ChBE NewsSchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

SPRING/SUMMER VOLUME 17 2010

n the beverage world, John Brockʼs name is almost as famous as the Coke brand itself. Most of hiscareer has been in leadership roles with companies that manufacture high‑profile brands like DrPepper, Beckʼs, and of course, Coca‑Cola. John has earned respect and high regard throughoutthe food and beverage industry for his insightful leadership and unyielding ethical business prac‑

tices. As the spring 2010 ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Lecturer in Ethics and Leadership, John joinsthe company of some of the nationʼs finest thinkers and business leaders who have served as pastlecturers, including Garry Betty, ChE ʼ79, James Mulva, and Pete Silas, ChE ʻ53, himself.

Johnʼs career began with twelve years of service at Procter & Gamble. In 1983, he was recruitedby Cadbury Schweppes, where he served in several management roles, including president of theEuropean and North American divisions. During that time, he led the acquisition of Dr Pepper/SevenUp. John was then named COO of Cadbury Schweppes and chairman of Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bot‑tling Groupʼs Board of Directors in 2000. Later that year, he was named Beverage Industryʼs Execu‑tive of the Year.

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

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

It is only natural that one of the most well‑known executives in the beverage world would riseto the helm of the company responsible for the worldʼs most valuable and iconic beverage brand.When John joined Coca‑Cola Enterprises (CCE) as CEO in April 2006, he knew that it was the rightthing to do. Clearly, the feeling was mutual. John was named chairman two years later.

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

Pulling from his vast experience as a business leader, John charged the audience to remember that “ethics is a journey; it is not a destination.”He advised that a company must create what CCE calls the “RIGHT” culture enriched with constant communication beginning at the top level of thecorporate structure. To maintain the highest levels of integrity in the workplace, the five components of the CCE “RIGHT” way are respect,integrity, good judgment, honesty, and trust.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Chairman and CEOPresents ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Lecture

IAs the leader of a Fortune 500 company with more than 70,000 employees, John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71,shares his expertise and insight on what it takes to be an ethical leader.

John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE, ʻ71, Coca‑ColaEnterprises Chairman and CEO.

Photo by Rob Felt

Dr. Pradeep Agrawalʼs research is focusedon the development of thermochemicalpathways for converting lignocellulosic bio‑mass into fuels and chemicals. One ap‑proach involves hydrolysis of hemi‑cellulose,cellulose, and lignin into monomers whichoffer an alternate platform for transporta‑tion fuels and chemicals. The results offerpromise for developing a green chemistry

approach so that organic acids derived from the biomass can be utilizedfor biomass hydrolysis. Another project involves high pressure biomassgasification under conditions that mimic the next generation of gasifica‑tion processes (short contact times and high heating rates). The aim is todevelop mathematical models for high pressure biomass gasification.Gasification offers the advantage that all types of biomass (including agri‑cultural waste and forest residue) can be gasified to produce syngas (CO+ H2). Biomass gasification involves pyrolysis and char gasification in se‑ries. The results have identified the role of heating rates, pressure, alkalimetals, and transport effects on biomass gasification.

Professor of the Practice Ron Chance holds ajoint appointment in ChBE and the School ofChemistry & Biochemistry, a position he as‑sumed after retiring from ExxonMobil in2006. His main research interests are in CO2

capture and utilization. However, for thepast year and a half, he has spent the major‑ity of his time as executive vice president incharge of engineering for Algenol Biofuels,

one of the largest algae‑based biofuel companies in the country. In thatrole, Dr. Chance established a research program at Georgia Tech that in‑volves five research projects and seven professors, including ChBEʼsWilliam Koros, Chris Jones, Sankar Nair, Matthew Realff, and Victor Breed‑veld; ISyEʼs Valerie Thomas; and CEEʼs Haiying Huang. All of the projectsare aimed at analysis and system development related to the commer‑cialization of Algenolʼs technology for producing ethanol and otherchemicals from blue‑green algae (cyanobacteria). These projects nowform the core of the R&D portion of a $25 million grant from the Depart‑ment of Energy (DOE) for building a pilot‑scale biorefinery based onAlgenolʼs technology. Other partners in the DOE project are Dow Chemi‑cal Company, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Universityof Colorado, and Membrane Technology & Research, Inc. Thus far, re‑search has demonstrated via a state‑of‑the‑art life cycle analysis (LCA)

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

Dr. Carsten Sieversʼs research group devel‑ops catalytic processes for the production offuels and chemicals from biorenewable re‑sources. A biomass‑based economy pres‑ents new challenges for catalysts becausethe reactants are more complex than oil‑de‑rived compounds, and little is known abouttheir interaction with solid catalysts. Dr.Sieversʼs research group addresses these is‑

sues by developing spectroscopic techniques to identify surface‑boundintermediates and their reaction pathways. In combination with detailedcharacterization of the catalysts, these studies provide design criteria fornew selective catalysts for the production of specific chemicals and fuels.In parallel, Dr. Sieversʼs group improves the stability of solid catalysts inwater, which serves as the medium in many processes for biomass con‑version. In addition to these fundamental studies, his research group alsodevelops specific catalytic processes for upgrading of pyrolysis oils, con‑version of glycerol to value‑added chemicals, and production of biofuelsvia gasification. The combination of fundamental and applied studies en‑ables novel processes for future biorefineries.

Methane makes up the majority of naturalgas and has the smallest carbon footprint ofany fossil fuel since each carbon carries withit four hydrogen atoms. Natural gas for en‑ergy production is available, but it must beeconomically produced. Dr. William Korosʼswork, supported by the Georgia ResearchAlliance and many government and indus‑trial sponsors, focuses on membranes and

sorption separators that can reduce both energy consumption and CO2

emissions in natural gas purification. Membranes developed by Dr.2

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

Energy: Production &Management

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Korosʼs group are hollow fibers with diameters the size of a human hair.Bundles of these fibers can provide more than two football fields worthof separation area in compact modules smaller than an office desk. Theircompact nature makes membranes attractive for off‑shore applicationswhere available space is scarce. In addition to membranes, Dr. Korosʼsgroup makes fiber sorbents to capture CO2 from massive flue gasstreams. Integration of materials science with traditional chemical engi‑neering to make both membranes and sorbents is made possible by col‑laborations with Drs. Ron Chance, Chris Jones, Carson Meredith, SankarNair, Victor Breedveld, Krista Walton, David Sholl, and Ronald Rousseau.

Dr. Tom Fullerʼs research addresses chal‑lenges in sustainable transportation, specifi‑cally lowering emissions of greenhousegases and reducing dependence on petro‑leum. Meeting these challenges requiresgreater use of batteries and other electro‑chemical devices. Dr. Fullerʼs research groupemphasizes the fundamental causes ofdegradation in these systems and provides

both guidance for the development of new materials as well as system ar‑chitectures and control strategies to mitigate these failures. This researchinvolves detailed understanding of the mechanisms of performance lossin specific components and is a blend of experiments and physics‑basedmodels. For the last couple of years, the emphasis has been on batteriesfor hybrid‑electric and electric vehicles. A prominent application has beenpower sharing between a fuel cell and battery for a hybrid vehicle. The re‑search has shown that relatively minor changes in control strategies haveminimal impact on system efficiency, but dramatically improve life, andtherefore life‑cycle cost. This research has the potential to fundamentallychange the manner in which these systems are designed.

Dr. Matthew Realff's research focus is sus‑tainable systems engineering, which hasemerged as an important interdisciplinarytopic between engineering and both physi‑cal and social sciences. He works on devel‑oping processes to make fuels from treesand crops, as well as analyzing supplychains that start with plants or trees in thefield, convert them into fuels, and distribute

the fuels to end use customers. For example, graduate student Korin Reidis building models to study the interaction of biofuel systems with cli‑mate change. To advance this topic, Dr. Realff is working with Tony Giar‑russo and Dr. Steve French of the Geographic Information SystemsCenter and ChBEʼs Dr. Athanasios Nenes and Earth and Atmospheric Sci‑ence professor Dr. Armistead Russell. For this project, computationally in‑tensive climate‑change models are coupled with models that can predicthow altered rainfall, temperature, and sunlight impact crop yields. Thelong‑term goal of this project is to create biofuel systems that do notnegatively impact climate change by increasing land use change in an ef‑fort to maintain fuel production.

Ambient temperature fuel cells hold thepotential to be very high‑energy, densitypower sources for portable electronic ap‑plications; however, current methanolcells based on proton exchange mem‑branes present many challenges that hin‑der their utilization, including high costdue to platinum catalysts and high fuelloss. Dr. Paul Kohlʼs group is exploring a

new approach to high‑energy‑density, low‑cost cells based on anionicconducting membranes. Anion‑based methanol fuel cells can use nonplatinum catalysts and high methanol concentrations, including puremethanol feed. The research involves synthesis of new anionic conduct‑ing membranes, electrode structures for high catalyst utilization, and sys‑tem engineering. Research in Dr. Kohl's group has led to the creation ofnew membranes and ionomers for making electrodes. In addition, theanionic conduction allows new approaches to fuel cell systems. A hybriddesign has been created using both cationic and anionic bipolar mem‑branes which self‑humidifies the cells, thus reducing the total balance ofplant and simplifying the operation. Cells have been operated with exter‑nal humidity ranging from 0% to 100% relative humidity. The impact ofthe work includes creating portable power sources with applications forsoldiers in the field and similar civilian uses. Methanol would provide avery low‑cost and light‑weight fuel, lowering the overall size and weightof the power supply. Dr. Kohlʼs research on anionic conducting mem‑branes is in collaboration with DuPont, Inc.

Dr. Rachel Chen and her research groupfocus on engineering microbial biocatalystsfor conversion of cellulose and hemicellu‑loses into biofuels molecules. While therenow exist many natural and engineered mi‑crobes that readily convert monomer sugarsinto biofuels (e.g., butanol), they are typi‑cally unable to use polymeric sugars. Conse‑quently, additional process steps are

needed, including pretreatment, enzyme production, and enzymatic de‑polymerization, adding significant costs to the process. A radically differ‑ent approach known as “consolidated bioprocessing” aims to simplify theprocess by combining all these steps into one. However, microbes capa‑ble of turning cellulose into biofuel in a single step (in a single reactor)have yet to be developed. Dr. Chenʼs research group is applying meta‑bolic engineering and synthetic biology to create such catalysts. Theymix and match ʻʻbiological parts” functioning as “transporter,” “sugar‑de‑polymerizer,” and “biofuel‑synthesizer” from different microorganismsand eventually integrate these parts into one microbe that is capable ofmultitasking as required in a consolidated bioprocess.

Dr. Michael Fillerʼs research program lies atthe intersection of chemical engineeringand materials science, emphasizing the sci‑entific and engineering challenges that cur‑rently limit widespread deployment of solarpower generation. This research leveragesproperties inherent to the nanoscale to cre‑ate custom‑designed light harvesting ma‑terials, particularly semiconducting

nanowires. The majority of this work comprises two important researchthrusts: (1) prototyping novel materials and photovoltaic device nanoar‑chitectures and 2) fundamentally interrogating nanomaterials during thefabrication process. More specifically, the ability to tune atomic composi‑tion beyond what is possible in the bulk is being utilized to create earth‑abundant and non‑toxic alloy nanowires with the potential to capturephotons from across the solar spectrum. The study of model nanowiresystems with in‑situ spectroscopic techniques is providing an atomic‑scale understanding of the bulk and surface chemistry that dominatesnanowire photophysics. Through these studies, Dr. Filler's group is gain‑ing the knowledge and synthetic control necessary to realize ultra‑high‑efficiency and simultaneously scalable solar cell technologies.

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1970sRichard Ferrazzuolo, ChE ʻ71, taught math tosixth‑, seventh‑ and eighth‑graders at OtwellMiddle School in Cumming, Ga., for a portionof the 2009‑10 academic year. He previouslyhad been a substitute teacher for the ForsythCounty School System since August 2008.Richard earned a teaching certificate for mid‑dle grades math and science and high schoolmath in 2008.

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

Keith J. Aspray, ChE ʻ75, has been promotedto vice president and general manager of theMiddle East for Honeywellʼs UOP businessgroup. Keith, who has been with UOP sincegraduation, will be relocating to Dubai. Hemost recently was managing director of UOPIndia, located in New Delhi, and business di‑rector for Petrochemicals. He earned an MBAfrom Northwestern University in 1984 andcurrently is living in Palatine, Ill., with hiswife, JoAnn.

Curt Harrington, ChE ʻ77, partner in the LongBeach, Calif., patent and tax law firm of Har‑rington & Harrington, served as vice chair ofthe California State Bar Board of Legal Special‑ization Taxation Law Advisory Commission forthe 2009‑10 term.

1980sMarcus Lewis, ChE ʻ83, was named industrialvice president for Rhodia, North America, inCranbury, N.J., in January. He is responsible forhealth, safety, environmental, and securityprograms for the North American zone andoversees the manufacturing services activi‑ties. He has been with Rhodia for more than12 years. He and his wife, Lauri Miller Lewis,ISyE ʻ83, have two children: Erica, a junior atDavidson College, and Matt, a freshman atElon University.

Tom Hendricks, ChE ʻ84, has been named vicepresident at Fluor Corp. He is responsible forthe Southeast Asia operations of the manu‑facturing and life sciences business segment.Tom, a registered professional engineer withan MBA from Clemson, has worked for Fluorfor 22 years.

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

Wendy Lemoine Bosmans, ChE ʻ97, and herhusband, Olivier, announce the birth of a son,Lucas, on Sept. 3, 2009. He joins sisters Silvie,2, and Eliza, 4, at home in Durango, Colo.Wendy is an engineer with BP America.

2000sKenyata Martin, ChE ʻ01, of Cincinnati, receivedan MBA from the University of Chicago BoothSchool of Business with concentrations in mar‑keting, strategic management, and entrepre‑neurship. Kenyata is global assistant brandmanager for Old Spice at Procter & Gamble.

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

Alexis Nicole Fairweather, ChBE ʻ06, and CraigAlan Simpson, ChBE ʻ06, were married Aug. 1,2009. Buzz directed traffic at the wedding,and the Ramblinʼ Wreck served as the coupleʼsgetaway vehicle. Alexis, who graduated fromlaw school in December, accepted a positionas a patent attorney with Finnegan. Craig is aFlash developer for EyeWonder. The couplelive in Atlanta.

In Memoriam

1930sAlexander Hewatt McGraw, ChE ʻ34, ofDoerun, Ga., on Feb. 16. He managed ShepardFertilizer Co. for many years. He later earned amasterʼs degree in education from ValdostaState and taught chemistry and physics atWestover High School in Albany, Ga. for 10years. Survivors include grandson Lex Mc‑Graw, Mgt ʻ93.

1940sMillard R. Dusenbury, ChE ʻ40, of Jekyll Island,Ga., on April 23. He spent 35 years working forHercules Inc. A member of Sigma Chi and themarching band while at GT, he served as anArmy captain during World War II, participat‑ing in the Middle East, North African, and Ital‑ian campaigns, and was the commander ofthe German and Italian POW camp at FortRucker, Ala., upon his return to the U.S.

Robert Curtis Barrett, ChE ʻ42, a resident ofCartersville, Ga., on April 1. He was sales man‑ager for Chemical Products Corp. inCartersville for more than 35 years, retiring in1987. Mr. Barrett previously worked inVenezuela for Standard Oil of Louisiana. Hewas a deacon and elder at his church.

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

A founding member of the Department of Chemical Engineering at theUniversity of California‑Santa Barbara, Dr. Mellichamp initiated devel‑opment of the process dynamics and control programs in 1966‑67. His

pioneering work with computers led to the publication of Real‑Time Computing: Applicationsto Data Acquisition and Control (Editor, 1983) and to the award winning undergraduate text‑book, Process Dynamics and Control, (3rd Ed: 2010, co‑author). He was elected to CACHE earlyin his career, as trustee (1973‑87) and president (1977‑78).

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

Duncan A. Mellichamp, ChE ‘59, Receives the 2010 CACHEAward of the ASEE, Chemical Engineering Division

4Class Notes continued on page 8

ChBE Class Notes

Monty AlgerEAB: Member Profile

Monty Alger is full of surprises̶who would have guessed that when he is notleading the global R&D efforts for Air Products, you may find him playing thetrombone or performing home renovations?

ir Products recruited Montgomery Alger, known as “Monty” to just about everyone, tothe position of vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) in early 2007. Hebrought with him more than 23 years of technology, engineering, and business man‑agement experience acquired during his career at General Electric (GE), where he

served most recently as general manager of technology for GE Advanced Materials. Montyʼs di‑versified career at GE included serving as manager of GE Superabrasives and leading technol‑ogy development programs for GE battery, lighting, appliances, and plastics businesses. Hiscareer prepared him well for his role at Air Products, where he has oversight responsibility for allglobal research and development activities.

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

“I selected MIT because of its reputation and its many opportunities and majors,” saysMonty. “Boston is a fun city̶that helped, plus MIT accepted me,” he adds with a chuckle. Hereceived his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering in 1978 and then went on to earn hisPh.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign in 1982. Montyʼs Ph.D. advisor wasChBEʼs Dr. Charles Eckert, who left the University of Illinois to join the Georgia Tech faculty in1989 as the J. Erskine Love, Jr. Institute Chair in Engineering.

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

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

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

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

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

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“Chemical engineering is

a great education and

provides a background

that can help take you to

lots of different places

during your career.”

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Dr. Lakeshia TaiteAssistant Professor

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

Dr. Sue Ann Bidstrup AllenProfessor & Associate Chair for Strategic Initiatives

“When I started my career as an assistant professor in 1988, therewere no other female professors in chemical engineering andfewer than 10 female professors in the College of Engineering atGT. I am delighted to see that the gender diversity of our ChBEfaculty, particularly among our new hires, is now starting to moreclosely approach the diversity found among our undergraduatestudents studying chemical engineering.”

Dr. Krista WaltonAssistant Professor

“The majority of the time, I consider myself simply an engineer...not a ʻfemaleʼ engineer. However,there have been times when Iʼve been reminded that women are still a minority in my research field.I recall a particular conference where the book of abstracts listed only the authorʼs first initial and lastname. Over the first few days of the conference, I lost count of how many people upon meeting meexclaimed, ʻOh, youʼre K. Walton! Youʼre a woman!ʼ Their genuine surprise was truly funny.”

Dr. Martha GroverAssociate Professor

“When I started at GT in 2002, there were two women onthe ChBE faculty and now there are nine of us. It is great tohave so many women on the faculty, so that everyone can

see how different we all are.”

Dr. Hang LuAssociate Professor

“When I was an undergrad, I had one female ChemE professor; in grad school, I had four female professors;

now look at my colleagues̶we have nine female professors in ChBE!”

Women inChemical &

BiomolecularEngineering@ Georgia

Tech

The 2010 Women inEngineering Excellence

Awards Banquetrecognized

Dr. Sue Ann BidstrupAllen with a FacultyExcellence Award.

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

ChBE Alumnae on the CoECouncil of Outstanding Young

Engineering Alumni:

2010̶Anne Talley received theGarry Betty Scholarship for Inter‑national Studies. She served asvice president of the ChBE Stu‑dent Advisory Board (SAB) andthe Alpha Chi Sigma chemistryhonor society. Anne graduated

this summer and is now pursuinga Ph.D. at University of

California–Santa Barbara.

Denise Chastain‑Knight

Christine Grant Linda GriffithKellye HafnerPaula HammondJoy JordanBarbara Knutson

Lisa Korslund Kristina KwalikSylvia Little Cheryl Perkins Brittany RobinsonJoan Schork Vandana VishnuCheryl Weldon

7

Research Scientist Galit

Levitin recently co‑founded

the Green Chamber of the

South, a non‑profit organi‑

zation that supports the

growth and success of

sustainability in businesses.

Dr. Elsa ReichmanisProfessor

“Iʼve been truly fortunate to have been in diverse environmentsthroughout my career as a chemical engineer. One event that oc‑curred early in my career led to a long‑time friendship with aJapanese engineer working in the same field. I was attending aspecialized conference when I entered into a discussion with thatJapanese engineer at a coffee break. We were discussing researchresults when he suddenly exclaimed, ʻOh, you a lady!ʼ We bothhad a good laugh and then continued our discussions.”

Dr. Julie ChampionAssistant Professor

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

Dr. Helen Grenga (1938‑2006)Chemical Engineering Professor Emeritus, GTʼs first full‑tenured female engi‑neering professor, & one of the first full‑tenured female chemical engineeringprofessors in the U.S.

Coming to GT as a post‑doc in chemistry, Dr. Grenga remembered the head of the program was concerned about her teaching classes because he didnʼt think the male students would accept a female teacher. “The program was primarily research and we had a lot of camaraderie. Thatʼs not tosay we didnʼt have problems, but this institution (GT) is bigger than any individual.”

Dr. Rachel ChenAssociate Professor

“I always liked chemistry and I liked to make things, sochemical engineering was a natural choice for me. I neverstopped to consider that it was out of the ordinary for me

to be an engineer just because I am a woman.”

Dr. Michelle DawsonAssistant Professor

“When I was in graduate school, my faculty advisor had fourfemale graduate students and no male graduate students.Three of us went on to faculty positions in chemical or bio‑medical engineering. Our lab was unique. I would say that

the ratio of male to female grad students in my departmentat Johns Hopkins was at least 2:1, so to recruit four students

all female was really uncommon. However, being femaledidnʼt stop any of us from achieving our goals.”

1983̶Adesola O. Kujore,a chemical engineeringmajor, becomes the first

African‑American womanto receive a Ph.D. from GT.

Undergraduates CourtneyBrown and Jemilat Taiwo

received a Shell MentoringAward and a Caterpillar

Mentoring Award, respec‑tively, at the 2010 Womenin Engineering Excellence

Awards Banquet.

ChBE Alumnae in the CoE

Academy of Distinguished

Engineering Alumni:Decie Austin

Gerri Dickerson

Sandra Fryhofer

Linda Griffith

Elizabeth Moore

1940sLeRoy A. Aarons, ChE ʻ43, a resident of FallsChurch, Va., on Jan. 31. He was a member ofAlpha Phi Omega while at GT and retiredfrom the Navy.

Moses Collins Murphey, ChE ʻ43, of Sewickley,Pa., on Jan. 7. He retired as chief plant engi‑neer of Koppers Co./Arco Polymers in 1985.A deacon and elder at his church, Mr. Mur‑phey enjoyed golf, stamp collecting, and ball‑room dancing.

John Stiles “Jack” Baldwin, ChE ʻ46, of Hous‑ton, in March. He retired as vice president ofExxonʼs Far Eastern operations, headquar‑tered in Texas, in 1983. An ROTC member atGT, he was commissioned as an ensign in1943 and served on the USS Sea Cat. He re‑tired from the Navy Reserve as a lieutenant in1954. He was inducted into the inauguralclass of the Georgia Tech College of Engineer‑ing Hall of Fame in 1994.

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

1950sHomer Watkins Jr., ChE ʻ50, of High Point,N.C., on April 6. Mr. Watkins retired fromBurlington Industries in 1989 after a 39‑yearcareer as a cost accountant with the com‑

pany. A graduate of the Georgia MilitaryAcademy, he stood guard at the 1939 Atlantapremiere of Gone With the Wind while acadet at the academy. He served in the Armyduring World War II.

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

1960sCarl Bernard Drees Jr., ChE ʻ65, MS ChE ʻ71, PhD ChE ʻ72, of San Rafael, Calif., on Nov. 26,2009. A member of Chi Psi, he moved to Cali‑fornia to join Chevron Overseas Petroleum. Dr.Drees worked for Chevron for 30 years, mostrecently in international human resources.

1970sJohn M. Reynolds II, ChE ʻ73, of Aiken, S.C., onDec. 23, 2009. He was a nuclear engineer forthe Department of Defense naval shipyard inCharleston, S.C., for 20 years. After retiring from the Department of Energyʼs SavannahRiver Site in 2007, he joined Parsons Corpora‑tion as a project engineer.

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

day school teacher and a volunteer for theJudeo Christian Outreach Center in VirginiaBeach. He was married to the former NancySampson, ChE ʻ75.

1980sLeigh Bielenberg, ChE ʻ83, of Atlanta, onMarch 8, from metastatic colon cancer. Shewas a chemical engineer for industrial andmanufacturing firms in Georgia and Louisianabefore working for Forsyth Fabrics in Atlantaand as a designer of fabric trims for Passe‑menterie Europa, a job that included travel toCairo to oversee the manufacturing of herdesigns. She was executive director of theGeorgia National Abortion Rights ActionLeague in the 1990s.

8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Visit our web site at

www.chbe.gatech.edu

for the latest news and

events from the School of

Chemical & Biomolecular

Engineering @ Georgia Tech

Alumni and Friends of theSchool:

Once again, we are looking for‑ward to the beginning of thefall semester and reflecting onaccomplishments from the pastacademic year. Here is an ab‑breviated list of some of thehighlights: the ChBE interna‑tional programs in Metz andLondon continued this pastsummer with enrollments of22 and 29, respectively. We areparticularly pleased with howthese have developed becauseeach provides students a

unique opportunity to have an international experience that contributes totheir intellectual growth. The program in Metz is designed for the summerbetween sophomore and junior years, and it enables students to spend thesummer in France and complete two chemical engineering courses and upto two others, while also having the opportunity to travel to a variety ofdestinations throughout Europe. Professor Victor Breedveld taught the twoChBE courses this past summer. The unit operations laboratory course atImperial College in London replaces a course in which we participated formore than 30 years at University College London. Professor and AssociateChair Pradeep Agrawal led the students to London and reports that boththe course and student experiences were exceptionally successful.

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

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

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

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

Lorraine, as well as by Dr. Peterson, Georgia Tech Lorraine President YvesH. Berthelot, ChBE alumnus and Coca‑Cola Enterprises chairman and CEOJohn Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, and several others from Georgia Tech.

The delegation from Atlanta participated in one of the regular activi‑ties scheduled for students in the summer program at GTL: a visit by the200 Georgia Tech students to the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memo‑rial in St. Avold, France. History is a great teacher, but it often overlooksroles played by ordinary citizens, or, in this case, soldiers. This was broughthome vividly in the trip to St. Avold. The usually rambunctious studentsgrew solemn as Dr. Peterson placed flowers at a designated site and thenational anthem was played from the carillon. A French guide then de‑scribed the cemetery and, in recounting battles fought by the U.S. Thirdand Seventh Armies, gave overall numbers̶10,489 graves, includingthose of 26 pairs of brothers and four winners of the Congressional Medalof Honor, 151 Unknown Soldiers, 444 names on the tables of the miss‑ing̶but for all present, the most moving moments were descriptions ofspecific individuals, including the young flyer whose picture is shown inthe photograph below. The guide used these stories of lost lives to remindeveryone that each grave is that of an individual who made the ultimatecommitment to liberty.

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

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

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

9

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

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Ron RousseauReflections:

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from the desk of

10

Mak-Amit Roy, MS ChE ‘71, PhD ChE ‘76

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

mit Roy, MS ChE ʼ71, PhD ChE ʼ76, has spent more than 30 years fighting the global war onhunger. His weapon against the formidable beast is NPK, which sounds a lot more intimidatingthan what the acronym represents̶nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K)̶the es‑sential elements of fertilizer. These three nutrients combine with about 20 other secondary or

“trace” minerals, such as copper, iron, manganese, zinc, and boron, to form the right combinations of nutri‑ents required for plants to grow, flourish, and produce viable feedstock.

“About half of the worldʼs population is alive today because of increased food production fueled bymineral fertilizers,” Amit says, who joined the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) in MuscleShoals, Alabama, in 1978 as a chemical engineer and special projects engineer. Over the years, Amit hasearned respect as one of the worldʼs leading experts on fertilizer technologies and solutions, and in 1992,he was promoted to president and CEO of IFDC.

IFDC was established in 1974 on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Reservation in Muscle Shoals toaddress global food security challenges through improved use of fertilizers and related technologies. Origi‑nally founded as a private, nonprofit corporation, IFDC now holds the designation of a “Public InternationalOrganization,” which was granted in 1977 through a presidential decree by Jimmy Carter, Cls ʻ46. This des‑ignation allows IFDC to receive widespread support, cooperation, and backing of the world community forwhich it was created and has contributed greatly to the organizationʼs success over the years.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A

”In the United States, people

do not understand the use of

fertilizer since the cost of

food is less than 10 percent

of their income. But in devel‑

oping nations, food can be

90 percent of their income.

Fertilizer is their lifeblood.”

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

Ryan Hart, a graduate student who works with Dr. Charles Eckert, is a winnerof a 2010 AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Award. This highlycompetitive award is sponsored by Praxair, Inc.

Seda Keskin, ChBE PhD, ʻ09, who conducted her graduate research under thedirection of Dr. David Sholl, received a Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award fromthe Georgia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi.

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

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

Chemical Engineering Magazine tapped DuPont for an honorary 2009 Kirk‑patrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award for its work on theCerenol® family of renewably sourced, high‑performance polyether glycols.Ray W. Miller, ChE ʻ72, is the Cerenol® global business manager for DuPont Ap‑plied BioSciences. He serves on ChBEʼs External Advisory Board and is a mem‑ber of the CoE Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

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

Dr. Athanasios Nenes gave the Deanʼs Distinguished Lecture at ColumbiaUniversity entitled “Aerosol‑cloud Interactions: the Elusive Component ofClimate Change.”

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

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

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

The National Academy of Engineering appointed Dr. Arnold Stancell to a com‑mittee entitled “Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire,and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future.”Dr. Stancell is the Turner Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering,Emeritus. He had a 31‑year career with Mobil Oil and led the development ofthe now $70 billion natural gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG)joint venture between Mobil and Qatar. He was elected to the National Acad‑emy of Engineering in 1997.

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

11

Briefly: ChBE

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

Marcus Nanotechnology Bldg. • Room 1116‑1118

Fall 2010 ConocoPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethicsand Leadership Lecture

Michael J. Dolan, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corporation“Engineering Success through Ethical Leadership”

► Friday, October 8, 2010 • 9:45 a.m.‑10:45 a.m.Global Learning Center • 2nd Floor • Technology Square

Homecoming 2010Seminar–Emerging Medical Solutions to Cancer Seminar–Powering a Sustainable Future: Current Energy ResearchLaboratory Tours in the Ford ES&T Bldg. Immediately Following

newsfrom

Dr. Klavs F. Jensen presents the 25thAnnual Ashton Cary Lecture

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

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J. G

iles

s part of the federal governmentʼs response to the BP oil spill, theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) implemented extensive airquality monitoring along the Gulf Coast. The National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the EPA worked collabo‑

ratively to take advantage of NOAAʼs highly specialized atmospheric researchcapabilities, which can detect concentrations of compounds in the atmos‑phere with greater sensitivity than standard operational monitoring flights.

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

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

In addition to assisting with the evaluation of air quality and safety, Dr. Nenesʼs team also used a cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNC) in‑strument onboard the Orion to collect particles and measure the evolutionand impact of semi‑volatile hydrocarbons on the climate.

View of the Gulf Coast oil spill as seen from the NOAA WP‑3D Orion air‑craft during sampling by Dr. Nenesʼs research team.

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Non‑Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 3023

Atlanta, GAGeorgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering311 Ferst Drive, N.W.Atlanta, GA 30332‑0100www.chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE News & Alumni NewsJosie Giles (404) 385‑2299Fax: (404) 385‑0185josie@gatech.edu

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

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

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ChBE Researchers Sample Air after Gulf Oil Spill

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