News
by Melanie McCandless

October 2009

In an interview prior to the Tulane vs. LSU football game last week, strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffat was asked “pound for pound, who is the strongest player on the LSU team?”. Moffat’s answer, “Joe Maltempi”, a walk-on who is also a senior in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering. Joe has a BCS Championship ring from LSU’s 2007 team, and will graduate this spring.

LSU Provost Astrid Merget met with the research group of James Spivey recently to learn about all of his current research projects.

The Cain Department of Chemical Engineering presents the 2009 Albemarle Lecture on Sustainability with special guest speaker Maureen Gorsen, partner in the firm of Alston & Bird LLC located in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Gorsen’s lecture is, “An Insider’s View of the California Green Chemistry Program.” Lecture begins at 2:30pm on Friday, October 30, in 103 Design Building on the LSU campus.

Dr. Jerry Spivey and Dr. Mary Wornat named as 2009 Rainmakers

LSU recently announced its second annual list of “Rainmakers,” those faculty members who are nationally and internationally recognized for innovative research and creative scholarship, compete for external funding at the highest levels and attract and mentor exceptional graduate students.

Please read the full article, LSU Announces 2009 Rainmakers, in the LSU News.

September 2009

LSU Engineering Grads Top National Average in Starting Salaries

Please read the full story in the LSU News.
 

CORRECTION TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNI NEWSLETTER VOLUME 25: The department would like to issue a correction to the latest edition of our alumni newsletter, Chemical Engineering. In the “In Memoriam” section, we incorrectly listed Mr. Marshall B. Nelson (B.S., 1972) as deceased. We are happy to report that Mr. Nelson is alive and well, living in Virginia. We are deeply apologetic for this error and send our best regards to Mr. Nelson, his family, and his friends.

September 2009

The Department would like to welcome Dr. K. Nandakumar who has joined our department as the second Gordon A. and Mary Cain Chair in Chemical Engineering. He came to LSU in August 2009 after having served for two years as the GASCO Chair Professor in the Chemical Engineering Program at The Petroleum Institute (PI) in Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prior to joining PI, Dr. Nandakumar spent more than 20 years in the Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Nandakumar is an internationally recognized scientist who has served as a visiting professor and researcher to various international institutions. His research interests include: computational fluid dynamics, CFD modeling of multiphase flows as applied to the oil industry, CFD modeling of separation processes, modeling of solid oxide fuel cells and modeling of polymer processing operations, and bifurcation phenomena. Since 2005, he has served as Editor of the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. In 1991, he was elected Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. Then, in 2007 was elected Fellow to both the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the World Council of Chemical Engineers.

Additionally in 2008, Dr. Nandakumar was the recipient of two other distinguished Canadian honors. He received the Frank Spragins Technical Award, which is given by APEGGA SUMMIT Awards to an individual in recognition by peers of integrity, expertise and outstanding accomplishments in the field of engineering. Then the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineers presented him with the RS Jane Memorial Award. This award is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to chemical engineering or industrial chemistry in Canada.

Dr. Nandakumar has published more than 135 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has more than 125 conference presentations. In addition, he has given more than 25 invited presentations to industry, universities, and government labs around the world.

He received his B.S. from Madras University, India (1973), his M.S. from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada (1975), and his Ph.D. from Princeton University (1979), all in chemical engineering.

Chem-E Car Team Wins Second at International Competition

The department wishes to congratulate the LSU AIChE ChemE car team for another outstanding achievement! The ChemE car team won second place in the car competition and first place in the poster presentation at the Second International ChemE Car Competition, held at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering. The LSU team competed with their car named “Swamp Thing” against universities from around the world, including Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Iran, Malaysia, and Australia as well as three other U.S. teams.

In this international competition, the teams each ran their chemically powered cars twice and the best result out of the two runs for each team was used in the final standings. After the first round, the LSU team was in fourth place with a run of about 4 feet and 7 inches from the target line. After a little fine-tuning of the parameters the second run stopped 1 foot and 2 inches from the target line, which is what propelled the team to their second place finish. Puerto Rico stopped exactly on the line and was awarded first place. Third place went to the team from The Cooper Union and the team from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico was awarded fourth place.

The 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering was held in Montreal, Canada, August 23-27. Members of the LSU car team attending the conference were Matt Daniel, Kirk Rollins, Angela Juncker, and Ryan Pazdera with Professor Francisco Hung serving as the AIChE car team advisor.

As reported previously, the car team secured their spot at this international competition by placing second in the car competition at the 2008 Annual Meeting of AIChE, which was held in Philadelphia last November. With their third place win at the regional competition in April 2009, they will once again be competing in the national competition at the 2009 Annual Meeting of AIChE in Nashville, Tennessee.

Please read the story in the LSU News.

AIChE has released its 2009 Salary Survey. Of notable interest are two points: salaries of chemical engineers in Louisiana are among the highest, and salaries for persons holding a PhD in chemical engineering are almost twice as high as salaries for those holding only a BS in chemical engineering.

The Department would like to congratulate all of our Summer 2009 graduates:

Bachelor's Degrees:

Anthony Juneau
Ravi Singh

Master's Degree:

Luz Stella Polanco

Doctoral Degrees:

Nicholas Ashley
Swathi Pakalapati
Jerome Robles
Michelle Somers Walker
 

July 2009

Chemical Engineering remains one of the most lucrative college degrees as reported by CNNMoney.com:

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/107402/most-lucrative-college-degrees.html?mod=edu-collegeprep

Oak Ridge Associated Universities, or ORAU, a consortium of doctoral-granting academic institutions, named assistant professors Donghui Zhang and Michael G. Benton as recipients of this year’s Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award.

Please read the full story in the LSU News.

Louis Thibodeaux has been named as the 2009 recipient of the Frederick George Pohland Medal by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP). The main goal of the AEESP Foundation is to improve the state of knowledge in environmental engineering and science by sustaining and encouraging excellence in education, outreach, and scientific research.

The Pohland Medal honors an individual who has made sustained and outstanding efforts to bridging environmental engineering research, education, and practice. Only members of AEESP and/or the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE) are eligible to receive this award. The award will consist of a medal, a $1000 cash award, and reimbursement of travel costs of up to $1,000 for travel to the award ceremony. The awards ceremony will be held at the 2009 AEESP Research and Education Conference in Iowa City, IA on July 28.

June 2009

New Engineering Dean, Dr. Richard Koubek, recently visited the labs of Prof. Jerry Spivey to learn about his ongoing research on energy and clean fuels. As previously reported, Prof. Spivey is the lead PI for a newly named Energy Frontier Research Center at LSU funded by the Department of Energy. Professors Kerry Dooley, John Flake, and Greg Griffin are co-PIs for the center along with individuals from CAMD and the Department of Physics & Astronomy as well as individuals from nine other institutions.

Mayank Gupta, a PhD student of Jerry Spivey presented a paper on “Pulse Plated Mn-Cu-ZnO Nanowires/tubes for Synthesis of Ethanol from CO Hydrogenation” at the North American Catalysis Society in San Francisco.

A second paper , “Ethanol Formation from Syngas on Modified Methanol Synthesis Catalysts Prepared by Electrodeposition”, was accepted for an oral presentation in EuropaCat IX. The conference is to be held Aug 30-Sept 4 in Salamanca, Spain.

Several Chemical Engineering faculty have recently had books published related to their research work.

		CRC Press has published Computational Transport Phenomena for Engineering Analyses written by Ralph Pike, along with co-authors Richard C. Farmer, Gary C. Cheng, and Yen-Sen Chen. This graduate-level material focuses on fluid mechanics, turbulent flow, and multiphase flow, and stresses a problem-solving approach.
		James Spivey and Kerry Dooley edited Catalysis: Volume 21 released by RSC Publishing (Cambridge, UK) in 2009. This series provides systematic and detailed reviews of topics of interest to scientists and engineers in the catalysis field. Each chapter is compiled by recognized experts within their specialist fields, and provides a summary of the current literature. This series will be of interest to all those in academia and industry who need an up-to-date critical analysis and summary of catalysis research and applications. Volume 21 covers literature published during 2006.
		Kalliat Valsaraj had two books published in 2009. The first is Elements of Environmental Engineering: Thermodynamics and Kinetics, Third Editon, published by CRC Press. This is a revised and updated third edition of a bestseller. It contains new problems, an instructor’s solution manual available from the web site, and new examples that better illustrate theory. New topics include green chemistry and engineering, pollution prevention, global climate change, and more.
		Valsaraj’s second book, published by the Oxford University Press, USA, in February 2009 is entitled Atmospheric Aerosols Characterization, Chemistry, Modeling and Climate (ACS Symposium Series). Valsaraj co-wrote this work with Raghava R. Kommalapati. It delves into how atmospheric aerosols play a large role in air pollution in urban areas and in regulating climate.

May 2009

Cecil Smith (BS, 1963; MS, 1965; PhD, 1966) has published a book on process control entitled, Practical Process Control: Tuning and Troubleshooting. To learn more about this book, please visit the following link for Wiley Publishing: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470381930,descCd-description.html. Smith was on the ChE faculty at LSU from 1966-79. He is currently President of Cecil L. Smith, Inc. located in Baton Rouge, which is a firm specializing in automation technology.

The Department would like to congratulate all of our 2009 graduates who, along with family and friends, attended the May 2009 commencement ceremonies. Following are the names of those who received honors:

Summa Cum Laude

Allyson Renee Kirzner

Magna Cum Laude

Jasleen Sonia Kaur
Minh Tuyen Hoan Le
Noelle Jeanne McBride
Michael Calvin Parent

Cum Laude

Melissa Leigh Tooke

Please check out our full list of graduates as well as photos from the department’s commencement reception.
 

Mia Dvora, a PhD student under the supervision of James Henry, is the recipient of the 2009 Dow Chemical Award for Excellence in Macromolecular Studies. She was honored at a ceremony hosted by the Department of Chemistry, held at the LSU Faculty on May 5. The recipient of this award will receive a cash prize and is selected by the co-Directors of the LSU Macromolecular Studies Group. The recipient must be a candidate for a PhD degree and must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher in graduate level coursework. Additional selection criteria may include: the imagination, resourcefulness and independence displayed by the student during the conduct of his or her research, especially as evidenced by publications and presentations; commitment to any assigned teaching responsibilities; and, the promise of the student for enhancing the capabilities and reputation of the LSU Macromolecular Studies Group.

April 2009

Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, has named 3 LSU Chemical Engineering juniors as 2009-2010 scholars. Robert Ingram, Danica Nguyen, and Stephen Wilson will all be receiving scholarships from the national chapter of Tau Beta Pi for the upcoming academic year in the amount of $2,000 each. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievements, campus leadership and service, and promise of contributions to the engineering professor. Consideration is also given to academic need and academic commitment.

We are delighted and proud that 3 of our outstanding students are receiving this national recognition and congratulate them on this exemplary achievement.

The department would like to congratulate Alan Bussard. Alan is the 2009 winner of the Best Dissertation Award from the Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) for his dissertation, “Heterogeneous Catalyzed Macromolecular Hydrogenations in Oscillating Systems.” Alan is a 2008 PhD graduate of the department and his major professor was Kerry Dooley. Alan’s award will be presented at the annual Coates Banquet on May 19, at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

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Mayank Gupta, a Ph.D. student working with Professor James J. Spivey, presented a paper on “Synthesis of Ethanol and Higher Alcohols from CO Hydrogenation Using Electrodeposited Co-Cu-ZnO Nanowires as Catalysts” at the Materials Research Society (MRS) Meeting, April 2009, in San Francisco.

ChE Alumnus Inducted into CoE Hall of Distinction

Jack Hopper, a 1969 Ph.D. graduate in Chemical Engineering, was one of two inductees into the LSU College of Engineering 2008-2009 Hall of Distinction. Hopper, along with Donald W. Keller (B.S., Petroleum Engr., 1957), was honored at the Hall of Distinction banquet on April 16, held at the LSU Faculty Club.

Hopper was born in Highlands, Texas. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1959 and his M.S. from the University of Delaware in 1964. Prior to beginning his graduate studies though, he worked as a Junior Research Engineer for Humble Oil & Refining Co. R&D in Baytown, Texas. From 1964 to 1967, he served as a Research Engineer for Esso Research and Engineering Company. Upon entering the Ph.D. program at LSU in 1967, he was a Research Associate. Upon graduating with his Ph.D., Hopper accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Chemical Engineering department at , Texas, and has remained with Lamar University ever since. He currently services as the Dean of the College of Engineering and, since October 2007, has also served as the Executive Assistant to the President for Economic Development & Industrial Relations.

In addition to his many active roles at Lamar University, Hopper is also still very active serving as a consultant and expert witness for many companies. He is an active member on various editorial and advisory boards, including our department’s Industrial Advisory Committee. Hopper also has been honored with many awards, including being named a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (1985).

Hopper has more than 150 publications in research areas ranging from kinetics and catalysis to pollution prevention and waste minimization.

AIChE Student Chapter Takes Third Place at Regionals

The LSU Student Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) took third place at the 2009 Southeastern Regional Conference of AIChE, held April 3-5 at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The students placed third overall in the Chem-E Car Competition, behind Puerto Rico and Tennessee, and third in the poster competition as well. Team Swamp Thing placed fourth and team Black Box Project placed fifth in the car competition. Puerto Rico took first and second place with Tennessee taking third. Since only one car from each university can proceed to the national competition, LSU automatically advances to the nationals. The next national Annual Meeting of AIChE will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, in November 2009.

The team Swamp Thing consists of ChE undergraduate students: Matt Daniel, Kirk Rollins, Ryan Pazdera, Angela Juncker, Robert Ingram, Kristin Brassett, Barrett Ainsworth, Steven Hurst, and Josh Spahn.

Team Black Box Project is comprised of ChE undergraduate students: Chuck Combs, Blake Kliebert, Long Huynh, and Brendan Flynn.

Faculty advisors Mike Benton and Francisco Hung attended the meeting along with the students.

The students would like to especially thank Paul Rodriguez, Fred McKenzie, and Joe Bell (all staff members in the ChE Shop) for their tremendous assistance in building the cars.

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PhD Student Wins Travel Award

The Department wishes to congratulate Mayank Gupta. Gupta, who is a Ph.D. graduate assistant in the research lab of Jerry Spivey, is the recipient of a Kokes Award for the North American Catalysis Society (NACS) 21st National Annual Meeting. He received the award, along with a handful of other young scientists from across the region, for his meritorious research achievements in the field of catalysis.

The Richard J. Kokes Travel Award program of NACS aims to encourage graduate students to attend and participate meaningfully in the NAM conference, and provides funding for their conference registration fees, accommodations, and a travel allowance. This award is sponsored by the generosity of the NACS and the local Pacific Coast Catalysis Society, as well as major support from the division of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

The meeting will be held June 7-12, 2009, in San Francisco, California.

March 2009

Alumnus Schmitt Values ChE Experience at LSU

Edward A. Schmitt, a 1969 Chemical Engineering (ChE) graduate who served as Chairman, President and CEO of Georgia Gulf from 1998 until his retirement in July 2008, reflected on his experience at LSU. “My ChE degree is the basis for my career of nearly forty years in the chemical industry,” said Schmitt. “I discovered that the uniqueness of a ChE degree from LSU in 1969 gave the holder a leg up in the chemical industry. The curricula stressed unit operations of chemical processes, which coincided with the surge of chemical companies moving into Louisiana to build new plants on the Mississippi River. LSU ChE grads received multiple “top dollar” job offers.”

Read the whole story in the College of Engineering News article: Alumnus Schmitt Values ChE Experience at LSU.

Five members of the ChE faculty and staff will be recognized for years of service at LSU’s 2009 Employee Recognition Program. The program will be held on May 6, in the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

25 Years of Service

Margaret Cygan, Instructor
Paul Rodriguez, Manager-Shop
Louis Thibodeaux, Professor

30 Years of Service

David Wetzel, Professor

45 Years of Service

Ralph Pike, Professor

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February 2009

DuPont Scholarships

As part of DuPont’s long-standing relationship with Louisiana State University (LSU), DuPont announced its plans to once again sponsor scholarships in the Gordon A. & Mary Cain Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE) and the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Departments again this year.

Department Chair Dr. Kalliat T. Valsaraj was on hand to receive the check for $1,000 for the ChE scholarship. Dr. Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos accepted the check for three ME scholarships. Checks were presented by Technology Manager, Mari Talavera, DuPont Chemical Solutions’ Pontchartrain Plant in LaPlace. Scholarship recipients must be in line to receive a degree in ChE or ME, have an overall GPA of at least 3.0 (in a 4.0 scale), be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and must have demonstrated strengths in technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company founded in 1802 and operating in more than 70 countries. It offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food, building and construction, communications, and transportation.

Article by Brenda Tate, LSU College of Engineering, 225-578-4986, btate8@lsu.edu

The Department would like to thank the Marathon Petroleum Company for their two recent contributions. Marathon makes an annual contribution of $3,750 to fund undergraduate scholarships. In addition, the company has graciously donated $30,000 for the New Chemical Engineering Building Fund. The check presentation was held at Sullivan’s on January 30. The department is deeply grateful for Marathon’s continued support.

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PhD graduate student, Nick Ashley, along with Professors Louis Thibodeaux and Kalliat Valsaraj will have an article published in the April 2009 issue of Environmental Engineering Science. The study has been published online ahead of print and is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ees.

Post-Katrina flooded homes may contain harmful levels of contaminants in addition to sediment deposits. Indoor gases, mold films, and aerosols may also have exposed residents, first responders, and demolition crews to dangerous contaminant levels without the need for direct skin contact, according to a modeling study published in the April 2009 issue (Volume 26, Number 3) of Environmental Engineering Science, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

The model published by Nicholas Ashley, Kalliat Valsaraj, and Louis Thibodeaux, from Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, details the possible types and levels of volatile and semi-volatile organic pollutants that might be present in the multiple indoor phases, or MIPs, inside Katrina-flooded homes. These include hazardous chemicals present in the inhalable vapor phase, in mold films, or in aerosolized spores.

The study, entitled, “Multiphase Contaminant Distributions Inside Flooded Homes in New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina: A Modeling Study,” concludes that these newly identified inhalation exposure routes could present a significant health risk to persons who simply walk inside and breathe the air in contaminated homes, even if there is no dermal contact with the sediment covering the floors or the mold growing on the walls and other surfaces.

“This is an excellent and important study by one of the top research teams in the nation. It will help us better prepare first responders for the additional risks that may be posed by such events,” according to Domenico Grasso, PhD, Editor-in-Chief and Dean and Professor in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont (Burlington).

See also LSU Engineers Develop Model for Forecasting Chemical Contaminants Based on Studies of Katrina-Flooded Homes in LSU News.

January 2009

Prof. Valsaraj was honored by the Rotary International in his native India on January 10, 2009.

At the District convention of the The Rotary Club of Cannanore (North) in India, Prof. Valsaraj was awarded the Rotary Vocational Excellence Award 2009 by the Rotary District Governor, Mr. M Prakash. The award was in recognition of the achievements of Prof. Valsaraj, who hails from this area of his native State of Kerala where he grew up and completed his high school diploma and BSc college degree before

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This page was last modified on November 6, 2009