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DAVE C. SWALM SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING E-NEWSLETTER

Volume 1, Number 2

November/December, 2001

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FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD...

Well, I hope that this letter finds you well.  The Egg Bowl game on Thanksgiving Day was one of the "highlights" for this year so far.  My in-laws were up from Virginia to visit the grandchildren and take in their first SEC football game.  I had prewarned them on what to expect in terms of our football prowess, and was treated to an outstanding game on both sides of the ball.  I know that cowbells are prohibited at MSU football games, but let me tell you, the Mississippi State "cell phones" were making a lot of noise!

As part of the stadium renovations, there are a number of luxury boxes which were constructed, and which I understand are quite nice.  My oldest son, Tim (who is 11), was invited to a neighborhood friend's grandparents box the other day, and upon returning to our seats informed my wife and I that we needed to go ahead and rent one of the boxes for next year!  So we asked him what was so nice about the boxes.  Was it the outstanding view or the nice seats?  No, the answer was that you "got to make your own nachos up there!"  With my son, like his father, it all comes down to food!

We have had an outstanding fall semester, and I have included some short descriptions below.  I am especially pleased that our AIChE Student Chapter was selected as one of the top 14 chapters for the 2000 - 2001 Academic year.  This was an outstanding honor, and shows the excellence of MSU Chemical Engineering.  Additionally, we held the first inauguration for Omega Chi Epsilon since 1992, and expect to have a very strong chapter here within the next couple of years.  Finally, we had a record number of students and faculty members attend the AIChE national meeting in Reno, Nevada in November.  I have included a list of faculty and student presentations and activities at the fall meeting.   As you can see, we are moving the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering aggressively forward. 

If you haven't done so already, 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 constantly updating the School WWW pages, so be sure and check back once every couple of weeks to see new pictures and stories.  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 <mailto:schulz@che.msstate.edu>). 

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the newsletter.   Go Dawgs!

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2000 - 2001 AIChE NATIONAL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

The 2001 AIChE annual meeting was held in November in Reno, Nevada.  This year, we had 13 students and 5 faculty members attend this meeting.  The MSU contingent enjoyed a dinner together in Lake Tahoe on Sunday evening at the Hard Rock Café.    Additionally, on Sunday, the AIChE officers made a presentation on improving student chapter-industry relationships that was repeated three times to standing room only crowds.  Several students and faculty members moderated sessions, presented research papers, and are in leadership roles within AIChE on a national level.  Next year, we are hoping to have an MSU dinner one night at a local restaurant for all of the students, faculty, and alumni attending the annual meeting.  If you have any questions about the presentations, please feel free to email me or the faculty member in question. 

Session Moderators:

Sunday Workshop: Improving Teaching
Moderators:  Philip Wankat, Purdue University; Kirk H. Schulz, Mississippi State University.

Department Heads Forum
Moderators:  Kirk H. Schulz, Mississippi State University; Douglas K. Ludlow, U. Missouri-Rolla

Process Synthesis
Moderators: Priscilla J. Hill, Mississippi State University; David C. Miller, Rose-Hulman

Batch Processing Crystallization Tutorial
Moderators: Priscilla J. Hill, Mississippi State University; Glenda C. Harris, Mallinckrodt Baker, Inc.

Technical Presentations

"Biomolecules' Effects on Gas Hydrate Formation at Sand/Clay Interfaces", Dr. Rudy Rogers, Chandra Kothapalli ,and May S. Lee, presented at the Biomolecules at Interfaces #2 Session.

 "Improving Student Chapter-Industry Relations", Rachel Thomas, Kenneth Thomas, Shannon Campbell, presented at the Student Chapter Workshop.

"A Catalytic Approach to Diesel Engine Emissions Control", Ling Deng (Michigan Tech), Dr. Jason Keith (Michigan Tech) and Dr. Kirk H. Schulz, presented at the Poster Session: Kinetics, Catalysis, and Reaction Engineering.

"Sulfur Dioxide Adsorption on Ceria-Zirconia Mixed Metal Oxides", Dr. Alan E. Nelson (University of Alberta) and Dr. Kirk H. Schulz, presented at the Poster Session: Kinetics, Catalysis, and Reaction Engineering.

"Faculty Mentoring", Dr. Kirk H. Schulz, presented at the Department Heads Forum.

"Improving Student Learning Using In-Class Problems", Dr. Kirk H. Schulz, presented at the Sunday Workshop: Improving Teaching.

"Optimization of a Reactive Ion Etching System", Mark Modenbach, Dr. Steve Saddow (U. South Florida) presented at the Student Poster Session.

"Lead-Free Ammunition: Providing a Greener Future", Michael Bester and Dr. Mark Bricka, presented at the Student Poster Session.

Service Activities

Dr. Mark Bricka serves as a Director of the Environmental Engineering Division, and also chairs the both the Marketing Committee and ABET Committee. 

Dr. Kirk H. Schulz serves on the Program Committee of the 2002 ASEE Summer School, and was selected as co-Chair for Chemical Engineering Fundamentals: Low Pressure (Area 1g)

Dr. Priscilla Hill was elected vice-chair for the Crystallization Programming Group ( Area 2b).

MSU Meeting Attendees:

Faculty:  Dr. Mark Bricka, Dr. Priscilla Hill, Dr. Rudy Rogers, Dr. Kirk H. Schulz, Dr. Hossein Toghiani

Students: Kenneth Thomas, Rachel Thomas, Shannon Campbell, Jarrod Smith, Scott Junkin, Levell Hairston, Mark Modenback, Michael Bestor, Andy Queen, Sandy Le, Laura Beth Dong, Susan Sierra, Tina Harper.

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OMEGA CHI EPSILON INITIATION DINNER HELD

Omega Chi Epsilon, the Chemical Engineering Honor Society, held its fall semester induction ceremony at the Golden Horn Restaurant near the Airport.  Dr. Robert Altenkirch, Vice President for Research and former Dean of Engineering, gave a keynote speech.  In addition to Dr. Altenkirch, special guests included Dean Wayne Bennett, Mr. Tom Austin and William Hill representing the Dow Chemical Company, and Mr. Robert Green (ChE Class of '86).  Dr. Altenkirch talked to the inductee's about how to conduct themselves in their careers, and discussed the support of higher education in the state of Mississippi.  Omega Chi Epsilon officers include Kenneth Thomas, President; Shannon Campbell, Vice President; Kawanda Jerry, Treasurer; and Chuck Wood, Secretary.  Congratulations to the officers for getting OCE back up and going again at Mississippi State, and to all of the inductees into the chapter for this fall. 

Congratulations to the following new members of OCE:

Alissa Willis
Ashley Jones
Ashley Slaton
Brock Sawyer
Carla Cutrer
Casey Clark
Chadwick Royston
Chuck Woods
Cindy Williams
Claire Larsen
Courtney Danielle Frawley
Daniel Smith
Darrell Sparks
David Deblanc
David Neaves
Dean Camper
Erica Huntley
Jacob McAllister
Jacob Palmer
Joshua Price
Jed Bishop
Jennifer Hosmon
John Harden
John Reed
John Roberts
Jonathan Blackburn
Julie Isonhood
Kathedra Burton
Kawanda Jerry
Kenneth Thomas
Kerry Bentley
Laura Jennings
Lauren Carnathan
Lauren Donohoe
Luke Evans
Micheal Monroe
Monty Singletary
Natalie May
Nicole Pearson-Greene
Scott Crymble
Scottie Purvis
Seth Barnes
Shannon Campbell
Stephen Marbut
Trent Jeffreys
Wesley Sasser

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AIChE STUDENT CHAPTER WINS NATIONAL AWARD

The Mississippi State chapter of AIChE was selected as one of 14 schools to win an Outstanding Student Chapter Award.  This is a tremendous honor, and is a credit to Dr. Atly Jefcoat, Faculty Advisor, and the 2000-2001 AIChE Officers.  At the Awards Luncheon at the 2001 Annual Meeting in Reno, Kenneth Thomas (Chapter President) accepted a plaque and check in recognition for their achievement. 

The following schools were recognized as Outstanding Student Chapters:

Brigham Young University
Georgia Tech
Iowa
Kansas State
Kentucky
Mississippi State University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
North Carolina State University
Oklahoma State
Oregon State
Penn State
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Wisconsin

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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING HOSTS TAILGATE TENT AT FOOTBALL

I don't know if you made it to one of our tailgates this fall, but there is still one left!  If you are going to be at the BYU game this Saturday, please make sure to come by and have a bite to eat with some of the Chemical Engineering Faculty, Staff, and 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.   On the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering WWW pages, we have a list of the alumni and friends who have come by and visited the tailgating tent.  Be sure to visit our site and see if any of your friends or classmates have stopped by.  For the most current information, make sure to visit the alumni web site at: http://www.che.msstate.edu/Alumni/alumni.htm.

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ALUMNI UPDATES

Look here next month to see what your classmates are doing!

Ellis R. Lippincott Award

Chemistry professor Lester Andrews (B.S. ChE Mississippi State, '63) of the University of Virginia, who does spectroscopic research on novel reactive molecular species, has been awarded the prestigious Ellis R. Lippincott award by the Optical Society of America together with the Coblentz Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Andrews has performed research in vibrational spectroscopy of reactive species for almost forty years and coauthored more than 550 research publications with over 60 students and research associates.  Chemical and physical methods are used to generate novel chemical intermediates and to trap them in a noble gas solid at cryogenic temperatures for spectroscopic examination. This research in experimental measurements and quantum chemical calculations of vibrational frequencies characterizes important new chemical species such as free radicals, complexes, molecular ions, and metal-containing molecules.

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Kirk H. Schulz
Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. Chair and Director
Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering
Mississippi State University
Box 9595
Mississippi State, MS  39762
Email: schulz@che.msstate.edu
Phone: 662-325-2480
FAX: 662-325-2482
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