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DAVE C. SWALM SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING E-NEWSLETTER
Volume 3, Number 2
November/December, 2003
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FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Like many of
you, we loaded up the ³family truckster² and headed north to Virginia for
Christmas vacation. These sort of family trips always remind me quite a bit
of the movie ³Vacation² with Chevy Chase.
We got into Blacksburg on a Saturday evening, and were still wearing our
Mississippi ³winter² attire. The temperature had to be in the teens, with a
15 to 20 mph winds. I can honestly say I hadn¹t been that cold since .. The
last time I was in Blacksburg! (There is a real reason we called it
Bleaksburg when I was a student there). We were greeted by some light
flurries while unpacking, reminding me of all the reasons I wanted to move
to the deep south. After a couple of days of visiting with the family, we
attended a Christmas eve service at our former church in Blacksburg. My wife
was standing next to me during the quiet signing of ³Silent Night, Holy
Night², and her candle went out. Not thinking anything of it, she tilted
her candle near mind to light it back up, and wound up pouring hot wax all
over my hand. Trust me when I tell you it is hard to concentrate on singing
while the wax is drying on your hand. Oh, those fond vacation memories..
Well, I hope you have had a chance to watch our Men¹s and Women¹s basketball
teams this year. As of this writing, the Men¹s team is undefeated going
into our home game against Kentucky, and our Women¹s team put up a valiant
effort against Tennessee this weekend. I hope that you have enjoyed the
positive publicity that MSU has garnered as a result of hiring Coach Croom.
CNN broadcast his press announcement live from Starkville! I believe that
Coach Croom is the right person for the job, and we will have to be patient
as he and his staff rebuild the Bulldog football program to its former
position atop the SEC West.
I have included ³part 1² of a report on our involvement at the AIChE
National Meeting. We had 9 out of our 12 faculty members attend part of the
meeting, which is a record attendance for Mississippi State. Additionally,
we had a record number of undergraduate student posters, faculty
presentations, and graduate student presentations. Our undergraduate
students continued to represent MSU well in the poster competitions, and
several were recognized with national awards. In our next newsletter, I
will highlight some of these awards, which were not included in this
newsletter so that it didn¹t get too long!
Please keep those alumni updates coming! Also, please continue to surf
our WWW site occasionally to see pictures of what is happening at MSU.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the newsletter. Go Dawgs!
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AICHE STUDENT CHAPTER WINS THIRD NATIONAL AWARD
Once again this year, the Mississippi State University AIChE Student Chapter
was rated as one of the 15 best student chapters in the U.S.! The students
received a plaque and recognition at the student awards program at the AIChE
National meeting in San Francisco. Other student chapters receiving awards
include: Florida Tech, Georgia Tech, University of Iowa, Kansas State,
University of Kentucky, University of Kentucky-Paducah, Mississippi State
University, NJIT, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Penn
State, University of South Carolina, University of Utah, and West Virginia
University.
Congratulations to the student officers, participants, and Dr. Atly Jefcoat,
Chapter Advisor!
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNI BREAKFAST SCHEDULED FOR SUPER-BULLDOG WEEKEND
I would like to invite all alumni to attend the first Alumni Breakfast to be
held on Saturday, April 17, 2004 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. in the Swalm
Chemical Engineering Building. If you are going to be in Starkville, this
is a great time to catch up with faculty, students, and other alumni before
attending the annual spring football game, BBQ cook-off contest, and
baseball series against the Florida Gators. In order to help us plan
appropriately, please let us know you are coming by emailing Sherre Denson
at sherre@che.msstate.edu. This is open to family, friends, and even LSU
fans!
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STUDENT POSTER PRESENTATIONS AT AIChE NATIONAL MEETING
This year, we had a record number of undergraduate students present research
posters at the AIChE National Meeting in San Francisco in November. Support
for student travel was obtained from the Hunter Henry Chair, School of
Chemical Engineering funds, and money raised by the AIChE Student Chapter.
These opportunities are key to help our students get a comprehensive
educational experience while pursuing their undergraduate degrees at MSU.
³Microbial Catalyzed Gas Hydrate Formation in Deep Sea Ecosystems²
Brad Hensarling (speaker)
³Effect of Corrosion Enhancing Agents on 2,4,6 Trinitrotoluene Degradation
via the Integration of Zero-Valent Metals and Advanced Oxidation Processes²
Charles L. Hairston (speaker)
³Optimization of the Quality of the Wasteform to be Produced by
Vitrification of Hanford High Level Waste²
Michael A. Bestor (speaker)
³Mechanism of Gas Hydrate Crystallization on Porous Media Surfaces²
Phillip Middleton (speaker), Jenny L. Mask, Charles Woods, Dana M. Adams
³Electrokinetic treatment of Copper, Chromium and Arsenic (CCA) contaminated
soil from wood preservative industries²
Anirudha Marwaha (speaker)
³Effects of Fuel Additives on General Aviation Aircraft Fuel System
Component Electrochemical Corrosion²
Ashley Cannon (speaker), Clifford George
³Analyzing Gulf of Mexico Sediments for Promotion of Gas Hydrates²
Kendon Thomas (speaker), Jennifer Dearman, Brian Kelleher, Natalie May,
Jonathan Morgan
³Investigation of the Behavior of Spent Small Arms Munitions²
Laura Beth Dong (speaker), Mark Bricka
³The Design and Evaluation of a Continuous Photocatalytic Reactor Utilizing
TiO2 in Silica²
Krystal Gage (speaker), Kenyatta Veals, Atly Jefcoat
³Optimizing Reactor Operations for the Production of Biogas From Synthesis
Gas Fermentation Wastewaters²
Kathleen O¹Donoghue (speaker), Katherine A. Taconi, Mark E. Zappi, W. Todd
French, Lewis R. Brown
³Characteristics of Cellulosic-Based Absorbents²
Ernest Rufus (speaker), Tracy J. Benson, Clifford George
³The Size and Shape Modification of Sodium Chloride Crystals²
Donald Erves (speaker), Prisicilla J. Hill, Katrina R. Parker
³Sequestering Industrial CO2 in Seafloor Gas Hydrates²
Lisa Ely (speaker), Luke Evans, Adam Clark
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2003 ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE
Each year, the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering publishes an annual
report, which highlights the achievements of the faculty, staff, and
students during the 2002 2003 academic year. This report is posted on the
School WWW site as a PDF file at:
http://www.che.msstate.edu/welcome/annual_report/annual_report.php. I would
welcome any comments or questions you might have about the School over the
last academic year. If you would like a paper copy of the annual report,
please send me an email or give me a call at 662-325-2480.
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FACULTY AND GRADUATE STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AT AIChE NATIONAL MEETING
In addition to our undergraduate students, many of our graduate students and
faculty attended the AIChE National meeting and presented their research
work. The following list gives the titles of their papers and the speakers.
If you would like any more information on any of these topics, please email
the faculty member or myself (schulz@che.msstate.edu)
³Highly Delaminated Clay/Polymer Nancomposites, Neutron Scattering Studies
and Finite Element Modeling²
Mitra Yoonessi (speaker), Hossein Toghiani, Charles U. Pittman Jr., Man-Ho
Kim
³Effect of Nitric Acid Oxidations on Vapor Grown Carbon Fibers (VGCFs). Use
of These Fibers in Epoxy Composites²
Priya V. Lakshminarayanan (speaker), Hossein Toghiani, Charles U. Pittman
Jr.
³Cyanate Ester Composite Precursors for Improved Carbon Carbon Materials:
Synthesis and Characterization²
Kaiwen Liang (speaker), Guizhi Li, Hossein Toghiani, Charles U. Pittman Jr.
³Methanogenic Conversion of Acetic Acid at Low pH in a Laboratory Scale
Fermentor²
Katherine A. Taconi (speaker), Mark E. Zappi, W. Todd French
³Optimization of In situ Chemical Oxidation Via the Elucidation of Key
Mechanistic Processes Impacting Technology Maturation and Development of
Effective Application Protocol²
John M. Harden (speaker), Mark E. Zappi
³Treatment of Vapor-Phase Toluene With Airstreams Using Irradiated Oxidation
Processes²
Katherine A. Taconi (speaker), Mark E. Zappi, Rafael Hernandez, Chiang-Hai
Kuo
³An Economic Analysis of Ethanol Production From Syngas²
Rakesh K. Bajpal (speaker), Mark E. Zappi
Tuesday, November 18, 12:55 PM
³Optimizing the Conversion of Syngas to Ethanol and Acetic Acid Using
Fermentation²
Mark E. Zappi (speaker), W. Todd French, Lewis R. Brown, Jack Ford,
Christine Morrison, Veronica Lockett, Doug Tolar, Emily Easterling
³Chemical Oxidation Priming For Enhancing Petroleum Derived Chemical Removal
in Soils Using Biological Processes²
Mark E. Zappi (speaker), Rafael Hernandez, Chiang-Hai Kuo, Winnie Wang, Ian
Tiang, Fangzhu Liu
³Treatment of an Industrial Wastewater Contaminated with Cyanide²
Mark E. Zappi (speaker), Rafael Hernandez, Chiang-Hai Kuo, Jack Ford
³The Use of Phosphates to Reduce Lead Mobility at Military Small Arms
Training Ranges ³
Mark Bricka (speaker), Jason Darnel
³Accelerated Corrosion Testing of Spent Bullets in Existing Small Arms
Training Ranges²
Revathy Anbalagan (speaker), Mark Bricka
³Reactor Design Course Experiences Before and After the Chemical Engineering
Summer School²
Rafael Hernandez (speaker)
³Effect of Corrosion Enhancing Agents on 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene Degradation
via the Integration of Zero-Valent Metals and Advanced Oxidation Processes²
Rafael Hernandez (speaker), Mark E. Zappi, Chiang-Hai Kuo
³Confirmation of Venous Pressure Driven Cardiac Output from Dynamic
Synchronization Analysis²
Adrienne R. Minerick (speaker), Hsueh-Chia Chang, Todd M. Hoagland, Kenneth
R. Olson
³Manipulation of Bioparticles with Electrode Polarization Effects²
Adrienne R. Minerick (speaker), Ronghui Zhou, Paul Takhistov, Hsueh-Chia
Chang
³Nonspecific Degradation of Vinyl Chloride and TCE by Rhodococcus
rhodochrous²
W. Todd French (speaker), Mark E. Zappi, Lewis R. Brown, Karen Thompson
³A Fundamental Surface Science Study of Emission Control Catalyst
Deactivation Due to Sulfur Dioxide Chemisorption on Ceria-Zirconia
Mixed-Metal Oxides²
Esteban J. Romano (speaker), Kirk H. Schulz
³Development of New Adsorption Materials for the Dehydration of Ethanol²
Tracy J. Benson (speaker), Clifford George
³Effect of Breakage on the Particle Size-Shape Distribution in a Stirred
Vessel²
Priscilla J. Hill (speaker), Katrina R. Parker
³Incorporation of Green Engineering into the Capstone Plant Design Course²
Priscilla J. Hill (speaker)
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SCHULZ SELECTED FOR ABET EAC
Dr. Kirk Schulz, Deavenport Chair and Director of the Dave C. Swalm School
of Chemical Engineering, was recently selected by AIChE to serve on the
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technologies (ABET) Engineering
Accreditation Commission (EAC). Each engineering professional society has a
fixed number of seats on the EAC, and Kirk was chosen as one of four AIChE
members who sit on the EAC. His duties on the EAC will include reviewing all
accreditation actions taken during the previous year, helping to set ABET
policy, and leading accreditation teams on ABET visits.
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ALUMNI UPDATES
We did not get any alumni updates this past month. Please send us some
information about yourself and your career to share with your fellow alumni.
Send any information to schulz@che.msstate.edu.
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Kirk H. Schulz
Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. Chair and Director
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering
Box 9595
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Phone: (662) 325-2480
FAX: (662) 325-2482
Email: schulz@che.msstate.edu
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