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DAVE C. SWALM SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING E-NEWSLETTER
Volume 1, Number 1
September/October, 2001
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FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD…
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Mississippi State Chemical Engineering Electronic Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to let you know what is happening at MSU, particularly within Chemical Engineering. Each newsletter will be in the same format and will be published every other month. In general, I will always have a few comments and observations at the beginning of the newsletter. Additionally, I will include some feature stories on what has happened at State within the last couple of months. I will also include a “Question of the Month” starting with our next issue to encourage you to share some thoughts about your educational experience at State with your fellow readers. Finally, I will include a section on Alumni Updates. If you would like to share some information about where you career has taken you, please send us an update. I will include all that I get in the next issue of the newsletter.
My wife and I both grew up in Virginia, which we of course considered as part of “the South” (although most people from the deep South don’t consider Virginia as “south”). We were very excited and pleased to end our time “up North”, and to return to a warmer climate.
Our family really enjoys college football, so we looked forward with much anticipation towards our first live SEC game. My wife is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, so we had attended several Minnesota games over the past nine years. However, as many of you may be aware, being a University of Minnesota football fan is a lot like being a Vanderbilt football fan…there were games when the half-time show was all that was good for the game highlights. Being first-timers, we left our cowbells at home. Once the game got going, we couldn’t believe how loud the cowbells were!!!! This is a great tradition for MSU, and we will proudly take our new cowbells and ring them loudly at the BYU game.
I would invite you to check out the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering WWW page (http://www.che.msstate.edu/index.html). We are working hard to update the School web pages, and I would encourage you to visit the site often and see what we are doing. I would especially direct you to visit the alumni page (http://www.che.msstate.edu/Alumni/alumni.html). Past issues of the Electronic newsletter will be posed to this site following distribution to the electronic email list.
I would also encourage you to send in Alumni Updates. I will put them in the newsletter (at the end) so that your former classmates can see what you are doing. If you would like to contribute an update, just send it to me (schulz@che.msstate.edu).
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the newsletter. Go Dawgs!
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2000 – 2001 SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING HIGHLIGHTS
The Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering began a new
era of progress during 2000-2001. In
July, 2000, the School moved into the new $18M Swalm Chemical Engineering
Building, a state-of-the-art educational and research facility, made possible
by a generous contribution by Dave C. Swalm, a 1955 alumnus of the
program. The late summer and fall were
marked by the search for a new director for the program, and in December of
2000, Dr. Kirk H. Schulz accepted the position. Prior to coming to
Mississippi State, Dr. Schulz worked at Michigan Tech and the University of
North Dakota, having received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University.
The department also successfully completed two faculty searches during
the year. Dr. R. Mark Bricka accepted
the position of Associate Professor and joined the faculty in January
2001. Dr. Bricka received his B.S.
degree from the University of Alabama, his M.S. from Mississippi State
University, and his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He came to Mississippi State University from the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC) where he was a research
environmental engineer. Dr. Priscilla
J. Hill accepted a position as Assistant Professor and has joined the
department for the Fall 2001 semester.
Dr. Hill received her B.S. and M.S. degree from Clemson University and
her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. She spent a number of years as a senior engineer at the Idaho
National Engineering Laboratory, followed by a position as a senior development
and research consultant with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation in Japan. Most recently she served on the faculty at
the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Four new members
were inducted into the Mississippi State University Chemical Engineering Hall
of Fame during ceremonies taking place over the 2000 Homecoming weekend. Honorees were Mark Rohr, President and Chief
Operating Officer of Albemarle Corporation; Bobby Shackouls, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Burlington Resources; George Newbill, Vice President
of Albemarle Corporation; and David Purvis, Manager of Producing Operations of
Shell’s Eastern Gulf of Mexico Region.
The creation of the
Earnest W. Deavenport, Jr. Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering was announced
in February 2001 at a reception honoring Mr. Deavenport, a 1960 graduate of the
program. This endowment was created by
the Eastman Chemical Company Foundation in honor of Mr. Deavenport who serves
as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Dr. Kirk H. Schulz was designated as the
inaugural holder of the Deavenport Chair.
Chemical
Engineering’s outstanding faculty continued to garner awards in all three of
the university’s mission areas. Dr.
Rebecca Toghiani was recognized by the President’s Commission on the Status of
Women with their 2001 Outstanding Faculty Award. Dr. Mark Zappi and Dr. Rebecca Toghiani were both named Hearin
Distinguished Professors for 2001. Dr.
Rudy Rogers received the College of Engineering Outstanding Research Paper
Award for 2001 and Dr. Irvin Jefcoat was named Professor of the Year by the
local American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student chapter.
Extramural funding
in Chemical Engineering has steadily increased and was buoyed by a $3.6M award
establishing the Mississippi University Consortium for the Utilization of Biomass
in the Production of Alternative Fuels.
The consortium, funded by the Department of Energy and lead by ChE’s Dr.
Mark Zappi, consists of teams from Mississippi State University, Jackson State
University, the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern
Mississippi .
Enrollment in the undergraduate and graduate programs continues steady and students actively participated in student organizations, regional and national conferences, and competitions where many received recognition and awards for their presentations. A contingent of students represented the School at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the AIChE in Los Angeles, CA, and at the 2001 AIChE Southern Regional Student Chapter Conference at Clemson. Katherine Taconi, an M.S. candidate in Chemical Engineering was awarded and accepted an NSF Graduate Fellowship.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING HOSTS TAILGATE TENT AT FOOTBALL
Are you planning to come and see the Bulldogs play football this fall? If so, make sure and plan to stop by and visit the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering Alumni tent. Before each home game, we will have food, drink, and the opportunity to meet with current students. If you haven’t had a chance to see the building yet, we will have tour guides available to take you around and show you the best Chemical Engineering building in the southeast.
Tailgating starts 2.5 hours before kick-off. Families, spouses, and yes, even Ole Miss alumni are welcome. For the most current information, make sure to visit the alumni web site at: http://www.che.msstate.edu/Alumni/alumni.htm.
ALUMNI UPDATES
Look here next month to see what your classmates are doing!