ChE Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan

The Chemical Engineering Newsletter for Alumni & Friends

Fall 2002

http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme cheme@umich.edu

Confocal Microscope to Enhance Complex Fluids Research

(continued on page 7)

Confocal microscopy images captured by departmentresearchers of 0.80 micron diameter colloidal particles(top) and of DNA (below).

Courtesy of Priya Varadan and Lei Li

The department has installed a new confocal laserscanning microscope as part of a project supported bythe National Science Foundation’s Major ResearchInstrumentation Program. This state-of-the-art device,which opens exciting new research directions for thestudy of complex fluids, significantly adds to thedepartment’s already strong experimental capabilities inthis area. Faculty members Mike Solomon and RonLarson joined with departmental colleague Mark Burnsand faculty from the Biomedical Engineering, MaterialsScience and Engineering and Electrical Engineeringand Computer Science Departments to acquire theinstrument.

Confocal microscopy is a unique instrument because itdirectly images the three-dimensional structure ofmaterials by collecting multiple slices of fluorescenceemission from stained specimens. The 2D slices areacquired by progressive scanning with a rastering laser.This stack of 2D slices is then reconstructed into a 3Drendering. The reconstruction yields results that are

much like those obtained for the human body by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Because confocal microscopyis an optical method, submicron resolution is possible. For example, withthe best microscope objectives, objects as small as 200 nm can be locatedwith precision as great as 30 nm (above figure). Since the 3D slice thicknessis typically as small as 100 nm, the microscope can achieve very fine resolu-tion of previously unknown features of complex fluid structure.

According to Solomon, the project director, “Confocal microscopy is acutting edge imaging technique that has long been a primary research tool inthe life sciences. Our department and college are leading the way in applyingthis method to engineering research, particularly in the areas of complexfluids and biomaterials.” Approximately fifteen Ph.D. students, four post-doctoral fellows and seven undergraduate researchers are members of the

3D image volume Particle locations

Max projection of adsorbed DNA

Note from the Chair ............. 2Research Updates ........... 1,4,6Summer Short Courses ......... 5Alumni Honors .................... 8ChE Volunteers ................... 10Alumni Events .................... 15ChE History Book.............. 16Alumni News ...................... 17

In This Issue

Chemical Engineering2

Note from the ChairDear Alumni and Friends,

Sincerely,Ronald G. Larson

The department has had a very exciting year, especially in our key research areas. The teamof Thompson, Gulari, Savage, Schwank, and Yang, along with other faculty in the Collegeof Engineering, has initiated research on hydrogen and fuel cells under a $6 millionDepartment of Energy grant. A group headed by Solomon, along with Burns and Larson,again teaming up with colleagues in the college, obtained a National Science Foundationgrant to create a microscopy center, including the college’s first confocal microscope, whichis the MRI of fluids and materials, as it creates three dimensional optical images ofcomplex fluids and materials such as colloids, biological fluids, and polymer blends. We

have added an adjunct faculty member, Chester Ni, of Pfizer, who has created a departmental graduate course onbioinformatics, which was very popular when offered for the first time last year. You will find details on these and manyother topics in this newsletter.

For the coming year, we are planning a major expansion in our research space, which will occur as a result of the move ofBiomedical Engineering Department from their space in the G.G. Brown building to their new home in the Gerstackerbuilding, scheduled to be completed in December of this year. Their departure will free up around 7,000 square feet of laband office space, increasing our total by about 20%. This will not only relieve crowding in our existing labs and graduatestudent offices, but also create room for new faculty hires. The department will be conducting two faculty searches this year,one of them a unique “cluster” search, involving three departments, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engi-neering, and Biomedical Engineering, to fill two to three slots in the bio area.

You might notice that many of our activities involve substantial collaboration within the College of Engineering, includingmajor research thrusts, joint hiring, and space re-allocations. It has been a pleasure to be part, not only of a strong depart-ment, but also a top engineering college, and a very strong university as well. Not only will the construction of theGerstacker building and a second biomedical engineering building (devoted, in part, to undergraduate education) affect uspositively, so will the completion of the large life sciences complex, which is bridging the medical campus to the maincampus. Our department already has significant interactions with the Life Sciences Institute, and we expect these growingcollaborations to help make our department an even more exciting place to be.

Our department continues to have significant teaching involvement outside of the department, offering an evening M.S.program at Dow Chemical Co., in Midland, courses at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and a program for visitingchemical engineering students from South Africa. These programs continue and extend a long tradition of excellence inteaching and service in our department.

We continue to value our alumni and seek their advice. I was glad several of you visited the department during alumniweekend in October, 2001, and hope to see more of you this October for the 2002 Michigan Engineering Alumni Week-end. We are proud to announce that our Engineering Society Merit Award this year will go to Professor Stuart Churchill,who not only obtained his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan, but served as a faculty mem-ber, and department chairman (1961-1967) as well. These facts, and many, many more, are available in Jim Wilkes’ book, A Century of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Any of you who would like to receive the book should com-plete and return the form on page 16. Stu Churchill will be here from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currentlyon the faculty, for the alumni weekend on October 25. Please come and meet him and our faculty, staff, and students!

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Faculty NewsNew Adjunct Associate Professor Introduces Bioinformatics Course

The 76th American Chemical Society Colloid and Surface ScienceSymposium was held at the University of Michigan June 23-26,2002, co-chaired by Professor Stacy Bike and Professor R.Nagarajan (Pennsylvania State University). Approximately 400scientists and engineers from around the world presented 343papers. This was the fourth time that the University of Michiganhas hosted this meeting. In fact, the first time Michigan hosted thesymposium, in 1927, the newly-created ACS Division of Colloidand Surface Chemistry sponsored the event.

Several faculty from the University of Michigan organized techni-cal sessions. Those from the Chemical Engineering Departmentwere Professors Sharon Glotzer, Rob Lionberger, JohannesSchwank, Mike Solomon, and Henry Wang.

ACS Symposium Held at Michigan

Dr. Chester Ni was appointedadjunct associate professor ofchemical engineering this year. Dr.Ni is a manager and senior groupleader of bioinformatics andscientific computing at PfizerGlobal R & D, Ann Arbor Labora-

In fall 2001, Dr. Ni developed andtaught a new graduate course inbioinformatics, ChE/Bioinformatics530, for the first time. Bioinformaticsis the field of science in which biology,computer science, and informationtechnology merge into a single disci-pline. The ultimate goal of the field isto enable the discovery of new biologi-cal insights as well as to create a globalperspective from which unifyingprinciples in biology can be discerned.

Most of the students enrolled in the classlast year were from the chemical engin-eering department or the medical school.Ni says the first class was a success and helooks forward to this term.

Biotechnology became a major newarea of study in chemical engineeringin the 1980s with advances in molecu-lar biology and related fields. Similarprogress is taking place in genomicsand other related fields, such as trans-criptome/RNA profiling, proteomics,metabonomics and physiomics.Because of the sheer volume of high-throughput data, systematic and com-putational approaches have becomeeven more relevant. The broad techni-cal and scientific emphasis of thetraditional chemical engineeringcurriculum does an excellent job ofpreparing students for bioinformaticsand genomics research.

tories. His major responsibility atPfizer is to manage projects inadvanced algorithm developmentfor biomarker discovery in util-ization of emerging genomics,proteomics and metabonomicstechnologies. Dr. Ni earned hisM.S. and Ph.D. in bioengineeringat the University of Michigan,where he worked with Dr. MichaelSavageau on whole-cell dynamicsand system theories research. Hedid post-doctoral diabetes researchwith Dr. Richard Bergman at theUniversity of Southern California.His research interests are systemsbiology, novel algorithm devel-opment, knowledge management,data warehousing and mining, andhigh performance scientificcomputing.

Chemical Engineering4

Tissue Regeneration Research Update

Many of us have suffered or knowsomeone who has suffered because oftissue or organ failure. Currenttherapies for these types of majormedical problems, which account forapproximately half of all health carecosts in the United States, havesignificant limitations. Thesedrawbacks spurred interest inengineering for regenerating tissuesand organs in the body by combin-ing principles of engineering, lifesciences, and clinical sciences (right).Professor David Mooney’s labora-tory is applying chemical engineer-ing principles to the design anddevelopment of novel systems toregrow tissues and organs in thebody. Mooney is a professor ofbiologic & materials sciences in theDental School, and associate profes-sor of chemical engineering. Re-searchers in his lab are taking a

variety of approaches toachieve this goal, includingtransplanting a patient’sown cells, deliveringproteins that make cellsalready in the body formnew tissues, and using genetherapy to grow tissues. Acommon theme in theseapproaches involvescombining basic studies onthe mechanisms by whichcells interact with materialswith the synthesis of newpolymers that mimicnatural materials in thebody.

Specific projects range fromthe development of novel polymersystems that allow for gene therapiesto be applied to specific tissues in thebody, to the transplantation of stem

cells capable ofgrowing into boneand cartilage tissue.

One recent topicbased on chemicalengineering funda-mentals involvesaddressing the masstransport require-ments of the newtissues and organs.These tissues requireconvective transportof nutrients, via asystem of blood

New systems are being developed that allow drugs,called growth factors, to be immobilized withinbiodegradable polymers for subsequent local andsustained release following placement in the body.These systems can be used to drive the formation ofnew blood vessels in tissues with insufficient bloodflow, such as heart tissue in patients suffering fromcoronary artery disease.

Academic researchers and companies arecurrently attempting to engineer virtually everytissue and organ in the body.

vessels, to support their metabolicrequirements and keep them alive.Researchers in Mooney’s laboratoryhave developed novel systems for thesustained and localized delivery ofdrugs that promote new blood vesselformation (left), and this researchmay have broad applicability to theentire tissue engineering field andmore specifically to the treatment ofcoronary artery disease. Anotherproject based on engineering funda-mentals involves the development ofpolymers that can be injected intotissues using syringes or other non-surgical approaches. These mayallow easy and virtually pain- andtrauma-free options for cell trans-plantation and new tissue growth.The rheological properties of these

Fall 2002 5

polymers are critical in these ap-proaches. Altogether, the research inthe Mooney laboratories has resultedin a number of patents, which havebeen licensed to industrial partnersfor development into medicalproducts. The research is supportedby the National Institutes of Health,and the Advanced Technology

Program of the National Institute ofStandards and Technology. Mooneyis also the principal investigator in anew graduate training program in“Tissue Engineering and Regenera-tion,” which was recently funded bythe National Institutes of Health.This training program is a jointendeavor of the College of Engineer-

ing, and the Medical and DentalSchools, and will allow the universityto expand its research efforts in thisemerging area of biotechnology. Toread more about Professor Mooney’sresearch, visit www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/people/mooney.html.

The Chemical Engineering Department presented two industrial short courses this summer in AnnArbor. Professors Levi Thompson and Phil Savage taught their three-day course on Reaction Engineer-ing and Applied Catalysis for the 10th consecutive year. The course, which covers essentially all aspectsof catalytic science and technology, attracts participants from the chemical, automotive, petroleum, andenergy industries, along with researchers from national laboratories.

The department also presented, for the first time “An Introduction to the Science and Engineering ofFuel Cells and Fuel Processors.” Fuel cells offer a promising emerging technology that may eventuallydeliver electrical power to a spectrum of applications across the economy. Their corresponding fuelprocessors are an equally important component of the overall fuel cell system. Professor JohannesSchwank and Robert W. Fletcher, a chemical engineering Ph.D. candidate and also a senior developmentengineer at Advanced Modular Power Systems, taught the course together. They offered this course inresponse to the growing need for technologists to understand the fundamental science and engineeringissues relating to these systems. Representatives from industry, universities and governmental researchcenters from across the country attended. The three days of instruction were enthusiastically received andall attendees strongly encouraged the department to offer this course again next year.

These industrial short courses reflect the strong commitment the Chemical Engineering Department hasin bringing relevant technical education to not only the students in the College of Engineering, but alsoto the broader engineering community. Both courses are available for “on-site” training at an employer’slocation. Contact Sandy Swisher (734-764-7413, sandys@umich.edu) or visit the department’s web pagewww.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/events.html for more information about these courses.

ChE Summer Short Courses at Michigan

Chemical Engineering6

Graduate student Andy Tadd adjusts the settings of the flowreactor for autothermal reforming of iso-octane (gasoline).

Hydrogen: Powering our Future?

As the nation’s demand for energyexceeds its supply, there are insuffi-cient sources of energy to power ourfactories, our homes, our transporta-tion systems, and the all-pervasiveelectronic appliances and devicesthat are now part of our daily lives.Moreover, the nation’s energyrequirements are further complicatedby geopolitical and environmentalconcerns, such as the problem ofU.S. dependence on foreign oil andthe turmoil in the Middle East, thetroublesome problem of “greenhousegases,” and the competing concernsof the auto industry to comply withfederal fuel-economy standards.Locally, Detroit, the “automotivecapital of the world,” is initiatingprograms to reeducate its workersand refit its factories as trans-

portationsystems changeto propulsionsystems thatextend or movebeyond theinternal com-bustion engine.

There is acritical need fora multidisci-plinary ap-proach toaddress thesechallenges.Recently,Michigan’s Governor John Englerlaunched NextEnergy, a comprehen-sive economic development plan tomake Michigan a world leader in the

research, development, commercial-ization, and production of alterna-tive energy technologies. Part of thisinitiative is an aggressive program to

Fogler co-Chairs ASEE Summer School

The Chemical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) heldthe 13th Summer School for Chemical Engineering Faculty this year from July 27-August 1, on thecampus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. Professor Scott Fogler was co-chair, along withProfessor Mike Cutlip from the University of Connecticut. This school, offered every five years, isunique amongst the various engineering disciplines as it strives to promote development of primarilynew faculty with the assistance of established faculty and representatives from governmental agenciessuch as NSF and EPA, and industrial participants. Other department faculty who attended the schoolwere Susan Montgomery, who was in charge of mentoring; Brice Carnahan, who taught a workshop onintegrating computing across the curriculum; and Phil Savage.

The main purpose of the summer school was to disseminate innovative and effective teaching methods to awide spectrum of new chemical engineering faculty who will be teaching courses and laboratories in under-graduate programs. Additionally, the summer school introduced new faculty to a number of promisingresearch areas in which concepts, principles, problems, and laboratory experiments can be incorporated intoundergraduate coursework. It also brought new faculty together with mid-career and senior faculty to discusseducational methods and educational delivery and to provide tested educational materials directly to newfaculty for use in a variety of courses. Workshops included molecular modeling, bioengineering, greenchemical engineering, and effective use of computers and educational technology.

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move the development of hydrogen-powered fuel cells forward. TheUniversity of Michigan College ofEngineering is uniquely qualified interms of its personnel, expertise, andfacilities to address the technicalchallenges and questions posed bythe nation’s and the state’s energyresearch and educational needs. Theuniversity has a rich portfolio ofresearch efforts that include bothfundamental scientific discovery inadvanced power generation andapplied research solving real-timeproblems of integration, manufac-turing, and control systems. A groupof faculty from several departmentsin the College of Engineering,including a strong chemical engi-neering contingent, has beenworking since last fall with GaryWas, the associate dean for research,

and Jim MacBain, the director forresearch relations, on a blueprint foran interdisciplinary program inhydrogen-based energy technologies.Several university schools and col-leges will be working with the newfuel cell energy program. Participat-ing engineering departmentsinclude: Aerospace Engineering,Chemical Engineering, MaterialsScience and Engineering, Mechani-cal Engineering, and NuclearEngineering.

The program will also provide thecollaborative advantages of aresearch university-industry affil-iates program, but, at the same time,offer individual companies, state andfederal agencies the opportunity forseparate, more focused, basicresearch contracts tailored to meet

their specific commercial needs. Theobjective of the research activity is tobe both scientifically significant andindustrially relevant. The program’score technology areas are leveragedby a multi-million dollar college-wide basic research program sup-ported by federal agencies andindustry. The research topics tackledby the faculty and students involvedin this initiative cover a broadspectrum, from catalyst and reactordevelopment for fuel processors thatmake hydrogen for fuel cells, tosulfur removal from fuel and hydro-gen storage in carbon nanotubes.The new program is intended to be afocal point for research, developmentand education in hydrogen-basedenergy technologies within theCollege of Engineering.

Confocal Microscope, continued from page 1

department’s complex fluids research group. Complex fluidstypically contain polymers, colloids and surfactants, and arewidely used by chemical engineers in such diverse sectors asautomotive, pharmaceutical, paints and personal care. Theseresearchers will all have access to the instrument, and for manyit will become their primary research tool.

Students are eager to use the new microscope for their projects.Ali Mohraz, a Ph.D. candidate working with Solomon says, “It’sremarkable to see submicron particles in 3D that before I couldonly observe indirectly.” Graduate student Bruce Schiamberg,who is advised by Larson, adds, “I hope to use confocal micros-copy to observe the 3D structure of complex flows.”

The confocal microscope adds to an experimental facility that isalready among the best in the nation. Students will use the equip-ment to further explore the effect of flow on complex fluids. Applications of their work are in such diverse areas asnanocomposites for automotive materials, DNA conformation for human genome mapping, and colloidal gels foradvanced materials, such as optical fibers. For more information about complex fluids research at the University ofMichigan, visit www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/research/researchcf.html.

Students Ali Mohraz, Bruce Schiamberg, and TesfuSolomon discuss results of experiments with thedepartment’s confocal microscope, shown at left.

Chemical Engineering8

Balzhiser in Academic All-America Hall of FameLederman, newAIChE Director

Contributions from Media and Marketing and Professor James Wilkes

Dr. Richard Balzhiser (BSE ChE ’55, MSE(Nuclear) ’56, PhD ChE ’61), former ChEfaculty member and one of the nation’sleading energy and engineering experts, wasinducted into the Verizon CoSIDA AcademicAll-America Hall of Fame in June 2002. Fortwo seasons, Balzhiser was a key member ofthe Wolverines’ single-wing offense as a“spinning fullback” — the equivalent oftoday’s option quarterback — for legendary

coach Bennie Oosterbaan. He was an Academic All-American for twoundergraduate years and in 1954 was awarded the Big Ten ConferenceMedal of Honor.

Dr. Balzhiser was a member of the chemical engineering faculty at theUniversity of Michigan from 1960-1971, and served as chairman ofthe department from 1970-71. His chairmanship was only for a briefperiod, because in late summer of 1971 he took a leave of absence(which eventually became permanent) to serve as assistant director inthe Office of Science and Technology, in Washington, D.C.

In 1973, Dr. Balzhiser joined Dr. Chauncey Starr in founding ElectricPower Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. He retired from theInstitute in 1996 as CEO, but remains active in a president emeritusrole, in addition to serving on the boards of Reliant Energy, Aerospace,Electrosource, and Nexant. He also served on advisory boards for theNational Renewables Energy Laboratory, the National ResearchCouncil, California’s Public Interest Energy Research Program, andwas a member of the two recent President's Council of Advisorson Science and Technology studies requested by the White House.Throughout his career, Dr. Balzhiser has served on numerous scientificand technical advisory boards for government agencies, the NationalAcademies and universities. He has published extensively, includingtwo thermodynamic texts, and he speaks and lectures frequently toutilities, universities, and public groups.

In 1992, he received the Chemical Engineering Merit Alumni SocietyAward in recognition of his many accomplishments during his career,and in 1994, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.Dr. Balzhiser is currently a member of the department’s ExternalAdvisory Committee.

.

Peter Lederman was elected adirector of the American Instituteof Chemical Engineers and willserve a three-year term fromJanuary 2002 to December 2005.

Lederman retired from NJIT onJune 30, 2000, but still serves as anadjunct professor. He also teachesHazardous Site Remediation andEnvironmental Policy (two courses)at Chulalongkorn University inBangkok at the graduate level. He isthe chair of the National Acad-emies’ Committee on Review andEvaluation of the Chemical Mili-tary Stockpile Disposal Program,which is the committee that hasbeen evaluating the Chemical De-militarization Program since 1987.

Pete remains actively involved inservice to the department andcollege. Most recently he has been amember of the department’sExternal Advisory Committee anda member, ex-officio, of the Engi-neering Alumni Society Board.

Fall 2002 9

KudosFaculty

Mark Burns’ paper, “Everyone’s a(Future) Chemist,” appeared in the June7 issue of Science. Burns has writtenabout the development of a small,portable “lab-on-a-chip” – a tool thatcould help in complex chemical andbiochemical analyses. In addition to itsvalue as a tool for chemical and biologi-cal analyses, the device can act as anintelligent sensor.

Sharon Glotzer was the invited facultylecturer at this year’s annual CoE alumniboard retreat held at Camp Michigania.She spoke on the use of modeling andsimulation in nanoscience andnanotechnology, a topic that very muchinterested the alums and their families.Sharon also presented her work oncomputational materials at two GordonResearch Conferences this summer (herfourth and fifth GRC lectures in 30months), and was just awarded two newgrants from the Department of Energyand the National Science Foundationfor computational research on bio-inspired directed self-assembly ofnanostructured materials.

Erdogan Gulari was selected for theChE Departmental Achievement awardfor 2003.

Ron Larson has received the BinghamMedal from the Society of Rheology.This annual award is the highest awardin the field of rheology, a branch ofmechanics that focuses on the propertiesof materials that determine theirresponse to mechanical force.

Susan Montgomery has received theSpread the Word/Campus Rep awardfor the North-Central section of the

Students

Ali Mohraz was selected as a 2002Outstanding Graduate Student Instructorby the Rackham Graduate School. Thisuniversity-wide award recognized Ali forhis many accomplishments in teachingand education while pursuing his doctoralstudies. Congratulations Ali!

The following department scholarshipswere awarded to undergraduates:

Theodore C. Argue ScholarshipDustin Bringley

Dow Outstanding Junior AwardFaye Sheridan

Helen B. Gibson ScholarshipDerek Bagozzi and Michael Burns

Clifton S. Goddin ScholarshipWyatt Istvan-Mitchell, Marissa Bayman, andJessica Mattis

Lloyd L. and Barbara B. KempeScholarshipEric Sirota

Eli Lilly FellowshipJessica Garbern

Merck E&T FellowshipAnthony Dunsky and Matthew Olsofsky

Ian & Frances Patterson ScholarshipDavid Gale

P & G Minority ScholarshipBryan Styles

P & G Technical ScholarshipEric Jankowski

Jane & Howard TenBroeck ScholarshipPaul Albertus

James O. Wilkes ScholarshipTimothy Johnson and Claire Felczak

G. Brymer Williams ScholarshipMichael Burns, Doug Urquhart, ErikSchroepel, Landon Greene, David Kryscynski,and Adam Cole

American Society for EngineeringEducation (ASEE).

Michael Solomon received the 1938ETeaching Award for the year 2001. The1938E Award is presented by the college“in recognition of an outstandingteacher in both elementary and ad-vanced courses, an understandingcounselor of students who seek guidancein their choice of career, a contributor tothe educational growth at his/her collegeand a teacher whose scholarly integritypervades his/her service to the universityand the profession of engineering.”

Levi Thompson was selected to receivethe 2002 GEM Outstanding Alumni inAcademia Award in recognition of hisoutstanding achievements in the field ofeducation. GEM, the National Consor-tium for Graduate Degrees for Minori-ties in Engineering and Science, is anonprofit organization whose mission isto enhance the value of the nation’shuman capital by increasing theparticipation of underrepresentedminorities at the master’s and doctorallevels in engineering and science.

Ralph Yang has been appointed asDwight F. Benton Professor of ChemicalEngineering. This endowed chair wasestablished in 1983 by a bequest fromDwight F. Benton, a 1923 graduate ofthe college, to support a distinguishedfaculty member in chemical engineeringor advanced technology.

Ralph Yang was also named the 2003recipient of the ACS Award in Separa-tions Science and Technology. Thisaward is in recognition of “major ad-vancements of our knowledge on gasseparation by adsorption processes;invention of novel sorbents; and placinga scientific basis to sorbent design anddevelopment.” The award will be pre-sented formally at the ACS NationalMeeting in New Orleans on March 25,2003.

Chemical Engineering1 0

ChE Alumni Serving the Nation and the World

Many of our current chemicalengineering students spend manyhours each week volunteeringaround Ann Arbor and participatingin activities such as EngineeringService Day. That desire to servecontinues after graduation. Fivealumni who have chosen volunteerservice are highlighted in this article:Sujata (Suju) Naik (1998) spent twoyears with the Peace Corps inMadagascar, working on women’shealth and teaching English; JeffSanchez (1997) served with thePeace Corps in Paraguay, working oncommunity running water projects;Neha Shah (2001), currently anAmericorps participant, has “tutoredmiddle schoolers, built a house forHabitat for Humanity, and workedon native species restoration”; EricWakild (1999) and Maria (Zamora)Peralta (1995) are both Teach forAmerica alumni. Maria taught highschool math in rural North Carolina,and Eric was a chemistry teacher inthe Rio Grande Valley in south Texas.

This experience hasbeen a chance for Ericto “expand my horizons– see parts of theworld, experience newcultures.” Neha saw itas a chance to “con-tinue the service work Idid at the University ofMichigan, travel, meetpeople, and learn newskills.” “Volunteeringfor the Peace Corps hasalways been a dream ofmine,” reports Suju, “I also wanted achance to get away and do some-thing totally different before Ibuckled down to an engineeringcareer.”

These alumni used many of theirengineering skills during theirvolunteer experiences. “Some of thestudents had a lot of difficulty withstory problems,” reports Maria, “so Iwould break them up into groups,(like in ChE 344, reactor design)

and have the studentstry to come up withsolutions.” Neha alsomentions teamwork:“The work I did inmy ChE classes inteams has helpedtremendously infiguring out groupdynamics and usingpeople’s skills to theteam’s advantage.”Suju reports that she“used a lot of ideas Ilearned in ChE suchas ‘thinking outside ofthe box.’ I also used alot of engineering

when I worked on water sanitationprojects.” “To me I think the mostimportant skills … were problem-solving and communication skills,”echoes Jeff, “and the ability to lookat a situation, analyze it, and make asound decision.” While some of usmight hesitate to travel to suchremote locations as Madagascar, Sujutells us that “inconveniences like noelectricity and no running waterwere only an issue for a couple ofdays, until I got used to it. I had anincredibly hard time until I learnedthe language but people wanted tohelp me learn so it was only a fewmonths until I could have normalconversations.” But you don’t haveto leave the country to have suchlife-changing experiences. “It’simpossible to remember what mylife was like before Teach ForAmerica,” says Eric. “I saw familiesin the United States living in woodshacks with dirt floors and norunning water, let alone a sewagesystem.” This experience changedEric’s career plans: “I plan on being ateacher for a while.” He has goals of“one day becoming a principal of alow income or under-resourced

Local communityworkers assist inpiping installationsat a water towerconstruction site inParaguay. Thissystem, one of JeffSanchez’ PeaceCorps projects,provided potablerunning water to 40houses and anearby elementaryschool.

Sujata Naik teaching in Madagascar

Fall 2002 1 1

On May 2 and 3, 2002, the department’s External Advisory Commit-tee gathered in Ann Arbor to assess the department’s strengths andweaknesses, and to give expert advice to the faculty on how best toimprove the department so that it can better serve the university andits students. The committee is called in on a regular basis, every otheryear or so, for this purpose. In 2002, the members of the committeewere

• Bill Russel (professor and former chair of chemical engineering,Princeton), committee chair;

• John Anderson (dean of the College of Engineering, CarnegieMellon University);

• Bob Armstrong (chemical engineering department head, MIT);• Dick Balzhiser (retired from Electric Power Research Institute),

U-M alumnus (BSE 1955, MSE (Nuclear) 1956; PhD 1961),ChE faculty member in 1960s and 70s, chairman of departmentfrom 1970-71;

• Stu Churchill (retired from University of Pennsylvania), U-Malumnus (BSE (ChE and Metallurgical) 1942, MSE 1948, PhD1952), on the ChE faculty 1950s and 60s, chairman of depart-ment from 1962-1967;

• Pete Lederman (consultant, AIChE director, adjunct professor atNJIT), U-M alumnus (BSE 1953; MSE 1957; PhD 1961);

• George Keller (retired from management at Union Carbide);• George Quarderer (retired from Dow Chemical), U-M alumnus

(BSE (Chemical and Metallurgical) 1962, MSE 1964, MS 1964,PhD 1967).

The committee was impressed by improvements in the departmentsince the last external review in 1999, and gave valuable advice on howto continue moving the department forward. The faculty is verygrateful to the committee members.

We always appreciate receiving suggestions from our alumni aboutways to improve our research and teaching efforts. If you have anycomments, please contact Ron Larson at 734-764-2383 orrlarson@umich.edu.

External Advisory Committee Visits the Departmentschool. My hope is to make a changeon a greater level and improve thiscountry one student at a time.”

Maria has continued her volunteerinvolvement now that she is back atEPA. “I still do outreach through theSociety of Hispanic ProfessionalEngineers in the Detroit YoungEngineers and Scientists program,”says Maria, who is also workingtoward a master’s in engineering.

For those searching for an industrialposition upon their return, theseexperiences are “either looked atfavorably, or not really mentionedbecause the type of work and workenvironment is so different than thatin the States,” says Jeff. “It’s impor-tant to explain exactly what you didand relate it to work done here inthe States.” Steve Pondell (BSE’79),Director, Chemical/FermentationQA Operations and Development,and head of the Michigan RecruitingTeam at Abbott Laboratories, saysthat experiences such as a tour in thePeace Corps “can result in a verydynamic resume and a highlydesirable candidate and can bevaluable in fully developing anindividual.” Pondell believes manyvolunteers “learn self-sufficiency,leadership, and adaptability to newcultures and environments—some ofthe same skills that employers searchfor when recruiting engineers.”

All the volunteers encourage othersto take the plunge, and haveprovided guidance and advice toundergraduates considering suchexperiences. As Jeff tells them, “Idon’t know why I was a littleapprehensive to leave in the firstplace! It passed all expectations.”

If you participated in volunteerservice and would be willing to becontacted by students consideringthis route, please contact Dr. Susan

Montgomery, undergraduate pro-gram advisor, at smontgom@umich.edu.

Chemical Engineering1 2

Gifts from our Alumni, Friends, and Research PartnersJuly 2001 to June 2002

We are grateful for your interest in our department and your generous contributions. If we have missedsomeone, please accept our apology, and also let us know so we can correct our records.

Cache-Computer Aids for ChemicalEngineering EducationBrice Carnahan, Ph.D.

ChE Alumni-Faculty Merit ScholarshipChevronTexacoDr. Dae Y. ChaDr. George T. S. ChenDr. Julie F. HoffmanMarvin W. JacksonPharmacia Foundation, Inc.Sunil D. Rege, Ph.D.

ChE Fellowships FundClarence J. Young Family TrustWarren D. Gilbert

ChE Special FundAnne M. Moss Pooled Income FundBASF Corporation-HeadquartersBP Amoco FoundationCharles M. Thatcher, Ph.D.Chevron U.S.A., IncorporatedCoral L. DePriesterDan ChapelDarryl T. Hansen TTEEDr. Cedomir M. SliepcevichDr. David E. BidstrupDr. Donald A. NastDr. Earl A. EbachDr. Keith P. JohnstonDr. Peter B. LedermanDr. Roger K. RainsDr. Timothy S. SammarcoEli Lilly & Company FoundationEric F. CookEric R. JarvisFord Motor Company FundGeneral Mills FoundationGeneral Motors FoundationGeorge A. GroveGus L. Constan, Ph.D.Henkel CorporationJames R. Street, Ph.D.John C. HessJohn D. Janicek, Ph.D.

John T. KainKeith H. Coats Rev. Liv. TrustMark D. HintzMartin A. Javinsky, Ph.D.Martin E. Gluckstein, Ph.D.Michael S. O’DonnellMobil Foundation, Inc.Mr. Arthur IeumwananonthachaiMr. Charles J. SawyerMr. Eric D. GreenMr. Rudolph W. Pomper IIIMr. Vineet GauriMr. William A. ThompsonNicholas Fatica, Ph.D.Pamela MakerPaul KircosRobert C. FiskRobert M. Itami, M.D.Sidney F. SapakieSilicon GraphicsS. Thomas ClevelandThe Dow Chemical CompanyThe Dow Chemical Company FoundationThe Fluor FoundationThe Lubrizol FoundationTheodore A. Rozanski IIIThe Procter & Gamble FundThomas G. DeJonghe, J.D.Thomas W. GougeonT/J Technologies, Inc.United Technologies Corp.UOP ResearchWilliam G. Harrison

ChE Undergraduate ScholarshipBP Amoco FoundationEli Lilly & Company FoundationMerck & Co., Inc.3M CompanyThe Dow Chemical Company

Exxon Education FoundationGrant FundExxon Mobil Corporation

G. Brymer Williams Student Aid FundBristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Inc.Bruce R. Deschere, M.D.Chevron U.S.A., IncorporatedDavid W. HaartzDr. Earl A. EbachDr. George J. QuardererDr. Hua-Tie T. KauDr. Roger K. RainsFinis E. Carleton III, Ph.D.James A. Craig, Ph.D.Marathon Oil Company FoundationMr. Arthur IeumwananonthachaiRichard S. Mayer, Ph.D.Roger W. Campbell

Helen B. Gibson Scholarship FundMr. William M. Gibson

Industrial Affiliates Program inFlow and ReactionBaker PetroliteChevron Products CompanyConoco, Inc.Elf Exploration, Inc.Phillips Petroleum CompanySchlumberger Dowell

James O. Wilkes UndergraduateScholarshipBP Amoco FoundationDonald K. McCordDr. Bernard J. SchorleDr. Jude Thomas SommerfeldFinis E. Carleton III, Ph.D.Laura Rackmales ThomsonMallinckrodtMarathon Ashland Petroleum LLCMrs. Barbara C. CornellMrs. Sharon H. ThatcherMr. William M. GibsonRonald N. GraboisMichelle A. RasulisMr. Arthur IeumwananonthachaiMr. Charles E. FivelsonMr. Richard L. Peterson

Fall 2002 1 3

Jane & Howard M. TenBroeck Scholar-ship in EngineeringFBO TenBroeck Irrevocable Trust

Lloyd L. Kempe Scholarship in ChemicalEngineeringGeneral Mills FoundationPharmacia Foundation, Inc.Roger A. FrederickSidney F. SapakieTheodore H. Elferdink, Jr.

Margaret I & G. William RichardsMemorial ScholarshipMr. William B. Richards, P.E.

M Eng Pharmaceutical EngineeringProgramBoehringer Ingelheim, LimitedEli Lilly & Company FoundationPharmacia and Upjohn, Inc.

Procter and Gamble Department Grantin Chemical EngineeringThe Procter & Gamble Fund

Shell Fellowship Fund in ChemicalEngineeringShell Oil Company Foundation

Klavs F. Jensen, theLammot du PontProfessor of ChemicalEngineering andProfessor of MaterialsScience and Engineeringat the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology,was the 32nd recipientof the Donald L. KatzLectureship. Thislectureship, created in1971, is named in honorof the late Donald L.Katz, who was a professor of chemical engineering from 1936 until hisdeath in 1989. Dr. Jensen is the co-author of more than 300 publications,including several edited volumes, and is the recipient of several awards,including a National Science Foundation Presidential Young InvestigatorAward, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Grant, aGuggenheim Fellowship, and the Allan P. Colburn, R. H. Wilhelm, andCharles C.M. Stine Awards of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

A dinner honoring Dr. Jensen was held during the two-day event at theMichigan League, attended by Mrs. Elizabeth Katz, the widow of ProfessorKatz. Other special guests included Steve and Kathleen Correll, Mrs. Katz’son and daughter-in-law, and Mrs. Ernestina Parravano, widow of ProfessorGiuseppe Parravano, former ChE faculty member.

James Wilkes, Mrs. Elizabeth Katz, Ron Larson, andKlavs F. Jensen, 2002 Katz Lectureship Recipient

Jensen Presents the 32nd Donald L. Katz Lecture

Rhonda Sweet joined the ChE staff in April 2002. She is an admin-istrative assistant and provides financial support to our faculty.Employed by the university since 1990, Rhonda came to us from theNuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Department, whereshe had worked as an academic secretary since 1996. She enjoysplaying softball and loves the Detroit Red Wings. Rhonda receivedher B.B.A. from EMU in 1997.

New Addition to ChE Staff

Chemical Engineering1 4

Tenho Sihvonen Connable receivedthe 2001 ChE Alumni SocietyMerit Award. Ms. Connable wasthe guest of honor at a departmen-tal alumni luncheon during the

Michigan Engineering AlumniWeekend in October.

Throughout her life, Tenho hascultivated an intense curiosity forscience and technology, togetherwith an active interest in theUniversity of Michigan, and itsCollege of Engineering. Alongwith her husband, the late RegentAlfred B. Connable, she has beenone of the university’s most loyaland active alumnae. Receiving herbachelor’s degree in chemicalengineering from Michigan in1942, Connable was among thefirst female engineers to graduatefrom the College of Engineering.In 1941, she became a member ofTau Beta Pi. Upon graduation, sheworked briefly as an administrative

assistant for the vice-president ofoperations at the Shell ChemicalCompany in San Francisco.

After raising four children,Connable continued her interest inengineering and completed amaster’s degree in mathematicswith a concentration in computerscience at Western MichiganUniversity in 1973. She went on toteach at Western, first as aninstructor and later as an adjunctassistant professor of computerscience, before retiring fromteaching in 1983. To this day, shecontinues to be fascinated withscience and technology, and has aspecial interest in both chaos andstring theory.

2002 Alumni Society Merit Award

Join the ChE AlumniE-mail Group!!!

Contact Sandy Swisher atsandys@umich.edu

from CoE Media and Marketing

Guests at ChE Alumni Luncheon in October 2002Front row (l/r): Stuart Churchill (BSE ’42, MSE ’48, PhD ’52), TenhoSihvonen Connable (BSE ’42), Peter Soderberg (BSE ’51, MSE ’51). Backrow: Bert Cullen (BSE ’73), Fred Shippey (BSE ’62, MSE ’70), Sid Sapakie(BSE ’67), D. Russell Smith (BSE ’51), Dick Balzhiser (BSE ’55, MSE ’56;PhD ’61), Jim Brown (BSE ’61).

Fall 2002 1 5

Visit the ChE Alumni page at www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/alumni.html

Fall 2002 Alumni Events

We will host our annualAlumni/Student Receptionduring the SWE-Tau Beta PiCareer Fair. The event willtake place on Monday,September 23 from 5:30-7:00p.m. in the PodbielniakLounge (3158 Dow). If youwill be in town for the careerfair and would like to stop by,please contact Sandy Swisher

(734-764-7413, sandys@umich.edu.) Come visit with faculty and meetsome of our graduating seniors.

This year’s annual tailgate will take place before the Michigan vs. MichiganState game on November 2. We will be outdoors at our regular loca-tion—Rainbow Creation, directly across from the stadium, on the cornerof Main and Stadium. The festivities will begin two hours before gametime (starting time is yet to be announced). Bring the whole family to thispre-game party! If you would like to stop by the tailgate, please contactSandy Swisher by phone or e-mail. Join us for some food and fun beforeheading over to the stadium for the big game. Go Blue!

The College of Engineering willhold its annual MichiganEngineering Alumni Weekendfrom October 24-26. Eventsplanned for the weekend includetechnology forums, campus tours,the Alumni Society AnnualMeeting and Awards Dinner, anda college update from DeanStephen Director. The weekendwill be capped off on Saturday,October 26 with a tailgate brunchbefore the Michigan vs. Iowafootball game. We have reserveda special table at the engineeringtailgate for ChE’s so we can all sittogether. In addition, there willbe reunion tables for the Classesof ’52, ’62, ’77, ’92, and ’97. Thetickets for the tailgate/footballpackage are $65/person and $30/person for the tailgate only.

On Friday, October 25, there willbe an opportunity for alumni tovisit the department when wehost a luncheon for ChE alumniand faculty. Our guest of honorwill be Dr. Stuart Churchill,professor emeritus of chemicalengineering at the University ofPennsylvania and former chemicalengineering faculty member at theUniversity of Michigan, who isthe recipient of this year’s AlumniSociety Merit Award.

For more details on the MichiganEngineering Alumni Weekend,please log on to www.engin.umich.edu/alumni or contact theOffice of College Relations at734-647-7042.

Michigan EngineeringAlumni Weekend

FALL ALUMNI CALENDAR

ChE Alumni/Student Reception September 23

Michigan Engineering Alumni Weekend October 24-26

ChE Alumni and Faculty Luncheon October 25

CoE Homecoming Tailgate October 26

ChE Annual Tailgate November 2

Chemical Engineering1 6

Our History Book

We thank our subscribers andothers who have been waitingpatiently for publication of ourhistory book, A Century of Chemi-cal Engineering at the University ofMichigan.

I note from a 1998 solicitation ofsubscribers (those who trustinglyanted up their $25 before publica-tion) that I naïvely anticipated 150-200 pages and 100 photographs; andin 2000 some 300 pages and 200photographs. But even that couldnot do justice to our splendiddepartment, so I kept going! Thetext is now complete, weighing in at22 chapters and 623 pages, plus anindex of more than 3,000 entries.Checking and updating the sub-scriber list and making final adjust-ments for printing will take moretime, but we can anticipate finalproduction in late 2002 or early 2003.

I think you will enjoy A Century . . . ,which contains much of interest for

all alums. It starts with approval ofour degree program in 1898 andends with Commencement in 2002.We reproduce here a representativegroup of three from the total of 559photographs of our students, staff,faculty, and buildings. Can youidentify them?

Subscribers and those who havedonated $200 or more during thepast three years will automatically

dlkatz.eps

Top left: Don Katz age 12, on the farm;top right: John Ulicny, Cleatis (Fanny)Bolen, James Hand, and Dave Hammer;bottom right: Doors to East Engineering.

receive a copy of A Century . . . . Ifyou wish to order one or more copies(they will make excellent presents),please complete and return the formbelow. If you have any questions,please call Sandy Swisher at 734-764-7413 (e-mail sandys@umich.edu).

James O. Wilkes, compiler ofA Century of Chemical Engineeringat the University of Michigan.

Make check payable to the University of MichiganSend to: Claire O’Connor

Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan3074 H.H. Dow Bldg., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136

Name

Address

Home Phone E-Mail

If you wish to purchase a copy of the book, please complete and return this form.The cost is $25.00 per copy, including postage.

Chemical Engineering History Book

Payment Enclosed

Fall 2002 1 7

Alumni News

Visit the ChE Alumni News page at www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/alumni.html

Don Kory (BSE ’50) and Delores (BALSA ’50) Kory celebrated their 50thwedding anniversary, March 30, 2002,with their daughter, Deanna and herhusband, Alon Ben-Meir at theRainbow Room in the RCA Building,Manhattan. Don and Delores still livein Coral Gables, Florida whereDelores is a professor at St. ThomasUniversity, Miami. Don retired in1997 from his own computer consult-ing business. They would love to hearfrom classmates or any professors whoare still around (deakon@aol.com).Both Don and Delores received theiremeritus alumni status in June 2002 attheir 50th reunion.

Linda (Marcon) Deschere (BSE ’74)is a partner in the law firm of Harness,Dickey & Pierce, one of the country’slargest intellectual property law firms.She writes patents for high techcompanies, particularly advancedbatteries and fuel cells. Husband,Bruce Deschere (BSE ’73) wasrecently appointed president ofUniversity Physician Services, Inc., themanagement services organization forthe 750-physician joint practice of theWayne State University School ofMedicine. He received the MichiganFamily Practice Teacher of the Yearaward from the Michigan Academy ofFamily Physicians and a CollegeTeaching Award from Wayne StateUniversity earlier this year. Linda andBruce have two children. Their son,Andy, is a student at MIT anddaughter, Cristina, is in high school.

Robin L. Brack (BSE ’80) is currentlyemployed as an advisory engineer, inthe Environmental Programs Depart-ment, at IBM in San Jose. The site is

one that will be sold to Hitachi, whichwill be taking over the disk-drivebusiness from IBM. The next year willbe a busy time for the department, asthe 350-acre site needs to be split inhalf between Hitachi and IBMtenants. Unlike the HP-Compaqmerger, they have not been informedof massive layoffs, as Hitachi does nothave disk-drive manufacturingfacilities in the United States.

Dan Sajkowski (BSE ’81, MSE ’82,PhD in 1986 from Stanford) becamevice president of Refining Technologyfor BP. He has staff in Naperville,Illinois and Sunbury, England. Theposition is accountable for all aspectsof refining technology in BP’s 15refineries — made up of BP, Amoco,Arco and soon Veba sites, throughoutthe world. Dan is also on BP’s GroupTechnology Council that overseestechnology throughout the corpora-tion. His family life with his wife,Eileen, (also a UM grad) and their twodaughters, Alyssa (14) and Shannon(11), remains a priority.

Bob Ranger (BSE ’83, MBA ’95) isbusiness development manager atDow Chemical. Bob is also involvedin recruiting ChE’s at UM.

Ann Heil (BSE ’84) is a seniorengineer with the Los Angeles CountySanitation Districts. Her focus is onpollution prevention in wastewaterand she recently completed a projectto reduce the amount of the toxicpesticide lindane entering sewers. Theproject led to a California-wide banon lindane in pharmaceutical productsand received the most prestigiouspollution prevention award in the

nation - the National Pollution Pre-vention Roundtable’s Most ValuablePollution Prevention First PlaceAward. Ann was named the WesternRegion Pollution Prevention Net-work’s Pollution Prevention Advocateof the Year for 2000 and the Califor-nia Water Environment Association’sIndustrial and Hazardous Waste Con-trol Person of the Year for 1999. Annis married and has two delightfulboys, who are now 8 and 11.

Saroja Ramanujan (BSE ’93) did herdoctoral work at Wisconsin after grad-uating from Michigan, followed by apost doc at the Massachusetts GeneralHospital/Harvard Medical School.Now, she lives in the San Franciscobay area and works for a biosimula-tion startup company called Entelos.She got married in August in AnnArbor.

Steve Hurley (BSE ’95) is married andhas two daughters and is currentlyworking for GE Plastics in Southfield.

Michele Pfeiffer (BSE ’95) movedfrom GE Lighting, Cleveland in 1999and is currently working at GEAircraft Engines in Cincinnati as aleader for Material Services DemandPlanning. She gets to make her way upto Ann Arbor a few times a year toparticipate in recruiting for GE andthe Industrial Cluster for the MinorityEngineering Program Office (MEPO).She says it’s amazing to see how muchNorth Campus has changed!

Join the ChE AlumniE-mail Group!!!

Contact Sandy Swisher atsandys@umich.edu

Chemical Engineering1 8

Visit the ChE Alumni News page at www.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme/alumni.html

Jennifer (Tipa) Beedon (BSE ’95)graduated from Harvard BusinessSchool on June 6, 2002, with a master’sdegree in business administration. Sheand her husband relocated to Californiathis summer, as Jennifer has accepted ajob as a manager of business develop-ment with Guidant Corporation.

Sam Wall (BSE ’97) is going back toschool for an advanced degree, afterworking as a development engineer at aBay Area biotech for the last four years,This fall he will be starting a joint Ph.D.program between UC Berkeley and UCSan Francisco in bioengineering. Inaddition, Sam recently became engagedto fellow Michigan graduate, BritaGraham, and they plan to marry nextyear.

Becky J. Vander Eyk (BSE ’96) justfinished her M.B.A. at Harvard BusinessSchool in June 2001. She’s working inBusiness Development for AdvancedPayments at American Express, andliving in Hoboken, NJ. Becky isenjoying the job very much even thoughher office was forced to relocate toStamford, CT, after the Amex buildingwas damaged in the WTC disaster. Sherecently returned from a five-week trip

around Asia, including Japan, China,Thailand and Cambodia.

Amit Advani (BSE ’98) is currentlyliving in Mumbai, India. In 1999, hestarted his own company, Bombay FluidSystem Components Ltd, in associationwith the Ohio headquartered SwagelokCompany. His company is the regionalpartner of Swagelok Company in India,and is in the business of fluid systemcomponents for instrumentationapplications in most major processsectors. Amit is currently the managingdirector of the company and is respon-sible for the overall operations, growth,and strategy. He got married in Febru-ary 2002 to Pooja Tulsiani, whoattended the university at the same timehe did.

Mathieu Delahaye (MSE ’98) is doingfine in France, where he is in charge ofresearch and development of new watertreatment processes (drinking water andwaste water) in several countries(France, Italy, Spain). He is working forSAUR, which is the fourth largest watertreatment company in the world.

Steve Gray (BSE ’98) married EmilySayers, his college sweetheart, the

summer after graduation. He beganpursuing a degree in dentistry at UM infall 1998. Steve graduated in April 2002with a D.D.S. Last fall Steve and hiswife had their first child, a boy namedEzekiel (“Zeke”) David Gray. Zeke was8 lb.,15oz., 22.5 inches long- a big boy!He and mom are doing well.

Sujata Naik (BSE ’98) spent two yearsin Peace Corps in Madagascar doinghealth education after graduation. She isnow a process development engineer forthe Hair Care Unit in Procter andGamble in Cincinnati.

Rachael Schmedlen (BSE ’98) isentering the fifth year of a Ph.D.program in bioengineering at RiceUniversity, where she has been workingon the development of elastic hydrogelscaffolds for tissue engineered vasculargrafts. If all goes well, she will be Dr.Schmedlen by May or August of 2003!Following graduation, she hopes to finda job in the biotech industry.

Isaac Yue (BSE ’98) graduated fromHarvard School of Dental Medicine onJune 6, 2002, cum laude. He will beattending the University of Illinois atChicago in September for a post-doctoral residency in orthodontics.

Naoko Akiya (MSE ’99, PhD ’01) hasbeen working for Dow Chemical inFreeport, Texas, in the ResearchAssignment Program, a rotationprogram for new hires in R&D since theend of June 2001. She will be done withthe program by mid-August, at whichpoint she will join the Reaction Engi-neering discipline in Corporate R&D.Naoko and her husband are moving intoa house in a suburb of Houston, whichthey are building in July of this year.They thoroughly enjoy being back inTexas!

Engineering Education Celebrates a Birthday

In 2003-04, the College of Engineering will celebrate 150 years ofengineering education at Michigan. Planned events include asesquicentennial banquet, an academic focus conference, an engi-neering dean’s forum at which past deans will reminisce about theirexperiences in the college, and a Michigan Marching Band half-timeshow honoring engineering education. Look for further details and acalendar of events on the college website (www.engin.umich.edu) asfall 2003 nears.

Fall 2002 1 9

Update your alumni information online at http://www.engin.umich.edu/alumni/updateform.html

Carmita Burnette (BSE ’99) will beleaving her job at Procter & Gambleand returning to school. She’ll bepursuing an M.B.A. at the KelloggSchool of Management (NorthwesternUniversity) in Evanston, Ill. Herconcentrations will be in real estatefinance and public/nonprofit manage-ment.

Benita (Kuo) Comeau (BSE ’99)married Jon Comeau (MSE EE ‘99) onMay 18, 2002, in Minneapolis. Benitaand Jon will be leaving their jobs atAgere Systems in Minneapolis, andmoving to Atlanta where they’ll both beattending Georgia Tech for graduateschool.

Jamey Condevaux (BSE ’99) finished anM.S.E. degree in Aero (Propulsion) in2000. He has been working for acouple years as a Combustion Specialistat an aerospace company, WilliamsInternational. Jamey just got engaged in

Alaska a couple of months ago and isstill living in Michigan.

pursuing her master’s in businessadministration from Indiana University,and she is expecting to graduate in thefall of 2003. Megan plans to marryKevin Reehling in October 2002.

Johanna E. Rovira-Carrasquillo (MSE’99) has been working for Merck & Co.,Inc., Rahway (NJ) Technical Operationssince Dec. 2000. She recently pur-chased a lovely townhouse! Her email isjohannar@umich.edu.

Jenny Ma (BSE ’99) is still working for3M in St. Paul, although she now worksin one of the technology centers as aprocess development engineer. She gotengaged in March while on vacation inDisney World and is getting married inJune 2003!

Elizabeth (Peckham) Stavens (BSE ’99)graduated in August 2001 from PurdueUniversity with an M.S. in chemicalengineering and joined the ExxonMobilProcess Research Labs (EMPR) in BatonRouge, LA. She recently got married(September 2001) to Kevin Stavens. Lizand her husband met at Purdue during asummer internship in 1998 and he alsonow works at EMPR.

Megan Peplinski (BSE ’99) is workingas a Six Sigma Black Belt at the DuPontBelle Plant in Belle, WV. She is

In Memoriam

Richard “Dick” R. Kraybill (BSE’43, PhD ’53) died November 19,2001. Dick worked at EastmanKodak and was a professor ofchemical engineering at theUniversity of Rochester inRochester, NY.

Classmates and faculty whom you may not have seen in years areinterested in what you have done recently, changes in positions,and your plans for the future. Take a minute to send or e-mail(cheme@umich.edu) us your news for inclusion on the alumniweb page and in next year’s newsletter.

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Activities, family, and professional news:

Degree(s) with year of each

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Send to:Sandy SwisherDept. of Chemical EngineeringThe University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI 48109-2136

Department of Chemical Engineering

University of Michigan3074 H.H. Dow Building2300 Hayward St.Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136734-764-2383cheme@umich.eduwww.engin.umich.edu/dept/cheme

The ChE Newsletter is a publication of the Department of ChemicalEngineering, The University of Michigan, 2002.

Ronald G. Larson, ChairmanSandra Swisher, Editor and Designer

The Regents of the University of Michigan

David A. Brandon, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills;Daniel D. Horning, Grand Haven; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich;Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor;S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms; Katherine E. White, AnnArbor; Mary Sue Coleman, ex officio

Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan3074 H.H. Dow Building2300 Hayward StreetAnn Arbor, MI 48109-2136