division. Shantz, who also is associate head for chemical engineering undergraduate programs at Texas A&M and director of the Materials Characterization Facility, will serve as director of the division for a three-year term, beginning this year and lasting through 2013. AIChE's Catalysis and Reaction Engineering division serves as an information exchange for knowledge of technical ... Read More »

Mahmoud El-Halwagi has been appointed national chair for the CAST Division. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 7, 2010 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed national chair for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division. CAST, the leading division for process systems engineering in the chemical engineering community, is responsible for the wide range of activities within AIChE that involve the application of computers and mathematics to chemical engineering problems including process design, process control, operations and applied mathematics. Last year, El-Halwagi served CAST as the first vice chair after having been previously elected to serve ... Read More »

Katy Kao is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 7, 2011 - Katy Kao, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a recipient of the prestigious award, Kao will receive $511,609 throughout the next five years for her research, which will examine the evolutionary processes associated with how microbes adapt to their environments. This will be accomplished, Kao notes, via the development of the Visualizing Evolution in Real-Time (VERT) method, which uses genetically identical but differently colored cells to identify when adaptive evolution ... Read More »

Mahmoud El-Halwagi, academic trustee for the CACHE Corp. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 2, 2010 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed as an academic trustee for the Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering (CACHE) Corporation. CACHE is the premier not-for-profit organization for computer aids for chemical engineers. CACHE aims to promote cooperation among universities, industry and government in the development and distribution of computer-related and/or technology-based educational aids for the chemical engineering profession. Holder of the McFerrin Professorship, El-Halwagi is internationally known for his pioneering contributions in the fields of sustainable design and process integration, and he has written two widely used texts ... Read More »

Mahmoud El-Halwagi has been appointed to the advisory board for the Center for Energy Initiatives. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 27, 2010 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed to serve on the inaugural advisory board of the Center for Energy Initiatives, launched by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Approved by the AIChE board of directors in 2010, the center aims to identify opportunities beyond the current AIChE energy activities, develop plans to respond to opportunities, facilitate and coordinate implementation, and find ways to focus expertise and the work of AIChE members from different energy related divisions and activities towards ... Read More »

Senior Chris Ruggles (right) receives the Chemical Engineering Excellence Award from Associate Professor Daniel Shantz. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 14, 2011 - Select students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Fall 2010 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department's spring graduates, Mark Ori was named recipient of the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Award." Also honored at the graduate reception were three student recipients of the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Award." Those students are Danielle Baker, Connor Ramsey and Chris Ruggles. Addressing the students and their families in attendance, Associate Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs Daniel Shantz lauded the ... Read More »

Assistant Professor Jodie Lutkenhaus is a recipient of the NSF's CAREER Award. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 14, 2011 - Jodie Lutkenhaus, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a recipient of the prestigious award, Lutkenhaus will receive $500,000 throughout the next five years for her research, which will examine the materials properties of ultra thin polymer films. Specifically, Lutkenhaus will be studying a class of films called layer-by-layer (LbL) assemblies. Made from the alternating layers of oppositely charged molecules, LbL films have applications in energy storage and production, biomaterials, self-cleaning surfaces and more. However, ... Read More »

Thomas Wood is uncovering the secrets of one of nature's most primitive immune systems. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 14, 2011 - Studying how bacteria incorporate foreign DNA from invading viruses into their own regulatory processes, Thomas Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, is uncovering the secrets of one of nature's most primitive immune systems. His findings, which appear in "Nature Communications," a multidisciplinary publication dedicated to research in all areas of the biological, physical and chemical sciences, shed light on how bacteria have throughout the course of millions of years developed resistance to antibiotics by co-opting the DNA of their natural enemies - viruses. The ... Read More »

  Juergen Hahn will serve the Journal of Process Control as an associate editor. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov.19, 2010 - Juergen Hahn, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected to serve on the editorial board of the "Journal of Process Control," the premier journal for process control research. Hahn, who will serve in the capacity of associate editor, will help assist in quality assurance of the journal while promoting it in the process control community. He also will aid in identifying topics and authors for tutorial and review papers. Hahn conducts research that focuses on the development of new systems analysis techniques and ... Read More »

  Serdar Ozturk is the recipient of the Zahin Memorial Safety Scholarship COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 16, 2010 - Serdar Ozturk, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected as the recipient of the 2010 Lamiya Zahin Memorial Safety Scholarship. Ozturk, who is advised by Associate Professor Victor Ugaz, received the scholarship for his essay "Safety Innovations: A Must or a Luxury?" He was presented the scholarship at the center's annual international symposium. The scholarship was established by MKOPSC and the department of chemical engineering to honor the memory of Lamiya Zahin, the daughter of chemical engineering graduate student Saquib Ejaz. Zahin ... Read More »

Wave patterns change from targets to spirals as active beads decrease and inactive beads increase. The percentage of active resin beads is labeled in the bottom right corner of each image. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 15, 2010 - By examining the distinct wave patterns formed from complex biochemical reactions within the human body, diseased organs may be more effectively identified, says Zhengdong Cheng, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, who has developed a model that simulates how these wave patterns are generated. His findings, which appear in the October issue of the journal "Physical Review E," detail Cheng's work with a system designed to model ... Read More »

Sarah Woods has been named a recipient of the 2010 Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award. COLLEGE STATION, Nov. 2, 2010 - Sarah Woods, a senior in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named one of six student recipients of the 2010 Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award.   The award is considered the most prestigious honor bestowed on a graduating senior in the university's Dwight Look College of Engineering and is presented to a student who demonstrates scholastic achievement, leadership skills and a strong moral character. Recipients must have a 3.5 minimum overall GPR, participate in numerous university organizations and posses ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 25, 2010 - Authorities on safety from throughout the world will convene in College Station this week as part of a three-day symposium aimed at making the process industry a safer place and sponsored by the Texas A&M University System Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. The annual symposium "Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature" is scheduled for Oct. 26-28 at the Hilton Conference Center and will feature a wide variety of safety-related lectures and presentations, including issues in inherent safety and chemical security, liquefied natural gas, offshore safety, risk and hazard assessment, and safety climate and culture. "This symposium serves as the crossroads for process safety where industry, ... Read More »

Rafiqul Gani will discuss his research Wednesday COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 19, 2010 - Rafiqul Gani, professor of systems design in the Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering at The Technical University of Denmark, will discuss his research Wednesday, Oct. 27, as part of the 2010 Fall J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University.   Gani's presentation, "Managing the Complexity in Product and Process Engineering," is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Current emphasis on better chemicals-based products together with their sustainable production processes, Gani notes, has pointed out a class of problems ... Read More »

Michael Wong will discuss his research as part of the 2010 Lindsay Lecture Series. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 14, 2010 - Michael Wong, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry at Rice University, will discuss his research Wednesday, Oct. 20, as part of the 2010 Fall J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University.   Wong's presentation, "An Engineering Strategy to Clean Water Using Nanoparticles and Catalysis," is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Wong's research team seeks to design and synthesize nanoparticle-based materials that address chemical engineering problems; to develop new ... Read More »

Regents Professor M. Sam Mannan spoke at the 2010 3rd World Conference on the Safety of Oil & Gas Industry. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 12, 2010 - Discussing the status and trends in process safety technology employed throughout the world, M. Sam Mannan, director of the Texas A&M University System Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University, delivered a keynote address at the 2010 3rd World Conference on the Safety of Oil & Gas Industry (WCOGI) in Beijing.   Mannan, who holds the title of regents professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M, presented "Globalization and its Challenges in Industrial Process Safety" as part of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 7, 2010 - Ryan Gill, the Patten Associate Professor and C2B2 Managing Director in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will discuss his research Wednesday, Oct. 13, as part of the 2010 Fall J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Gill's presentation, "Genome Surfing for Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals," is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Gill's research falls within the general fields of metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, directed evolution and genomics and is targeted primarily towards the development of biorefining ... Read More »

John L. Falconer will discuss his research Wednesday. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 1, 2010 - John L. Falconer, the Mel and Virginia Clark professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will discuss his research Wednesday, Oct. 6, as part of the 2010 Fall J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University.   Falconer's presentation, "Zeolite Membranes: Separating Molecules by Size," is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Falconer's research focuses on inorganic membranes, heterogeneous catalysis, solar cells and applications of atomic and molecular layer deposition ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 23, 2010 - Four graduate students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized with fellowships for their excellence in graduate studies. Xiang Li has been named recipient of the ConocoPhillips Fellowship. Peng He and Seok-Hoon Hong each have been named a recipient of the Paul and Ellen Deisler Fellowship in Chemical Engineering, and Ivan Mantilla has been awarded the Eastman Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Eastman Chemical Group. These fellowships are awarded on the basis of scholarly productivity and excellence in graduate studies and are intended to promote enrichment, growth and development in engineering students. Each includes a monetary stipend. The third-largest integrated ... Read More »

Associate Professor Victor Ugaz examines DNA separations. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 8, 2010 - DNA analysis is poised to experience a significant advancement thanks to the work of a Texas A&M University chemical engineer, who has discovered a way to achieve more effective separation of DNA fragments.   Working with a widely used gelatin substance known as a hydrogel, Victor M. Ugaz, associate professor in the university's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and graduate student Nan Shi have been able to determine the specific type of conditions that result in the optimum gel pore structure for separation of a wide range of DNA fragment sizes. Their findings appear in the Sept. ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 8, 2010 - Martha Grover, associate professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will discuss her research Wednesday, Sept. 22, as part of the 2010 Fall J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Grover's presentation, "Microstructure Design of Inorganic Materials Using Process Systems Engineering," is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. Her presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Grover says the micro and nanostructure of inorganic materials often dominates their function, relative to the properties of the bulk single crystal material. Grain boundaries in metal oxide thin films ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 2, 2010 - Victor Ugaz, associate professor and holder of the Kenneth R. Hall Development Professorship in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named chair of Texas A&M University's Professional Program in Biotechnology, an interdisciplinary effort that draws on the skills of more than 60 faculty members from five colleges within the university. Ugaz has been a faculty member of the program and on its executive committee. He replaces Suresh Pillai, who will continue as a faculty member in the program and in the Department of Poultry Science. "I am thrilled to have this opportunity to become involved with the Professional Program in Biotechnology at ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 24, 2010 - Rafael Callejas-Tovar, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has won a poster presentation at the 1st International Fuel Cells Summer Seminar for Young Scientists 2010, held in Japan. Callejas-Tovar, who is advised by Professor Perla Balbuena, received the honor for his poster titled "Simulation of the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Platinum-based Alloy Catalysts for Fuel Cells Using Kinetic Monte Carlo and Density Functional Theory." This summer seminar was organized for the benefit of young scientists, mainly Ph.D. students, with a particular focus on the state-of-the-art technology in the field of fuel cell research and on its future ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 13, 2010 - Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett has appointed Daniel Shantz holder of the Ray B. Nesbitt Development Professorship III in Chemical Engineering. Shantz is an associate professor and associate head for undergraduate programs in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Shantz, who completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Florida in 1995, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Delaware in 2000 and joined Texas A&M the following year. At Texas A&M, the Shantz lab is involved in materials development, with particular emphasis in the field of energy. The laboratory couples controlled synthetic chemistry with robust analytical characterization ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 13, 2010 - Chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University will soon experience a significant upgrade to their working conditions, thanks to a gift from The Dow Chemical Co. that will enhance the unit operations laboratory within the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. As part of a larger gift to the Texas A&M Foundation, Dow will contribute $100,000 to upgrade and sponsor the laboratory's fluid-flow and heat-exchange units, which help teach undergraduate students important industry concepts. An additional $200,000 will support the Chemical Engineering Endowment account and the College of Engineering Excellence fund. Approximately 140 aspiring chemical engineers utilize the department's unit operations laboratory each academic year to gain ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 13, 2010 - Mariah Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's 16th Annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium. Hahn is one of a select number of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) members chosen to participate in the symposium. In addition to academia, other participants were selected from industry and government and were nominated by engineering colleagues and organizations. The symposium aims to convene engineers aged 30-45 who are performing exceptional research and technical work across a variety of disciplines in order to discuss multidisciplinary ways of contributing to ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 10, 2010 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected as a 2010-2011 Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar. Laird earned his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 and joined Texas A&M in 2007. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Laird conducts research that focuses on large-scale nonlinear optimization, parameter estimation and parallel computing. He continues to work on development of early warning contaminant detection systems for municipal drinking water networks, modeling of LNG dispersion, and parameter estimation for dynamic systems. He also is involved in the modeling of infectious diseases, working to determine the fundamental driving forces ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 3, 2010 - Nancy and Brock Nelson '90 are passionate about undergraduate education. The couple recently added their third $30,000 endowment for the C.D. Holland Scholars Program in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, with two more planned through a trust at the Texas A&M Foundation. The scholarships target high-achieving undergraduates with leadership potential and financial need. The program honors the late Charles D. Holland, who served as Texas A&M's second chemical engineering department head from 1964 to 1987. "The Nelsons have a distinguished history of giving back to Texas A&M and to this department," said Michael V. Pishko, department head and Charles D. Holland '53 Professor. ... Read More »

This symposium serves as the crossroads for process safety where industry, academia, government agencies and other stakeholders come together to discuss critical issues of research in process safety. Experts from around the world will gather as part of this two and a half-day symposium, to share the latest information on the hottest topics aimed at making the process industry a safer place. For more information, visit: http://psc.tamu.edu/symposia/2010 Read More »

This is a two-day advanced course into explosion hazards on offshore facilities. The course addresses all aspects of explosion hazards: ignition processes, release and dispersion, explosion mechanisms, blast loads and modeling of all these aspects. On Day 2, a visit to and tour of the TEEX Brayton Fire School is planned where the course attendants will experience at least one large-scale fire demonstration. This course is beneficial for safety and structural engineers. For more information, including registration, visit: http://psc.tamu.edu/education/continuing-education/gas-explosion-hazards-on-offshore-facilities Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 18, 2010 - Eman Tora, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the 2010 America Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Sustainable Engineering Forum Best Student Paper Award. Tora, who hails from Egypt and is advised by Professor Mahmoud El-Halwagi, received the award for her paper, "Optimal Design and Integration of Solar Systems and Fossil Fuels for Sustainable and Stable Power Outlet," which was published in "Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy." "Eman has done groundbreaking research in the area of sustainable energy and specifically in the area of solar energy," El-Halwagi notes. "Eman is interested in solar ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 16, 2010 - Gilbert Froment, research professor in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been recognized at the International Mexican Congress on Chemical Reaction Engineering for his contributions to the theory and practice of chemical reaction engineering. Froment, who was presented with a plaque honoring his contributions, attended the conference to present his research through a plenary lecture titled "Modeling and Simulation of Complex Hydrocarbon Processing." In addition, Froment presented together with J. Martinis, a graduate of the Texas A&M's chemical engineering program, an oral paper titled "Streamlining the Single-Event Kinetic Modeling and Simulation of Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrocracking." Froment's research focuses on the kinetic modeling of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 10, 2010 - Juergen Hahn, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the prestigious 2010 Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Outstanding Young Researcher Award, presented by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The award, which is bestowed upon only one recipient each year, recognizes an individual under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to chemical engineering computing and systems technology literature. In a congratulatory letter to Hahn, Richard D. Braatz, chair of the AIChE CAST Division Awards committee, lauded Hahn for his contributions to nonlinear systems analysis and its application to chemical and biological systems. Holder ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 8, 2010 - Houssein Kheireddine, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded the Eastman Summer Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Eastman Chemical Group. Kheireddine was selected for the honor based on his excellence and scholastic achievement. The fellowship will provide him with $6,600 for his research. Kheireddine, a third-year graduate student, is conducting research that focuses on the sustainable design of chemical engineering systems. He is developing a novel set of integrated approaches and optimization techniques. Kheirredine is applying his work to several systems with various objectives such as optimization of water usage and discharge, prevention of industrial ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 1, 2010 - Humberto Reyna Jr., a chemical engineering student at Texas A&M University, has been named recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, presented by the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Working with Professor Perla Balbuena, Reyna Jr., who is from Houston, is conducting research that helps to design fabrication methods of nanotubes with specific properties. Carbon nanotubes are one of the most well-known products of the nanotechnology field. These tiny tubes have mechanical and electronic properties that make them useful for micro- and nano-electronic devices and for biomedical applications. Employing a reactive molecular dynamics algorithm developed in Balbuena's group, Reyna Jr. has simulated critical stages of nanotube ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 27, 2010 - Understanding how thin-film coatings react to temperature changes could lead to more effective and durable sensors, solar-energy converters, safer medical implants and a host of other applications, says Jodie Lutkenhaus, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, who has found that heating some of these films can increase their stability. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of "Soft Matter," a scientific journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, represent a significant step forward in the study of multilayer polymer thin-film coatings - material gaining increased interest for its potential versatility in a number of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 14, 2010 - Select students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Spring 2010 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department's spring graduates, Mark Deimund of Oklahoma City was named recipient of the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Award." In addition, Bryan Holekamp of San Antonio received the "2010 Senior Award" from the RHO Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for chemical engineering. Also honored at the graduate reception were student recipients of the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Spring 2010 Senior Award." Those students are Evan Cherry, John Cortines, John Duensing, David Goodwin, Scott Kolodziej, Trevor ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 11, 2010 - Three groups of students from Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognized by the Fluor Corporation for their designs of a gas processing plant. Clay Arthur, William Harris, Bryan Holekamp and Grant Martin, are members of the team awarded first place by Fluor for its original design of a gas processing plant that operates per Fluor's specifications and which was undertaken as part of an intense senior-level capstone chemical engineering course taught by John Baldwin, senior lecturer in the department. The team of John Cortines, Mark Deimund, Keaton Hamm and Geoffrey Lau was awarded second place, and the team composed ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 10, 2010 - Sarah Akbani, a ninth-grade student from Harmony School of Science in Houston working with Zhengdong Cheng, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received a bronze medal in the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering and Environment Project (ISWEEEP) Olympiad, an international science fair for middle and high school students. Akbani, who is working in Cheng's complex fluids laboratory was recognized for her research dealing with efficiently extracting heavy oils using Janus particles. Collaborating with Cheng and graduate students Andres Mejia and Peng He, Akbani used Janus particles to effectively emulsify oil that is difficult to extract from the ... Read More »

Balbuena views a model showing the detachment of a platinum atom (grey) from a nanocatalyst surface, driven by the presence of oxygen (red) and acid agents (yellow). COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 7, 2010 - Long hampered by high manufacturing costs and durability issues, fuel cell technology could overcome those obstacles and take a significant step towards mainstream adoption thanks to a finding by a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor.   Investigating the use of alternative materials as catalysts in fuel cells, Perla Balbuena, professor in the university's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has found a class of composite materials that show early indications of being just as effective - and even ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 5, 2010 - Helping to inaugurate the first American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) chapter in South America, Thomas K. Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, recently visited Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. The new chapter of the professional society of chemical engineering has been established at Universidad de los Andes by Wood's former doctoral student, Andrés González Barrios who now holds the title of professor. Along with 2009 AIChE President Professor H. Scott Fogler of the University of Michigan and Professor Luke Achenie of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Wood, the T. Michael O'Connor II Chair, helped ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 4, 2010 - Three members of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering are among a select faculty group honored for contributions to teaching, research and service by Texas A&M University's Dwight Look College of Engineering. Professor Perla Balbuena has been named a Texas Engineering Experiment (TEES) Station Fellow, Professor Tahir Cagin has been named a William Keeler Faculty Fellow, and Associate Professor Arul Jayaraman has been named a TEES Select Young Faculty member. Formal recognitions were made at an awards banquet this past April. In all, more than 40 faculty members were recognized. Balbuena's research focuses on understanding and predicting thermodynamic, transport and kinetic properties of materials using state-of-the-art first ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 3, 2010 - Allen Academy and the Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley are among a group of organizations benefitting from a student-led effort at Texas A&M in which aspiring engineers tackle projects aimed at improving their community. The effort, known as "EPICS," which stands for Engineering Projects in Community Service, has resulted in six community-based initiatives that will be reviewed in detail Thursday, May 6 at the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. The project presentations are open to the public and scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Rm 256 of the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building on campus. This semester's projects include partnerships with the Children's ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 26, 2010 - David A. Tirrell, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, will discuss his research Wednesday, May 5, as the distinguished speaker for the 2010 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Tirrell, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, is a noted authority on macromolecular chemistry. He is scheduled to present "Reinterpreting the Genetic Code" at 3 p.m. in Rm 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building, capping the year-long lecture series, which is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. The genetic code, Tirrell says, provides a set of molecular instructions for turning ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 12, 2010 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named the Registered Student Organization New Adviser of the Year for 2009-2010 by Texas A&M University's Department of Student Activities. Laird has since 2008 served as adviser to the Texas A&M chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the National Honor Society for Chemical Engineering. He will be formally recognized with the university-level award at a Division of Student Affairs Awards Ceremony, scheduled for May 5. "Dr. Laird has made a tremendous contribution to OXE through his continuous support and guidance he provides to the organization and the officers," said Kelsey Fuller, president ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 9, 2010 - Zhengdong Cheng, a faculty member in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received tenure and promotion to associate professor. Cheng's research focuses on the self-organization of intelligent colloids and anisotropic particles, the fabrication of photonic crystals and integrated photonic circuits, solar hydrogen production via water splitting, and the application of microfluidics to bio-encapsulation. The techniques developed are applicable to the modeling of phase transitions and liquid crystal materials, the engineering of nano-composites and semiconductor of light, solar energy harvesting, and a wide range of therapeutic treatments. Cheng completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Science & Technology of China before ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 9, 2010 - Arul Jayaraman, a faculty member in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received tenure and promotion to associate professor. Jayaraman's research focuses on molecular systems biotechnology, specifically on using integrated experimental and modeling approaches for investigating problems in human health and medicine. His research projects include systems biology of cytokine signaling in inflammatory diseases; inter-kingdom signaling interactions between bacteria and human cells in GI tract infections; and development of microfluidic model systems for combinatorial drug screening and vascular tissue engineering. Jayaraman, who completed his undergraduate career at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India, earned his Ph.D. at the University ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 8, 2010, - Mark Deimund and James Winkler, students in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, have each been awarded graduate research fellowships by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The fellowships provide three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master's or doctoral degrees and is intended for students who are in the early stages of their graduate study. Recipients benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees, a one-time $1,000 international travel allowance and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. or foreign institution of graduate education. Winkler, a ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 31, 2010 - Seok Hoon Hong, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected by the American Society of Microbiology to present his research at the organization's 110th General Meeting in San Diego. Hong, who is advised by Professor Thomas Wood, will present "Controlling Biofilm Formation, Prophage Excision, and Cell Death by Rewiring Global Regulator H-NS of Escherichia coli" May 25 as part of the meeting's Outstanding Student Poster Session. The session is dedicated to highlighting exceptional students for outstanding research efforts. To qualify for consideration, students had to meet stringent criteria and be selected for a Student Travel ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 29, 2010 - Nan Shi, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been honored at the 25th International Symposium on Micro-Scale Bioseparations for his poster titled "Microchip-based Investigation of DNA Mobility and Diffusion During Gel Electrophoresis in the Entropic Trapping Regime." Shi received second-place honors for his poster, one of only three award-winning selections at the conference, which was held in Prague, Czech Republic. Shi, who is advised by Associate Professor Victor Ugaz, was the only award recipient from the United States. The 25th International Symposium on Micro-Scale Bioseparations is the premiere conference in the area of cutting-edge miniaturized technologies for ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 29, 2010 - The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has voted to begin construction on the flexible-by-design National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM), a revolutionary bio-pharmaceutical research, development, training and production facility. When completed, it will provide rapid, cost-effective and scalable manufacturing and enable an array of new products to enter clinical trials. "The NCTM will set the standard for a new generation of multi-product, multi-techÃ'¬nology, flexible pharmaceuÃ'¬tical manufacturing facilities," said Brett Giroir, vice chancellor for research and executive director of the Institute for Innovative Therapeutics (IIT), the newly established institute representing the partnership between the system's multiple state-of-the-art research facilities. The facility's flexible-by-design architecture and reconfigurable clean rooms will ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 22, 2010 - Bill Milne, professor and head of electrical engineering at Cambridge University, will discuss his research Wednesday, March 31, as part of the 2010 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Milne's presentation, "Are Carbon Nanotubes the Future of Electronics?", is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Throughout the past several years carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been touted as one of the most promising material systems for future electronic applications, Milne says. However, there are still major problems to be overcome before CNTs can be used in ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 9, 2010 - Hae-Kwon Jeong, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award, issued as part of a voluntary, student-selected honors program of The Texas A&M University System. The winners represent the top 20 percent of participating faculty members from all 11 campuses of the Texas A&M System. Awards are based on rankings from evaluations created and administered by students, with weighting for factors such as class size, and all faculty members are eligible. This semester Jeong teaches "advanced nanostructured materials", which introduces the chemical synthesis and characterization of materials with structures and properties ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 25, 2010 - Wolfgang Peti, assistant professor of medicalÃ'  Brown University, will discuss his research Wednesday, March 3, as part of the 2010 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Peti's presentation, "Structural Analysis of Dephosphorylation Machines: The Prerequisite of Flexibility," is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. The scientific focus of the Peti laboratory is to understand the molecular basis of essential biological processes. Peti says a large variety of essential cellular processes including cell cycle progression, protein synthesis, muscle contraction, carbohydrate metabolism, transcription and neuronal signaling are regulated by ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 19, 2010 - Andrés J. García, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at The Georgia Institute of Technology, will discuss his research Wednesday, Feb. 24, as part of the 2010 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. García's presentation, "Building Construction of Tissues: BioArtificial Materials for Harnessing Host Repair," is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. García says cell adhesion to extracellular matrices plays a central role in the formation, maintenance and repair of numerous tissues. Cell adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins, he adds, is primarily ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 19, 2010 - The Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will host Biomaterials Day at Texas A&M University on Feb. 22. The one-day symposium, which is sponsored by the Society for Biomaterials, will be held at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library, and will showcase biomaterial research in the region and promote collaborations between institutions and industry. Karen Wooley, the W.T. Doherty-Welch Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M, and Charles D. Griffin, President and CEO of Biostable Science and Engineering in Austin, will give invited talks. "It is an honor to be selected to host one of the five Biomaterials ... Read More »

Chen, postdoctoral associate Karuppiah Chockalingam and graduate student Rudo Simeon have developed a system of identifying molecules for treating hepatitis C. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 10, 2010 - A newly designed system of identifying molecules for treating hepatitis C should enable scientists to discover novel and effective therapies for the dangerous and difficult-to-cure disease of the liver, says Zhilei Chen, a Texas A&M University assistant professor of chemical engineering who helped develop the screening system. The system, Chen explains, enables researchers to study the effects of molecules that obstruct all aspects of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) life cycle. That's a significant milestone in HCV research, says Chen, noting that previous ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 10, 2010 - Mariah Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a recipient of the prestigious award, Hahn will receive $400,000 throughout the next five years for her research, which combines a novel class of gels based on collagen-mimetic proteins with gene silencing techniques to identify key environmental stimuli driving mesenchymal stem cell differentiation. Results from these studies have the potential to transform researchers' ability to dictate cell behavior in organ regeneration applications. Hahn, who completed her undergraduate career at The University of Texas at Austin, conducted her ... Read More »

Zhengdong Cheng explores new ways of manipulating liquid crystal. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 3, 2010 - A new method for manipulating the molecules of liquid crystals in ways previously unachieved could result in more effective industrial sealants, improved food packaging and even enhanced electronic displays, says Zhengdong Cheng, a Texas A&M University assistant professor of chemical engineering and member of a team of researchers whose recent findings hail a significant advancement in working with liquid crystals.   The findings, which appear in the scientific journal "Physical Review E," detail how Cheng and his colleagues were able to orient the disc-shaped molecules of liquid crystals into distinct and separate layers - a phenomenon labeled ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 22, 2010 - David Sholl, professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Georgia Institute of Technology, will discuss his research Wednesday, Jan. 27, as part of the 2010 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Sholl's presentation, "Accelerating Development of Membranes Using Materials Modeling: Metal Alloys and Metal Organic Frameworks," is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Sholl says membranes have the potential to play an important role in many energy-related chemical separations, but experimental development of new membrane materials is challenging and time-consuming. Materials ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 20, 2010 - Regents Professor Sam Mannan, holder of T. Michael O'Connor Chair I and director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University, will present the second lecture of the Texas A&M at Qatar distinguished lecture series Tuesday, Jan. 26. The lecture, "Lessons Learned from Past Incidents Shed Light on Present Day Needs and Challenges in Process Safety," will focus on why the science, education and research for process safety are important. The lecture will provide a framework in which industry, government, academia and other stakeholders can work together to reduce the probability of occurrence and the consequences of natural gas liquids (NGL) incidents. Mannan, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 15, 2009 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a recipient of the prestigious award, Laird will receive $400,000 throughout the next five years for his research, which will utilize cutting-edge computing technology to aid in the design and operation of facilities for emergency drug production. In the United States alone, Laird says, there have been significant drug shortages as a result of insufficient production capacity. Such shortages have underscored an increasing need for facilities that can be quickly reconfigured to provide production of specific therapeutics ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 8, 2009 - Three groups of students from Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognized by the Fluor Corporation for their designs of a crude oil processing plant. Thomas Carmine, Haley Holub, Jennifer Loving and Phillip Niksch are members of the team awarded first place by Fluor for its original design of a crude oil processing unit that operates per Flour's specifications and which was undertaken as part of an intense senior-level capstone chemical engineering course taught by John Baldwin, senior lecturer in the department. The team of Carla Beutlich, Jennifer Cunningham, Michael Kingrey, Tri Le, and Felipe Rendon was awarded second place, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 8, 2009 - Jerry Bradshaw, senior lecturer in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named this year's recipient of the Fluor Distinguished Teaching Award. The award recognizes Bradshaw for his dedication and outstanding contributions to the education and professional development of chemical engineering students at Texas A&M. "Quality of teaching is very important to us, and we're very pleased to partner with Fluor to present this teaching award," said Department Head and Charles D. Holland Professor Michael V. Pishko. "Jerry does a fantastic job in teaching the labs and has done it with a lot of integrity, class and professionalism throughout his ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 6, 2009 - Peng Cheng and Santosh Koirala have been named recipients of the 2009 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, presented by the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Working with Assistant Professor Arul Jayarman, Cheng, who is from China, conducted research using a systems biology approach to investigate interleukin-6 (IL-6) signal transduction. Cheng employed a fluorescence microscopy to monitor dynamics of molecules that are involved in the IL-6 signal transduction. Data from Cheng's research will be utilized in the development of models that will help control and modulate cell behavior and function. "More than his excellent GPA and academic record, Peng has impressed me with the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 6, 2009 - Two undergraduate students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering were among a select group of students receiving recognition for their scientific poster presentations at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting and National Student Conference this past academic year. Competing in the event's 2008 Undergraduate Poster Competition, Lucas A. Kinard and Santosh Koirala placed second and third, respectively, in their divisions. Kinard's poster "Novel Method of Scaffold Formation for Artificial Vascular Network" was awarded second place in the Food, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology division. Koirala received third-place honors for a poster titled "Structural and Electronic Properties of Poly-Bithiophene Linked Transition Metals for Catalysis," which ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 4, 2009 - A student-led effort to help Texas A&M University Dining Services reduce food waste by taking advantage of compost and recycling processes is among four local community-based initiatives that will be reviewed in detail Tuesday, May 4 at the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Undertaken by service-minded Texas A&M students throughout the past semester, each of the four projects is part of an engineering course known as EPICS, which stands for Engineering Projects in Community Service. Project presentations are scheduled to begin at 12:45 in Rm 256 of the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building on campus. Students participating in the EPICS program earn academic credit with ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 29, 2009 - Evan M. Cherry, a student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a GEICO scholarship for his senior year of study from Tau Beta Pi. Cherry, who hails from Arlington, will receive a cash award of $2,000 for the 2009-10 academic year. His selection was based on the competitive criteria of high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and the promise of future contributions to the engineering profession. Tau Beta Pi is the National Engineering Honor Society, founded at Lehigh University in 1885. It has collegiate chapters in 234 engineering colleges throughout the United States and active alumnus ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 28, 2009 - Gilbert Froment, research professor in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, will present his research Thursday, April 30 at the University of Texas at Austin as part of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Spring Seminar Series. Froment is scheduled to deliver his presentation, "Kinetic Modeling of the Hydrocarbon Processing and Catalyst Deactivation by Coke Formation," at 3:30 p.m. in room 2.218 of the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Building. His talk will detail an approach developed for hydrocarbon processes catalyzed by acidic solids, loaded or not with metals. These processes, Froment says, involve very complex reaction networks, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 21, 2009 - M. Sam Mannan, director of Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, will speak about mitigating the risks caused by potential spills of liquefied natural gas as part of a keynote presentation at the annual spring meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Mannan, who is holder of the T. Michael O'Connor Chair I in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is scheduled to deliver his presentation Wednesday, April 29 in Tampa at the event's Gas Utilization Luncheon at the Tampa Convention Center. The increasing demand for natural gas has significantly increased the possibilities of LNG imports in the United ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 20, 2009 - Engineering faculty members, researchers and safety representatives interested in learning more about pressure relief systems will have the opportunity to attend a two-day course on the subject provided free of charge by the Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. The center, headquartered in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is offering the course, which reviews the essentials of pressure relief and disposal system design. It is scheduled to be held May 19-20 at the Texas Transportation Institute in Houston, and the registration deadline for the course is May 14. As part of the course, instructors will outline the optimal practices for these ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The memory of a safety engineering education pioneer has been preserved with an endowed engineering scholarship at Texas A&M University by lead donor Michael (Mike) Sawyer. The Dr. Ralph J. Vernon '51 Scholarship rewards engineering students who earn a 3.0 grade point ratio, pursue a process safety specialty and demonstrate financial need. Contributions can still be made to the permanent scholarship, funded through an initial $25,000 endowment in 2006 at the Texas A&M Foundation. "Process safety is now an integral part of chemical engineering education, and the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at A&M is widely recognized as a world-leader in chemical process safety research and education," said Michael ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 16, 2009 - M. Sam Mannan, director of Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, will discuss emerging trends in process safety management as part of the keynote address at the national meeting of the Auditing Roundtable, talking place April 21-23 in San Antonio. Mannan, regents professor and holder of the T. Michael O'Connor Chair I in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is scheduled to deliver his presentation at 12 p.m., Tuesday, April 21 at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio. The Auditing Roundtable is a professional organization dedicated to the development and professional practice of environmental, health and safety (EHS) auditing. This year's theme, Doing ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 13, 2009 - Tarun Bansal, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been recognized by the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) for his research. Bansal, who is co-advised by Assistant Professor Arul Jayaraman and Professor Thomas Wood, has been named a recipient of a travel grant that will enable him to present his research at the ASM annual meeting, scheduled to be held in Philadelphia in May. In addition, Bansal is one of only six students selected from a pool of 700 total presenters to give an oral presentation at the annual meeting as part of the Richard ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 13, 2009 - Donna and Gene Tromblee have parlayed retirement savings into a three-way benefit for chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University. The Seabrook couple used savings from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to create a $30,000 endowment at the Texas A&M Foundation for the Donna and Gene Tromblee '70 Scholarship in the C.D. Holland Scholars Program. The Tromblees contributed another $10,000 to support needs of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, including funds for a general excellence fund and study abroad participants. "Fulfilling our mission would be much more difficult without the generous support of Aggies such as the Tromblees; Donna and Gene have the thanks of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 9, 2009 - Kenneth R. Hall, associate dean of engineering and deputy director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), was one of three individuals honored with an Innovation Award by The Texas A&M University System on Thursday, April 9. Hall was presented the award during the 2009 Patent and Innovation Awards hosted by the A&M System's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center in the George Bush Presidential Library complex. Additionally, eight individuals from the Dwight Look College of Engineering and TEES were recognized for being granted patent protection from the United States Patent & Trademark Office in 2008. The Innovation Awards were presented to ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 3, 2009 - A team of student engineers from Texas A&M University has received top honors in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) regional Chem-E-Car competition for the performance of its student-designed alternative-powered vehicle. With the big win, the hydrogen-powered mini-vehicle, which was designed by Ani Attang, Mark Deimund, Elida Espinoza, Michael Finkelstein and Gene Hackebeil, will advance to the national Chem-E-Car competition. That competition is scheduled to take place in November during the annual AIChE meeting in Nashville, Tenn. "I felt confident that our car would do reasonably well," said Deimund, a junior in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. "Our design is pretty simple, pretty ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 2, 2009 - Mariah Hahn, assistant professor of chemical engineering in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has received the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Gulf Southwest Section Outstanding Young Faculty Award. The award was established to encourage and recognize young faculty participation in ASEE or engineering education activities and events. Recognition as an outstanding young faculty member is based in part on contributions in a number of areas, including laboratory and curriculum development; authorship of instructional materials; publication and presentations at professional meetings that enhance engineering education; contributions and participation in ASEE events or educational activities at other professional societies; scholarly activities related to ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, March 30, 2009 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, recently presented research on advanced optimization-based techniques for the simultaneous process and product design at the University of Oklahoma. El-Halwagi, an internationally known authority on process integration, led a graduate seminar for the university's Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering. As part of his presentation, El-Halwagi presented a systematic approach to the synthesis and selection of products and their manufacturing processes. This approach, he said, is particularly attractive in the cases of emerging industries such as integrated biorefineries and therapeutics manufacturing. The key concept, he explained, is that the various reactants, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 27, 2009 - Daniel V. Pack, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will discuss his research into gene delivery methods Wednesday, April 1 as part of the final lecture in the Spring 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Pack is scheduled to present "(Re)Engineering Gene Delivery: Toward Construction of Artificial Viruses" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Human gene therapy holds the potential to revolutionize treatment of diseases ranging from cystic fibrosis to cardiovascular disease to ... Read More »

A desalination method developed by Professor Mark Holtzapple will be implemented in Laredo, Texas. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 23, 2009 - Providing enough fresh water for residents is an issue for Laredo, Texas, a city of 200,000 on the Texas-Mexico border. Laredo is almost at the limit of water it can draw from the Rio Grande River, and groundwater in the area is brackish, or salty.   As a result, the Laredo city council has agreed to spend $1.6 million to build a pilot plant that will field test a new method of desalinating brackish water developed by a Texas A&M University researcher and commercialized by Terrabon L.L.C. "This is one step ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 23, 2009 - Howard Brenner, W. H. Dow Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will discuss his hydrodynamics research Wednesday, March 25 as part of the Spring 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Brenner is scheduled to present "Bi-velocity Hydrodynamics and Transport Processes" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Brenner's research interests focus on modeling chromatographic bio-particle separation processes in microfluidic devices and quantifying the molecular and convective transport of volume, viewed as a transportable, non-material entity. The recipient ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 18, 2009 - Discussing modeling and simulation studies conducted on various complex materials systems, Tahir Cagin, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, recently presented his research at the annual American Physical Society Meeting in Pittsburgh. His invited presentation, "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Interfaces in Complex Materials," was one of two talks featured in "characterization and modeling of surfaces and interfaces" focus session. It detailed interface chemistry and role of strain in photoluminescence of embedded silicon nanocrystals in silica matrix in the context of solar energy applications; the role of nanostructure in thermoelectrics such as superlattices, nanoscopically thin films and nanowires for improving the efficiency of converting waste heat ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 12, 2009 - Shanna Lynn Schrock, a sophomore in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the 2009 Thomas S. Gathright Scholar Academic Excellence Award. Named in honor of Texas A&M's first president, Thomas S. Gathright, the award is presented annually to the sophomore, junior and senior with the highest grade point average in each academic college. Schrock, who has been named the outstanding sophomore in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, is a native of Slidell, La. She will receive the Gathright Award during Parents' Weekend at the All-University Awards Ceremony. Schrock was selected based on her 4.0 ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 12, 2009 - Bradley F. Chmelka, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will discuss his research Wednesday, March 18 as part of the Spring 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Chmelka's presentation is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Chmelka's research, he explains, is motivated by the need to understand at a molecular level the fabrication and functions of new catalysts, adsorbents, porous ceramics and heterogeneous polymers. These categories of technologically important materials are linked by their crucial ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 11, 2009 - M. Sam Mannan, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected by the Safety and Health Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) as the recipient of the Norton H. Walton/ Russell L. Miller Award for 2009. The award recognizes an individual's outstanding chemical engineering contributions and achievements in the fields of loss prevention, safety and health. Mannan will be honored at this year's AIChE spring meeting April 27 in Tampa, Fla. Mannan, who serves as director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, is an internationally recognized expert on process safety and risk ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 5, 2009 - David A. Kofke, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, will discuss his thermodynamics research Wednesday, March 11 as part of the Spring 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Kofke is scheduled to present "The Easy Phases Can Still Provide Interest, Challenge and Opportunity" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Kofke's expertise is in molecular simulation. His research interests consider the development and understanding of molecular simulation methods, particularly ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 4, 2009 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the first-ever Teaching Excellence Award, a voluntary, student-selected honors program launched last fall by The Texas A&M University System. The winners represent the top 18 percent of the nearly 500 faculty members who participated. Awards are based on rankings from evaluations created and administered by students, with weighting for factors such as class size. As part of the program, a total of 80 faculty members from the Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville have been honored. El-Halwagi is one of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 3, 2009 - Four faculty members from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognized by Texas A&M University Engineering for excellence in teaching, research and service. Professors Mahmoud El-Halwagi and Kenneth Hall and assistant professors Juergen Hahn and Mariah Hahn each have been named recipients of awards bestowed by the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. El-Halwagi has been honored with the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company Excellence in Engineering Teaching Award, and Hall has received the Charles W. Crawford Service Award, which was established in 1962 for distinguished service to the college of engineering. Juergen Hahn has received the 2008-2009 Brockett Professorship ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 19, 2009 - Enrique Iglesia, chancellor professor of chemical engineering and director of the Catalysis Center at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss his research Wednesday, Feb. 25, as part of the 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Iglesia, a noted authority on chemical reaction engineering, is this year's distinguished speaker for the series, which is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. He is scheduled to present "Nanoclusters and Nanospaces in Catalysis" at 3 p.m. in Rm 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. Iglesia's research interests are in heterogeneous catalysis and chemical reaction engineering with emphasis on materials and processes ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 17, 2009 - A new $3 million research project at Texas A&M University at Qatar that will focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG) safety has been established thanks to an effort led by the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, headquartered in Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. The project, which establishes a top-tier LNG safety research program in collaboration with Qatar Petroleum and the Qatar Foundation, is based on a similar program at the Brayton Fire Training Field at Texas A&M, which was established under the guidance of the Mary Kay O' Connor Safety Process Center. Center director and Regents Professor M. Sam Mannan ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 6, 2009 - Perla Balbuena, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will present her research in the area of fuel cell catalysts Feb. 9 at the University of Florida. Balbuena will discuss "Challenges in the Design of Active and Durable Fuel Cell Catalysts" at 4 p.m. in the New Physics Building (NPB) as part of the chemical engineering department's seminar series. Balbuena's presentation will detail some of the most important challenges associated with the design of efficient alloy nanocatalysts, due to the harsh chemical environment where these catalysts work. Metal nanoparticles used as catalysts in low-temperature fuel cells are expected to provide the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 30, 2009 - Wilfred Chen, professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of California, Riverside, will discuss his research in developing technologies to address virus infection and biofuel production Wednesday, Feb. 4, kicking off the Spring 2009 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Chen is scheduled to present "Biomolecular Tools for Sustainable Energy and Improved Human Health" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Chen's research focuses on biomolecular engineering, environmental biotechnology and nano-biotechnology. He has authored nearly 150 journal papers and 10 book chapters. Chen's presentation ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 20, 2009 - M. Sam Mannan, director of Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center and professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been honored with the Medal of Honor of the Technical University of Lodz in Poland. Mannan, who visited the university to present research on risk analysis and process safety as part of the institute's International Scientific Symposium, was recognized for significant contributions to the scientific cooperation between Texas A&M and Technical University as well as his support of process safety education and research. Mannan, a professional engineer and certified safety professional, is an internationally recognized expert on process safety and risk ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 13, 2009 - New evidence from a study of yeast cells has resulted in the most detailed picture of the evolutionary process to date, says a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor whose findings provide the first direct evidence of aspects, which up until now have remained mostly theory. Working with populations of yeast cells, which were color-coded by florescent markers, Katy Kao, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and Stanford University colleague Gavin Sherlock, were able to evolve the cells while maintaining a visual analysis of the entire process. Their research, which appears in the December edition of "Nature Genetics," shows the evolutionary process ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 15, 2009 - Zhengdong Cheng, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, recently presented his research at the 17th International Symposium on Processing and Fabrication of Advanced Material, held in New Delhi, India. An authority in the area of complex fluids, Cheng, was invited to speak about "Cell Encapsule and Novel Particle Fabrication via Microfluidics and Electrospray." When in India, Cheng also visited students from the Indian Institutes of Technology as well as universities and institutions who had expressed interest in Texas A&M's graduate programs in chemical engineering and materials science. At Texas A&M, Cheng's research focuses on the self-organization of intelligent colloids ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 13, 2008 - A Texas A&M University class that melds innovative engineering principles with community service has received a $5,000 grant from The Association of Former Students, which will help it build on the initial success it demonstrated during its inaugural launch last spring. EPICS, which stands for Engineering Projects in Community Service, is a program in which teams of undergraduates earn academic credit with multiyear, multidisciplinary projects that solve engineering and technology-based problems for community service and education organizations. "I am pleased to inform you that the Board of The Association of Former Students has approved your request for funding for the Engineering Projects in Community Services," ... Read More »

The 19th Annual Membrane Filtration & Other Separations Technologies short course is scheduled to take place April 20-23 at Texas A&M University. Sponsored by the Texas A&M Food Protein Research and Development Center's Separation Sciences Group, the course will cover topics on food, juices, beverage, chemical, water/ water waste, pharmaceutical and oil and gas industries. This is a practical four-day short course that provides an opportunity for viewing daily equipment demonstrations as well as establishing a network with experts in separation technologies. For more information, visit http://foodprotein.tamu.edu/separations/scmembrane.php or contact Carl Vavra at (979) 845-2758 or via email: cjvavra@tamu.edu. Read More »

For more information on the 64th Annual Instrumentation Symposium for the Process Industries, see the following link: http://instrumentation-symposium.che.tamu.edu The Instrumentation Symposium for the Process Industries is in its 64th year of educating professionals and students in the instrumentation industry. At the symposium, practical technical papers as well as exhibits are presented with the entire focus being on education. The process industries in the Southwest are sophisticated and complicated. The engineers and technical persons in these industries responsible for instrumentation must continually improve their knowledge in this highly specialized field. Over the years, the Symposium has grown in both statue and attendance. Last year, there were over 400 attendees. Unique to this Symposium and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 12, 2009 - Saad Al-Sobhi, a former student of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been recognized for his work in detailing an energy-saving process for liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. Al-Sobhi received top honors at the Gas Processing Symposium in Doha, Qatar for his poster detailing a research process on which he collaborated with Professor Mahmoud El-Halwagi while at Texas A&M. This research addresses the problem of simulation and heat integration in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. In LNG facilities, energy cost is one of the most important operating cost items, El-Halwagi explained. It was found that through heat integration, it ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 12, 2009 - Research by Hae-Kwon Jeong and Zhengdong Cheng, two assistant professors in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been featured as the cover story in the December edition of the international journal "Advanced Functional Materials." The article details work in the complex area of materials science - work that could lead to advancements in areas such as energy, health and medicine, and sensing. The research is a collaboration between Jeong and Cheng's research group, which examines colloids, complex fluids, crystallization and other soft condensed matter topics. "The cover of ââ'¬ËœAdvanced Functional Materials' is highly coveted; it is instantly recognizable and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 12, 2008 - Juergen Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named an "Outstanding Reviewer" by "Automatica," the flagship journal of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). Each year the editors of "Automatica" identify a select group of reviewers from a pool of about 1,300 individuals who prepare reviews for the journal. This is Hahn's third consecutive selection. As a reviewer, Hahn is responsible for judging the novelty of the work and quality of the manuscripts that are being considered for publication by "Automatica." "You have been identified because of the thorough, competent and timely reviews you have ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 11, 2008 - Jennifer Leigh Christensen, a senior in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior" for Fall 2008. "Jennifer has earned the respect of her professors, peers and underclassmen, and we appreciate what she has done for this department during her time here," said Lale Yurttas, senior lecturer and assistant head for upper division programs in the department. Christensen, who is from Hamilton, Texas, was honored with the distinction during the department's fall award ceremony at which Associate Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs Victor Ugaz addressed the graduating class. "It's critically important to keep ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 8, 2008 - M. Sam Mannan, holder of the T. Michael O'Connor Chair I in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, has received the designation of Regents Professor for 2007-08. The A&M System Board of Regents established the Regents Professor Award program in 1996 to recognize employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas. To date, 105 faculty members have been named Regents Professors. As a recipient, Mannan will receive a $9,000 stipend, a commemorative medallion and a certificate in his honor. Mannan, a professional engineer and certified ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 8, 2008 - Juergen Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will discuss his research on systems biology January 7 at The Georgia Institute of Technology. Hahn's presentation "Developing Improved Models of Signal Transduction Pathways via Systems Biology" is part of a seminar series sponsored by Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Hahn's research focuses on the development of new systems analysis techniques and their application in systems biology as well as for traditional chemical engineering processes. Applications of these techniques include sensitivity analysis of signal transduction pathways, image analysis techniques for fluorescence microscopy images, model reduction for controller design ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 4, 2008 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named this year's recipient of the Celanese Excellence in Teaching Award. The award recognizes Laird for his dedication and outstanding contributions to the education and professional development of chemical engineering students at Texas A&M. "Teaching is essentially the mission of the faculty of this department, and Dr. Laird has excelled at teaching," said Department Head and Charles D. Holland '53 Professor Michael V. Pishko. "He is a dynamic and outstanding educator." Laird teaches an undergraduate class on numerical methods and co-teaches a graduate level class on carbon ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 4, 2008 - Three groups of students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized for their original designs of a vinyl acetate chemical processing plant by the Celanese Corporation as part of the Fall 2008 Plant Design Competition. Sara Guest of Paris, Texas; Jason Jeansonne of Lewisville, Texas; Ufuoma Boma of Lagos, Nigeria; and Regina Ramsey of Nederland, Texas are members of the team awarded first place by Celanese for its original design of a vinyl acetate plant. Daniel Balch of Liberty, Texas; Ankush Bhalla of Missouri City, Texas; Oscar Cabada Kriebel of San Jose, Costa Rico; and ... Read More »

Polarizable Charge Equilibration Interaction Potentials are essential in describing piezo- and ferro-electricity in ABO3 ceramics for sensors, actuators and energy harvesting applications. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 1, 2008 - Imagine a self-powering cell phone that never needs to be charged because it converts sound waves produced by the user into the energy it needs to keep running. It's not as far-fetched as it may seem thanks to the recent work of Tahir Cagin, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Utilizing materials known in scientific circles as "piezoelectrics," Cagin, whose research focuses on nanotechnology, has made a significant discovery in the area of power ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 24, 2008 - Texas A&M University's alternative-powered vehicle raced to a third-place finish in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) national Chem-E-Car competition in Philadelphia Nov. 15 at the institute's Centennial Annual Meeting. In this year's event, students were challenged to transport 250 milliliters of water 60 feet. Each team received two chances to run their cars, with their final score being their best attempt at meeting the established distance. Cornell University came the closest and took the top prize of $2,000. Finishing in second place and taking home $1,000 was Louisiana State University, using citric acid and sodium carbonate. Taking third place and $500 was ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 24, 2008 - Michael V. Pishko, professor and head of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Food, Pharmaceuticals, and Bioengineering Plenary Lecture Award. Pishko, whose research interests include microfabricated biosensors, neovascularization of implanted biomaterials and "smart" drug delivery systems, was honored at the 2008 AIChE Annual Meeting for his presentation "Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery and Biochemical Sensing." The presentation detailed Pishko's research in nanoparticles drug delivery systems for chemotherapy and the development of nanosensors for mapping oxidative stress in cells. The Charles D. Holland '53 Professor, Pishko returned to Texas A&M in 2007 after serving at ... Read More »

Sam Mannan is working to develop models that predict the behavior of fires resulting from liquified natural gas explosions. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 18, 2008 - Tankers transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) have yet to experience a major accident but with more of the energy source being transported than ever before and in a post-Sept. 11 environment, preparing for a potential disaster is critical, says a Texas A&M University authority on disaster mitigation and process safety. Spearheading a collaboration of more than 40 experts from industry, academia and various regulatory agencies, M. Sam Mannan, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is working to develop models that can help ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 18, 2008 - Daniel Arnold, a senior in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&MUniversity, has been elected executive student committee president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Arnold, who hails from Richmond, Texas, was elected at the organization's centennial annual meeting in Philadelphia this month. The newly formed national position represents the highest-ranking office within AIChE that a student may serve. As executive student committee president, Arnold will help coordinate the activities of AIChE's more than 160 student chapters, which are located across nine geographic regions throughout the nation. He will be primarily tasked with developing approaches for enhancing cooperation among schools belonging to ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 17, 2008 - Yue Kuo, Dow Professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed a formal member of the Engineering Panel of the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong. Kuo, who was officially named a member by RGC Chairman Roland Chin, will hold membership through 2010 and serve on the engineering panel of the council, which is Hong Kong's equivalent to the National Science Foundation. The RGC is established under the aegis of the University Grants Committee (UGC). It is responsible, through the UGC, for advising the Government of the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ... Read More »

Professor Mark Holtzapple (left) explains the MixAlco process he developed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. COLLEGE STATION, Texas Nov. 7, 2008 - A process developed by researchers at Texas A&M University that could result in more affordable gasoline is a step closer to reality now that a large-scale demonstration facility has been built to test the new technology. The Advanced Biofuels Research Facility, which is located in Bryan, Texas, was today formally dedicated with a ceremony attended by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who lauded the potential of the facility and the technology known as the MixAlco process. "I want Texas to be the epicenter of alternative fuel development in the world, not ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Nov. 3, 2008 - Suljo Linic, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, will discuss his research on electro-catalysts Wednesday, Nov. 5, as part of the Fall 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Linic is scheduled to present "Design of Heterogeneous (Electro)catalysts Guided by Molecular Insights" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Linic's research focuses on the application of various state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental tools aimed at advancing predictive theories of materials, particularly developing concepts that will be helpful in ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 29, 2008 - Chemical processing plants throughout the nation will likely be subjected to increased government regulation in the coming years as efforts are made to foster a reliability within the industry on par with that of the aviation and nuclear power industries, said John S. Bresland, chairman/ chief executive officer of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), at a Texas A&M-sponsored symposium held this week. "Certainly, I think we're going to see more oversight," Bresland said. "Regardless of who wins the election, I think you are going to see a change in attitude, especially on regulation - more oversight from OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration], ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 28, 2008 - Looking to "drive" home the point that chemical engineering can be fun, students from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering "Chem-E-Car" team participated in the 21st Annual Chemistry Open House and Science Exploration Gallery at Texas A&M University, which was held this month. The award-winning event, which was free and open to the public, included various exhibits, demonstrations and computer activities from several departments, including physics, biochemistry and chemical engineering. In addition, the event featured the "Chemistry Road Show" in which popular science demonstrations of fire, explosions, weird polymers and super-cold materials were conducted. Supervised by Senior Lecturer and Assistant Head for Upper Division Programs Lale ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 28, 2008 - Three graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have won awards at the 12th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (micro-TAS 2008), held this month in San Diego. Jen-Huang Huang, Yu-Wen Huang, Serdar Ozturk and Jeongyoon Kim all received recognition for their research, which they presented at the conference. "This is the top conference in the area of miniaturized devices for chemical and biochemical analysis," said Associate Professor Victor Ugaz, who supervises the students. "These awards are very selective, and it is unusual for any single institution to bring home this many." Jen-Huang Huang and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 27, 2008 - Authorities on safety from throughout the world will convene at College Station next week as part of a two-day symposium aimed at making the process industry a safer place and sponsored by Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. The symposium "Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature" is scheduled for Oct. 28-29 at the Hilton Conference Center and will feature wide variety of safety-related lectures and presentations, including incident surveillance and safety performance, equipment integrity, facility design, risk analysis, management for process safety and engineering ethics. In addition, the symposium will feature exhibits from companies looking to demonstrate products, technology and software ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 24, 2008 - Zuyi "Jacky" Huang, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of a Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Graduate Travel Grant for 2008. Huang, who joined Texas A&M in 2005 after receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from Tsinghua University in China, will receive a $500 stipend and a trip to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting where he will be recognized and present his research. Huang's work involves the development of techniques for deriving signal transduction models that take into account that only a limited number of experimental data ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 20, 2008 - Yushan Yan, professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, will discuss his research into zeolite materials Wednesday, Oct. 22, as part of the Fall 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Yan is scheduled to present "Zeolite Thin Films: From Computer Chips to Space Station" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Yan studies zeolites, a class of inorganic crystalline materials with uniform and molecular-sized pores that are commercially used as shape-selective catalysts and molecular-sieving ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 13, 2008 - The full funding of three endowed scholarships and a laboratory fund for the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center highlight a strong level of support this past year for the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, said Department Head and Charles D. Holland '53 Professor Michael V. Pishko at the department's Endowed Donor Banquet, which was held this month. The annual banquet provides an opportunity for a select group of chemical engineering students and the donors of their scholarships to meet and be recognized. This year, Nancy M. and Brock D. Nelson, a 1990 graduate of Texas A&M; Emily and Oliver Osborn, a 1938 ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Oct. 6, 2008 - Tarun Bansal and Yeonshick Yoo, graduate students in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, each have been named a recipient of the Paul and Ellen Deisler Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. These fellowships are awarded on the basis of scholarly productivity and excellence in graduate studies and include a $5,000 stipend. A total of eight students were nominated for this year's fellowships. The students' applications were then ranked by a committee of faculty members from the department before a final determination was made based on the composite score of all faculty rankings for each candidate. "We were delighted to receive notice from ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 29, 2008 - John Yin, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will discuss his research into virus growth Wednesday, Oct. 1, as part of the Fall 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Yin is scheduled to present "Pandemic in a Petri Dish: Measures and Models of Virus Growth and Infection Spread" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Yin studies virus-host interactions, systems biology, microfluidics and pre-biotic chemistry. His presentation will highlight his recent progress on three fronts: engineered ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 22, 2008 - Jong-in Hahm, assistant professor of chemical engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, will discuss her research Wednesday, Sept. 24, as part of the Fall 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Hahm is scheduled to present "Engineering Nanomaterial Platforms: Toward Highly Sensitive and Specific Biomedical Detection" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. Her presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Hahm studies new materials, particularly molecular structures on the nanometer scale, for use as molecular tools in engineering and investigating biologically important systems. The goal of her research is to develop materials ... Read More »

The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will host an ice cream social for its undergraduate students from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 in the lobby of the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building. Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 22, 2008 - Mert Atilhan, assistant professor in the department of chemical engineering at Qatar University in Doha and former graduate student of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been honored with the Qatar University 2008 Research Award. The award, which is bestowed upon only one faculty member from Qatar University, was presented to Atilhan during the university's convocation ceremonies this month. While at Texas A&M, Atilhan was a graduate research assistant who studied under Professor Kenneth R. Hall before earning his doctorate in 2007. His research at Qatar University focuses on applied thermodynamics, thermophysical fluid properties, including natural gas and hydrates. "I am ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Sept. 22, 2008 - Jennifer Leigh Christensen, a senior in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the 2008-2009 Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award. The award is considered the most prestigious honor bestowed on a graduating senior in the university's Dwight Look College of Engineering and is presented to a student who demonstrates scholastic achievement, leadership skills and a strong moral character. Recipients must have a 3.5 minimum overall GPR, participate in numerous university organizations and posses such qualities as loyalty, honor, duty and integrity. "Jennifer is an all-around outstanding student, and this award is richly deserved," said ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 2, 2008 - Kenneth R. Hall, associate director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the Jack E. & Frances Brown Chair and professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded the 2007 South Texas Section Best Fundamental Paper Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Hall co-authored the paper, "Improved equations for the Standing-Katz tables" with Gustavo A. Iglesias-Silva, a visiting professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Hall and Iglesias-Silva will be presented the award this fall during one of the AIChE Southwest Texas Section monthly meetings. The article was published in the April 2007 edition ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Sept. 1, 2008 - Plamen Atanassov, associate professor of chemical and nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, will discuss his research Wednesday, Sept. 3, kicking off the Fall 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Atanassov, who is director of the university's Center for Emerging Energy Technologies, is scheduled to present "Hierarchical Structures in Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Atanassov's research focuses on electrocatalysis, enabling materials technologies for electrochemical power sources such as batteries and fuel cells; and bio-electrocatalysis and ... Read More »

The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will honor its graduate students with an appreciation luncheon at noon, Thursday, May 20 in the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building lobby. The reception is open to all chemical engineering graduate students, faculty and staff. Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 25, 2008 - Early registration has been extended for "Fundamentals of Process Safety Management," a course administered by the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. The two-day course, which is scheduled for Sept. 9-10 at SIS-TECH Solutions, Inc. in Houston, is designed to orient the student in the concepts of and reasons for process safety management and to teach basic process safety management fundamentals. Course content covers the 14 elements of process safety, various examples and relevant case histories, along with personal experiences. In addition, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency process safety regulatory requirements ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 25, 2008 - Turning everyday waste into gasoline may seem like a distant dream, but thanks to researchers with the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and Byogy Renewables Inc., it could become a reality within two years. Kenneth Hall, associate director of TEES and the Jack E. & Frances Brown Chair and professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, and his colleagues, Mark T. Holtzapple, a professor in chemical engineering, and Sergio A. Capareda, a professor in biological and agricultural engineering, have developed a process to make converting biomass to high-octane gasoline possible. The advanced process is possibly the only integrated system ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 12, 2008 - Intelligent and effective design of industrial facilities can be just as critical to extinguishing a serious industrial fire as timely emergency response, says a Texas A&M University authority on disaster mitigation. M. Sam Mannan, director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center in the university's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, says that because industrial fires are complex phenomena, facilities must be designed in an optimum manner that allows for these blazes to be controlled, contained and extinguished with relative ease. With this in mind, the chemical engineering department and the process safety center are partnering with the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Brayton Fire ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 8, 2008 - Brian Liu, an undergraduate student from The Johns Hopkins University who is participating in a summer research program at Texas A&M University, has received top honors for his research presentation on metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for enhanced hydrogen production. Participating in Texas A&M's Research Experiences for Undergraduates/ Undergraduate Summer Research Grant (REU/USRG) program, Liu received first place in a poster session designed to allow undergraduates to present their research to faculty members from throughout the Dwight Look College of Engineering. The hour-and-a-half poster session was the culmination of a 10-week research experience and requires student participants to both verbally and visually explain all aspects of ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, August 6, 2008 - Perla Balbuena, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&MUniversity, has been invited to speak at a workshop examining catalysis research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Balbuena, an authority in the area of catalysis, will participate in the workshop "Grand Challenges in Electron Chemistry and Catalysis at Interface," taking place Aug. 10-15. She will speak about "Challenges in the Design of Active and Durable Nanocatalysts." Balbuena's research focuses on understanding and predicting thermodynamic, transport and kinetic properties of materials using state-of-the-art first principles computational chemistry and physics methods. Her work focuses on bulk and nanomaterials used as catalysts and electrolytes in ... Read More »

The National Science Foundation - Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) poster session is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 7 from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the lobby of the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building and will consist of the following student presentations: ââ'¬Â¢ "Extracting Lipids from Wastewater Sludge in Order to Produce Biodiesel" by Aubrey Heath ââ'¬Â¢ "Epichlorohydrin, a value-added product from glycerol," by Josh Kammer ââ'¬Â¢ "Techniques for Constructing Uniform b-Oriented Zeolite Membranes Used in Gas Separations", by Jessica Buday ââ'¬Â¢ "Chemotaxis of E.coli in Response to Hormones," by Dave Sullivan ââ'¬Â¢ "Extractive Distillation for Ethanol Dehydration," by Steven Fulk ââ'¬Â¢ "Estimation of Seasonal Parameters and Susceptibility Numbers for Varicella-Zoster," by Sean Legg ââ'¬Â¢ "Colloidal wax ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas July 31, 2008 - Students in the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University who are pursuing a safety engineering certificate as part of their undergraduate education are now eligible for a new scholarship offered through the Safety Engineering Certificate Program. The new $2,500 scholarship award is divided into installments of $500 for courses taken that qualify toward earning the certificate. To be eligible for the scholarship students must maintain an overall minimum GPR of 3.0. In addition, students must earn at least a B in each qualifying course for the scholarship to continue. Students interested in applying for the scholarship for the 2009 academic year are ... Read More »

The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will honor its summer 2008 graduating students for their work and accomplishments with a graduation reception at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7 in the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building, room 106. The reception is open to all chemical engineering graduate students, faculty and staff. Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 21, 2008 - M. Sam Mannan, holder of the T. Michael O'Connor I Chair in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, will appear on a History Channel program Tuesday, July 22. Mannan will be featured on "Mega Disasters: Toxic Cloud," which will air at 9 p.m. CDT. The hour-long program will examine a mega-level disaster and then restage it using state-of-the-art computer animation. Mannan, a nationally recognized authority on disaster mitigation and process safety, was interviewed about what industry, research and academia are doing to prevent such disasters from happening again. The History Channel is broadcast on channel 269 ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 8, 2008 - When Jennifer Carvajal, a graduate student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, isn't figuring out how to push around molecules, she's leading the push for expanding chemical engineering education for undergraduates. Specifically, Carvajal, whose area of study is molecular modeling and simulation, is working to ensure chemical engineering undergraduates are exposed to the relatively new and dynamic field of molecular modeling. It's a field she believes stands to make an impact in a number of areas and one that needs to be incorporated into undergraduate curriculum. Carvajal made her case recently at the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 20, 2008 - Hans J. Pasman, emeritus professor of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and a member of the Dutch ministerial Council of Hazardous Substances, has joined Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering as a research professor for the Mary Kay O'Connor Safety Process Center. A noted authority on chemical risk management, Pasman most recently has worked on improving explosion safety and efficiency of gas phase hydrocarbon oxidation processes as coordinator of the EU FP5 Project SAFEKINEX from 2003-2007. During that span, Pasman also served on the Dutch governmental Advisory Council on Hazardous Substances as chairman of the Committee for Knowledge Infrastructure ... Read More »

Professor Thomas Wood is working to fight bacterial infection by examining the way bacterial cells talk to one another. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 11, 2008 - Understanding the way bacterial cells "talk" to each other could lead to more effective methods for fighting the often persistent and serious infections caused by the biofilms they form, says a Texas A&M University professor of chemical engineering who not only has deciphered their language but also discovered how to quell their conversation. Examining Escherichia coli bacteria - widely considered a model organism for microbiology studies - Professor Thomas K. Wood of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M has succeeded in ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 5, 2008 - Lauding his efforts in developing sustainable technologies that benefit and enhance the human condition, the Bryan Rotary Club Wednesday presented Texas A&M University Professor Mark T. Holtzapple with the 2008 Research Valley Commercialization Rising Star Award. Holtzapple, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is a distinguished scholar and inventor who with colleagues at Texas A&M has developed several pioneering technologies. Among them are the StarRotor engine, which has the potential to be three times more efficient than the conventional internal combustion engine, and the MixAlco process, a method of converting biomass into fuel. Introduced in 2007, the Bryan Rotary Club/Research Valley Commercialization ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 28, 2008 - Srinivas Pullela, a graduate student working with Assistant Professor Zhengdong Cheng in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been invited to discuss his research at the 2008 SoftMatt symposium at North Carolina State University. Pullela, whose abstract was selected by a committee of five judges for oral presentation at the symposium, will be one of only five graduate students presenting research June 19 at the national conference. For his selection, he will receive a monetary prize from the symposium organizers. At the symposium, Pullela will speak about "Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics of the Intelligent Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Colloids. "Srinivas is a student with ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 19, 2008 - Michael L. Shuler, the James and Martha McCormick Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, will discuss his research Friday, May 23, as the final presentation of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Shuler, who is the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Chemical Engineering, is scheduled to present "Body-on-a-Chip: A Tool for Predictive Pharmacology/ Toxicology" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Shuler's research focuses on bioengineering in the areas of structured models; minimal cell; in vitro ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas May 15, 2008 - More affordable gasoline prices could potentially be on the way now that construction has begun on a demonstration-scale facility that will further validate a Texas A&M process that transforms biomass into liquid fuels. By September, the facility is expected to be operational in Bryan, Texas. It will test the "MixAlco" technology developed by Professor Mark T. Holtzapple and Research Engineer Cesar B. Granda, both in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M. "This demonstration plant is a major step towards relieving our nation's dependence on expensive imported oil," Holtzapple said. The MixAlco technology can commercially make cellulosic ethanol and renewable gasoline, said a representative ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 12, 2008 - Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett has appointed Victor M. Ugaz holder of the Kenneth R. Hall Professorship in Chemical Engineering. Ugaz is assistant professor and associate head for undergraduate programs in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Established in 2002 by the Gas Processors Suppliers Association, the professorship is named in honor of Hall, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and associate director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. From 2002-2006 Hall served as head of the chemical engineering department. Ugaz joined the Texas A&M Engineering faculty in January 2003. His research focuses ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 9, 2008 - Four graduating seniors from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University have been recognized as distinguished members of their Spring 2008 graduating class. At a reception honoring the department's spring graduates, Christopher Ciesielski, a senior from Allen, Texas, and James Kress, a senior from Willis, Texas, each were named recipients of the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Spring 2008 Award." In addition, Laura Barrera, a senior from Brownsville, Texas received the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Spring 2008 Senior Award." And Joseph Zerr, a senior from D'Hanis, Texas, received the "2008 Senior Award" from the RHO Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 8, 2008 - Victor M. Ugaz, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received a grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for his DNA analysis work. Ugaz received $44,000 from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences for the project, "DNA to Go: Do-it-Yourself PCR Thermocyclers." Ugaz joined the Texas A&M Engineering faculty in January 2003. His research focuses on harnessing the unique characteristics of transport and flow at the microscale to enable development of advanced miniaturized chemical and biochemical analysis technologies. Areas of investigation include manipulating electrophoretic migration of DNA and proteins ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 5, 2008 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor and holder of the McFerrin Professorship in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named this year's recipient of the Fluor Distinguished Teaching Award. The award recognizes El-Halwagi for his dedication and outstanding contributions to the education and professional development of chemical engineering students at Texas A&M. El-Halwagi, who is widely known for his pioneering contributions in the field of process integration, joined Texas A&M in 2002 after a spending 12 years at Auburn University where he was honored with numerous distinctions. At Texas A&M, El-Halwagi teaches senior-level undergraduate and graduate classes, covering the areas of process ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 9, 2008 - Three groups of students from Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognized by the Fluor Corporation for their designs of a refinery water process plant. Kristen Atherton, Milton Chaves, Derek Moser and Justin Phillips are members of the team awarded first place by Fluor for its original design of a hypothetical but potentially fully functional water process plant that operates per Flour's specifications. Deborah Bell, Laura Barrera, Francisco Bolado and Sarah Owen were awarded second place, and the team composed of Temilola Awosipe, Wesley Carter, Carolyn Pearce and Bryan Wagner received third-place honors. Each of the winning teams received a ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 2, 2008 - Victor M. Ugaz, assistant professor and associate head for undergraduate programs in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. He is one of only two chemical engineers in the nation to receive this distinction. The award supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences, providing discretionary funding to faculty members at an early stage in their careers. As part of the award, Ugaz will receive an unrestricted research grant of $75,000. "The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is enthusiastic about providing support for faculty ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 1, 2008 - Joseph Zerr, a senior chemical engineering major in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a recipient of the 2008 Thomas S. Gathright Scholar Academic Excellence Award. The award, presented by The Association of Former Students in conjunction with Texas A&M's Student Government Association, individually recognizes sophomores, juniors and seniors with the highest grade-point ratio within their respective academic colleges. To qualify for this award, a senior must have at least 95 credit hours at Texas A&M. Zerr's 4.0 grade point average was tops among all seniors in the Dwight Look College of Engineering. "As a professor, I am ... Read More »

The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will honor its spring 2009 graduating students for their work and accomplishments with a graduation reception at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 14 in the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building, room 106. The reception is open to all chemical engineering graduate students, faculty and staff. Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 28, 2008 - Jennifer Elisseeff, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins University, will discuss her research Friday, May 2, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&MUniversity. Her presentation "Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Elisseeff's research focuses on developing new biomaterials and minimally invasive technologies for tissue repair, stem cells and musculoskeletal tissue engineering. She has collaborations with plastic surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology and otolaryngology clinical departments and has co-founded a ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 29, 2008 - Diego Gomez-Gualdron, a graduate student working with Professor Perla Balbuena of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will be a featured speaker at the 2008 Supercomputing Facility Annual Users Meeting Thursday, May 1. Gomez-Gualdron, who is speaking as a representative of Balbuena's research group, is scheduled to begin his presentation at 2 p.m. in the Jack E. Brown Building, room 106. His talk "Understanding and Designing Materials and Processes via Computational Chemistry and Engineering" will provide examples of successful catalyst design work performed in Balbuena's group that utilizes the university's Supercomputing Facility and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 1, 2008 - Jaime C. Grunlan, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently honored at a the 2007-2008 Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Awards. Grunlan was recognized as one of five "Texas Engineering Experiment Station Select Young Faculty." Grunlan's research focuses on controlling the microstructure of high aspect ratio nanoparticles using stimuli-responsive polymers. His Polymer Nano Composites Lab is developing thick and thin film polymer nanocomposites for a variety of applications that include EMI shielding, gas permeation control and sensors. Grunlan joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2004 after serving as a senior research engineer at the Avery Research ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 28, 2008 - Victor M. Ugaz, assistant professor and associate head for undergraduate programs in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently honored at a the 2007-2008 Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Awards. Ugaz was honored for being a recipient of the Tenneco Meritorious Teaching Award. In addition it was noted that Ugaz has received tenure and promotion to associate professor, effective Sept. 1. Prior to joining Texas A&M, Ugaz received his doctorate from Northwestern University where he also served as a teaching apprentice, co-instructing an undergraduate chemical reaction engineering class. Ugaz received his master's and undergraduate degree from The University of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 30, 2008 - One student at a time - that's the simple but demanding philosophy adopted by Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, as he endeavors to teach his students the complexities of process design. It's an incredibly time-consuming job, or as El-Halwagi puts it, "mission," but that suits the chemical engineering professor just fine because in addition to being an internationally recognized authority in his given research area, El-Halwagi is an equally devoted teacher. This month, that devotion to pedagogy was formally recognized when El-Halwagi, holder of the McFerrin Professorship, received a college-level Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 28, 2008 - Rayford G. Anthony, professor emeritus in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently honored at a the 2007-2008 Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Awards. Anthony was recognized as a recipient of the Charles W. Crawford Service Award. The award was established in 1962 for distinguished service to the College of Engineering. Former head of the department from 1995-2002, Anthony joined Texas A&M in 1966 as an assistant professor of chemical engineering and ascended to the rank of associate professor in 1969. In 1974, he was named professor of chemical engineering, and in 1994 he was appointed to the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 29, 2008 - Sage R. Hiibel of Colorado State University's Chemical and Biological Engineering Department will present his research Wednesday, April 30 at Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Hiibel's presentation "Acid Mine Drainage Remediation: A Large-Scale Systems Biology Approach" is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the Jack E. Brown Building, room 256. Acid mine drainage (AMD), says Hiibel, is a major environmental and public health issue throughout the world due to its harmful effects on humans and the environment. AMD is the result of the oxidation of mineral surfaces exposed during mining activities and is characterized by elevated levels of sulfate, acidity, and Fe(II). ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 28, 2008 - Mark T. Holtzapple, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University and researcher with the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), was recently honored at the 2007-2008 Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Awards. Holtzapple was recognized as a holder of the Halliburton Foundation Professorship as well as a Chevron Faculty Fellow. Holtzapple's research interests include bio-based fuels and chemicals, food and feed processing, water desalination, air conditioning, high-efficiency engines, jet engines, and vertical-lift aircraft. Throughout the course of his career, he has been awarded over 80 U.S. and foreign patents and has developed a wide variety of technologies, including production ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 21, 2008 - Alex Katz, associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss his research Friday, April 25, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation "Outer Sphere Control of Heterogeneous Catalysis: Cooperativity and Confinement" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Katz's primary research focuses on materials synthesis-by-design via imprinting. Katz says there has been a progressive trend in materials research, driven in part by the continuing miniaturization of technology, towards the synthesis of materials at ... Read More »

The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering will honor its 128 graduate students for their work and accomplishments with a graduate appreciation reception at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 in the lobby of the Jack E. Brown Engineering Building. The reception is open to all chemical engineering graduate students, faculty and staff. Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 14, 2008 - Juergen Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will be one of a select group of academic leaders convening April 21-22 at a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop aimed at helping achieve "smart manufacturing" with zero incidents and zero emissions. The exclusive invitation-only workshop, which will take place at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, will bring together leaders in the research and industrial communities in chemical and biological systems involved in smart plant technologies. "Smart manufacturing" refers to a design and operational paradigm involving the integration of measurement and actuation, safety and environmental protection, regulatory control, real-time optimization ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 14, 2008 - Four graduate students in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&MUniversity were recently honored for their research during the university's 11th Annual Student Research Week. Jennifer A. Carvajal, Pussana Hirunsit, Eid M. Al-Mutairi and Srinivas Pullela all received recognition during the week-long event in which students from throughout Texas A&M detailed their research through posters and oral presentations. Carvajal, a graduate student in Professor Tahir Cagin's lab, and Pullela, a graduate student working under Assistant Professor Zhengdong Cheng, both participated in oral presentations and received "Outstanding Accomplishments in Interdisciplinary Research" awards for their work in the area of materials science. The designation recognizes research with outcomes ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 14, 2008 - Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, assistant professor in the department of physics at the University of Central Florida, will discuss her research Friday, April 18 at Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Her presentation "Stability, Electronic and Catalytic Properties of Supported Metal Clusters" is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. It will address how the next generation of nanocatalysts requires detailed knowledge of the correlation between their structure and reactivity. Roldán Cuenya's group investigates structural, electronic, magnetic, vibrational and chemical properties of size- and shape-selected nanostructures. These fundamental physical properties are important to many nanotechnology applications, including ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 7, 2008 - Andrew J. Putnam, assistant professor in the departments of chemical engineering and materials science and biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, will discuss his research Friday, April 11, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation "Parsing the Chemical and Mechanical Effects of the Extracellular Matrix Using Biomimetic Materials" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Putnam's primary research interest is the cell-matrix interface. Putnam's laboratory seeks to develop rigorous design criteria for future generations of ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 4, 2008 - Arthur R. "Artie" McFerrin, Jr., a 1965 graduate of Texas A&M and the man for whom the university's chemical engineering department is named, has received the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of the institution. McFerrin is one of four recipients of the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award, presented by Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students. Joining him in receiving that notable distinction are Charles H. "Charlie" Weinbaum, Jr., Class of 1947, of Beaumont; James D. "Doug" Pitcock, Jr., Class of 1949, of Houston; and Neal W. Adams, Class of 1968, of Euless. "Each and every one of the more than ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 4, 2008 - Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor and holder of the McFerrin Professorship, in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University was a featured speaker at a seminar series at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this week. Speaking as part of a series sponsored by the university's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, El-Halwagi discussed his research group's work in the area of process integration, detailing new research in componentless design and its applications in chemical engineering optimization. This research is a key element in the field of property integration introduced by El-Halwagi and co-workers. The basic idea is to develop optimization tools for the design ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 2, 2008 - Abdullah Bin Mahfouz, a graduate student in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been selected as a King Abdullah Scholar by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. The King Abdullah Scholar Award is conferred upon outstanding doctoral students to support their continued research efforts. It includes annual funding of up to $50,000 for tuition, living stipend and educational expenses and up to $10,000 to be used for the continuation of research activities for up to four years. Upon completion of their doctoral degrees, KAUST may offer King Abdullah Scholars research and post-doctoral opportunities on ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 1, 2008 - Daniel E. Resasco, the George Lynn Cross Professor at the University of Oklahoma's School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, will discuss his research Friday, April 4, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation, "Kinetic Modeling of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Growth on Co-Mo/SiO2 Catalysts with Same-spot Characterization of Catalysts and Product" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Resasco's research focuses on the area of heterogeneous catalysis. It's aimed at understanding the relationship between the catalytic performance ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 27, 2008Ã' - Mark Holtzapple, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University and researcher with the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), has been awarded one of 21 grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for biomass research and development, and demonstration projects. Holtzapple was awarded $600,000 to help build and operate a small demonstration plant of the MixAlco process, which converts biomass into alcohol fuels. Holtzapple will use the grant to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of anaerobically fermenting biomass to carboxylate salts and their conversion to ketones, such as acetone. "The demonstration plant will hold about ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 24, 2008 - Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will discuss his research on estimating parameters of infectious disease models and optimizing the design of interventions March 27-28 at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Laird will present his research to a select group of Canadian researchers and policy-makers in the field of public health. His presentation will be part of a workshop aimed at stimulating discussion between policy-makers, academics and health professionals on a broad range of issues related to use of information technology and operations research methods in public health decisions. Among the areas that will be examined ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 24, 2008 - Christopher A. Voigt, assistant professor at the University of California's San Francisco Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, will discuss his research Friday, March 28, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation "Programming Bacteria: From Toy Systems to Applications" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Voigt's research focuses on programming cells to perform complex, coordinated tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. His laboratory is engineering new sensors that give bacteria the senses of touch, sight and smell. In ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 21, 2008 - Aggie ingenuity was on display this month at the 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Regional Student Conference, where two student teams from Texas A&M University received recognition for their designs of a chemical-powered vehicle. Participating in the conference's annual "Chem-E-Car" competition, one Aggie team received top honors in the poster portion of the event, and another team placed second. That same team also placed second in the car performance portion of the competition. The first-place poster competition team was composed of students Carla Beutlich, Patrick Breckon, Mark Deimund, Iana Iacob, Felipe Rendon and Sahiba Singh. As part of their entry, they were required to describe ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Rudy Dismuke of Houston has endowed a $30,000 teaching excellence award at Texas A&M University to honor an admired chemical engineering professor. The Kenneth R. Hall Teaching Excellence Award will be funded through the Texas A&M Foundation. "Dr. Hall's teaching skills inspired my interest in thermodynamics, which led to my career in the oil and gas industry," said Dismuke, who studied under Hall in the 1970s. Dismuke is an exploration commercial advisor at ExxonMobil, which will contribute matching funds to the gift. The recipient of the teaching excellence award will be a chemical engineering faculty member selected by a majority vote of the senior chemical engineering students based on ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 11, 2008 - Tahir Cagin, professor in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering is scheduled to discuss his research Thursday, March 20 at the International Conference on Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences in Honolulu, Hawaii. Cagin's address, "Modeling and Design of Polymeric Architectures for Chemical Sensing," will be a featured presentation at the week-long conference, which is aimed at bringing together researchers from the world's academia, industry and governments to discuss the recent advances in computational and experimental engineering and sciences and to facilitate collaborative research efforts. Utilizing rational design and molecular-level simulation approaches, Cagin and his graduate students are working on procedures to expedite the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 10, 2008 - M. Sam Mannan, professor in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is scheduled to deliver Iowa State University's Wendell Miller Distinguished Lecture, Friday, March 14. Mannan, who also serves as director of Texas A&M's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, will discuss "globalization and its challenges in industrial process safety" at the lecture, which is sponsored by ISU's College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In the industrial safety arena, Mannan says, globalization introduces significant challenges due to the diversity in defining what is considered "safe" and what is accepted as the appropriate level of tolerability of risk. These concerns ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 4, 2008 - Laura E. Niklason, associate professor in the departments of anesthesiology and biomedical engineering at Yale University, will discuss her research Friday, March 7 as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Niklason, who also is vice chair for research in Yale's Department of Anesthesiology, is scheduled to present "Paths to an Engineered Human Vessel" from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. Her lecture is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Niklason's research has several areas of focus. She has engaged in preclinical studies in large animals to validate ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 29, 2008 - Daniel Shantz, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed holder of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. The appointment is for a three-year period, effective March 1. Shantz joined Texas A&M University in 2001. He serves as the associate head for graduate programs in the department. His research focuses on materials development for emerging areas in energy. Since joining Texas A&M, Shantz has received more than $2 million in funding, which includes six National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. Shantz has published more than 40 papers, serves as a reviewer for more than 15 journals and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 29, 2008 - Jorge Seminario, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, was one of two professors from Texas A&M University's Dwight Look College of Engineering recently selected to participate in a special meeting of the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO). The "Program Formulation Meeting for Bio-Molecular Electronics" was conducted by the ARO's Division of Electronics. Also attending the meeting with Seminario was Laszlo Kish, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Seminario and Kish are members of a cadre of technical experts who will provide guidance and suggestions to the Division of Electronics as it works to develop a new program in ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 21, 2008 - Community service can be hard to throw into the mix in between studying hard and making the grades. However, a new program in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, "Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)," provides Aggie engineering students with a chance to reach out to the community while still getting credit for class. The Texas A&M course is ENGR 289/489 (depending on a student's classification) and all engineering students are eligible. Students in the course will apply their engineering knowledge to two community service projects, Habitat for Humanity and Texas A&M University Recycling. Spring 2008 is the first semester for the course at Texas A&M, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 19, 2008 - Prospective students interested in pursuing a chemical engineering education at Texas A&M University recently had the opportunity to learn all about the discipline and its far-reaching impact thanks to a university-wide event in which the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering opened its doors to high school and transfer students. The event, known as "Aggieland Saturday," is a campus-wide open house that attracts thousands of prospective students each year. Sponsored by the Office of Admissions and Records, Aggieland Saturday is aimed at informing these students and their families about the opportunities available at Texas A&M. Those students specifically interested in chemical engineering received an up-close-and-personal look ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 18, 2008 - Juergen Hahn, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed external examiner at Queens University in Belfast, United Kingdom. As an external examiner, Hahn will travel to the United Kingdom to review the work of a Ph.D. candidate, enrolled at Queens University, who has prepared a dissertation related to Hahn's field of expertise. "I was pleased to be asked to serve as an external examiner for a dissertation at Queens University," Hahn said. "It shows that other research groups take note of our work and trust us to review and evaluate their students." Contrary to the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 11, 2008 - Kristi S. Anseth, Tisone Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will discuss her research Friday, Feb. 15, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. She is the Distinguished Lecturer for the series. Her presentation "Engineering Hydrogel Niches for Tissue Regeneration" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Anseth's research focuses on biomaterials, tissue engineering, photopolymerizations and degradable polymer networks. Anseth, who is the Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, has received ... Read More »

Professor Kenneth R. Hall explains the Synfuels conversion process. COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 5, 2008 - With the help of a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor, a Dallas-based gas-to-liquids (GTL) energy firm has developed what it labels as the industry's first commercially viable process for converting natural gas into useable fuels. The announcement came Tuesday at a press conference held at the Synfuels research and demonstration plant in Bryan, Texas. The result could mean millions of barrels of new petroleum products - all produced more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly method that helps reduce sources of global warming. Expanding on a process conceived by Kenneth R. Hall, a professor in ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 29, 2008 - Students enrolled in a fluid mechanics class in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering received a pleasant surprise from the Celanese Corporation this semester. Upon beginning class this spring semester, students in Assistant Professor Victor Ugaz's Chemical Engineering 304 class learned that Celanese had purchased textbooks for the entire classroom as part of an impromptu donation to the department. In addition, the chemical manufacturing giant purchased multiple-choice response clickers for every student in the class. These devices allow students to "buzz in" with their answers to questions posed by Ugaz. Students' responses are then registered in a polling-type format, much like an audience ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 31, 2008 - Thomas K. Wood, the T. Michael O' Connor II Chair and professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, will deliver the keynote address at the "Second Srinakharinwirot Conference" in Thailand, taking place Thursday and Friday (Jan. 31 - Feb. 1). Wood's participation in the conference, sponsored by Srinakharinwirot University, is expected to further promote academic cooperation between Texas A&M University and the Srinakharinwirot system of universities in Thailand. Addressing a host of faculty, students and staff from Srinakharinwirot University as well as representatives from the private and government sectors, Wood will speak about his research involving E. coli bacteria and its energy-related implications. ... Read More »

Professor Thomas K. Wood COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 30, 2008 - For most people, the name "E. coli" is synonymous with food poisoning and product recalls, but a professor in Texas A&M University's chemical engineering department envisions the bacteria as a future source of energy, helping to power our cars, homes and more. By genetically modifying the bacteria, Thomas Wood, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has "tweaked" a strain of E. coli so that it produces substantial amounts of hydrogen. Specifically, Wood's strain produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created in a naturally occurring process, according to an article in "Microbial Biotechnology," detailing his research. Though ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 29, 2008 - The process industry is experiencing "a tsunami of change" that is not only affecting the way companies are doing business but also demanding automation professionals become more business savvy, said Editor-in-Chief of CONTROL Magazine Walt Boyes Tuesday at Texas A&M University. "The world is changing; we can see that constantly, and the manufacturing industries are changing rapidly, too," said Boyes, who was the featured speaker at the university's 63rd annual Instrumentation Symposium for the Process Industries, sponsored by the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. The symposium annually offers the latest developments in all categories of instrumentation, providing participants with access to specialized presentations, exhibits and workshops. Detailing ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 28, 2008 - James B. Rawlings, the Paul A. Elfers Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will discuss his research Friday, Feb. 1, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation "Chemical Reaction Engineering at the Small Scale: Still Plenty of Room at the Bottom" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Rawlings' research focuses on process modeling dynamics and control, nonlinear model predictive control, state estimation and process identification, and particle technology. Rawlings has received numerous professional ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 14, 2008 - Roger T. Bonnecaze, the T. Brockett Hudson Professor in Chemical Engineering and department chair at the University of Texas at Austin, will discuss his research Friday, Jan. 18, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. His presentation, "Flow, Memory and Aging of Soft Particle Paste," is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Bonnecaze's research focuses on fluid mechanics of suspensions and emulsions, electrical impedance tomography, micromechanics of imprint lithography and self-assembly of nanoparticulate films. Bonnecaze joined the University ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 9, 2008 - Mariah Hahn, assistant professor of chemical engineering in Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has received the American Chemical Society's PROGRESS/Dreyfus Lectureship Award in recognition of her research contributions in the areas of soft tissue engineering. The award, which is bestowed upon an individual identified as a "rising star" by the American Chemical Society, goes directly to a female faculty member in the chemical sciences and engineering fields. As part of the award, Hahn will receive a grant that supports travel to one or more Carnegie Research Universities of her choosing, enabling her to give a technical presentation to the faculty and ... Read More »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 12, 2007 - Citing the potential for acts of terrorism on any of the thousands of chemical processing plants throughout the country, M. Sam Mannan, a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor and authority on process safety and risk management, testified before a House subcommittee Wednesday and urged Congress to give the Department of Homeland Security permanent and continuing authority to regulate chemical security in the United States. Mannan's testimony came as part of a congressional hearing on the "Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008," a proposed amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 that provides for the regulation of certain chemical facilities. Addressing members of the subcommittee, ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 7, 2008 - William B. Russel, professor of chemical engineering and dean of the graduate school at Princeton University, will kick off the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University Friday, Jan. 11. Russel, the A.W. Marks '19 Professor in Princeton University's Department of Chemical Engineering, will discuss "Pattern Formation in Thin Polymer Films due to Electrohydrodynamic Instabilities." His presentation is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. A highly decorated scholar, Russel has received numerous honors throughout his distinguished career, including the Award for Surface and ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 3, 2007 - Instrumentation and process control designers, users and vendors from throughout the country will converge at Texas A&M University this month for a three-day symposium aimed at empowering students and industry professionals with the latest knowledge and resources in the process industries. The 63rd annual Instrumentation Symposium for the Process Industries is scheduled to take place Jan. 29-31 at the University Center Complex and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Symposium registration is complimentary for students, faculty and staff, and those individuals interested in attending are instructed to register by contacting Mary Cass, symposium coordinator, at (979) 458-1863 or via email: instsym@chemail.tamu.edu. "Those ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 19, 2007 - Rayford G. Anthony, professor of chemical engineering in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and former head of the department from 1995-2002, has been accorded the rank of professor emeritus by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Anthony joined Texas A&M in 1966 as an assistant professor of chemical engineering and ascended to the rank of associate professor in 1969. In 1974, he was named professor of chemical engineering, and in 1994 he was appointed to the C. D. Holland Professorship. Currently, Anthony is a senior fellow at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, a position that he has held since 1984. With ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 14, 2007 - The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University Friday honored its 42 fall graduates with a reception and awards ceremony in which a select group of outstanding chemical engineering students was recognized. Kristen Gantt, a senior from Anchorage, Alaska, received the department's "Outstanding Graduating Senior Fall 2007 Award." Kendra Gil, a senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., received the "Chemical Engineering Excellence Fall 2007 Senior Award." And Kiri Kilpatrick, a senior from Carrollton, Texas, received the "2007 Senior Award" from the RHO Chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for chemical engineering. In addition, Anthony Skach, a senior from Angleton, Texas, received ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 13, 2007 - Two faculty members and three staff members from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering Thursday received years of service pins for their exemplary dedication to the State of Texas and Texas A&M University as part of the Texas A&M Engineering Holiday Reception. Professors Charles J. Glover and M. Sam Mannan along with Program Coordinator Mary A. Cass, Scientific Instrument Maker II Randy A. Marek and Computer Systems Manager Jeffrey J. Polasek each received years of service pins from Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett. Glover's 30 state years of service were the most among the ... Read More »

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 4, 2007 - For the better part of a semester, Texas A&M University chemical engineering students in John Baldwin's senior-level plant design course have been preparing for the professional environment they're soon to encounter by undertaking a real-world assignment. Their charge: design a fully functional chemical processing plant for the Celanese Corporation, a global leader in the chemical manufacturing industry. This week, those students unveiled their final designs, and a select few received some very real-world recognition for their efforts, thanks in part to Celanese, the sponsor and judge of this semester's "plant design competition" - part of a capstone course in the university's Artie McFerrin Department of ... Read More »