Faculty News
While visiting his son, Michael (B.S. 1997), in St. Croix, Professor
Armando Corripio toured the Hovensa Refinery and visited
with the plant manager, Rene Sagebien (B.S. 1963). Corripio also
continued to teach his Ethics for Scientists and Engineers lecture,
as part of the Integrative Graduate Research Training (IGERT) program.
In addition, Corripio has developed a new hobby. “I started to play
bridge at the Baton Rouge Bridge Club about a year and a half ago
with Dr. [Danny] Reible, but did not take it up seriously until
last November when I became a regular,” he said. “Since Dr. Reible
is seldom in town, I got myself several other partners." Last
summer, Professor began to play bridge competitively. He attended
the Lake Charles New Orleans Regionals in May, the Baton Rouge Regional
in June, and three other sectionals in late summer and early fall.
Now he has over 20 Master Points, making him a Sectional Master.
He was even declared the Rookie of the Year at the BRBC!
Professor Douglas Harrison and Alejandro Lopez-Ortiz co-authored
a paper “Hydrogen Production Using Sorption Enhanced Reaction.”
Harrison presented the paper at the United Engineering Foundation
Conference on Chemical Reaction Engineering: "Novel Reaction
Engineering for the New Millennium." More than 120 people from
20 different countries attended the conference, which was held in
Barga, Italy. Two papers, “Electrochemical Synthesis and Characterization
of Ce(1-x)Zr(x)O2 Nanocrystalline Powders” and “Ceria-Zirconia
High Temperature Desulfurization Sorbents,” that Dr. Harrison co-authored
with Elizabeth Podlaha and two of their graduate students
(Anirban Mukherjee and Arvind Bhat), were presented at the AIChE
meeting in Reno, Nevada.
Before heading to Germany on sabbatical research at the University
of Stuttgart, Associate Professor Michael Henson co-authored
“Dynamic Modeling and Linear Model Predictive Control of Gas Pipeline
Networks,” in the Journal of Process Control. He also co-authored
an article entitled "Bifurcation Analysis of Continuous Biochemical
Reactor Models" for the journal Biotechnology Progress.
Henson co-presented "Bifurcation Analysis for Discrimination
of Budding Yeast Models" at the International Conference on
Computer Applications in Biotechnology in Quebec City, Canada. Other
conference presentations include “Dynamic Modeling and Control of
Yeast Cell Populations in Continuous Biochemical Reactors,” given
at the Second Pan American Workshop on Process Systems Engineering,
Guaruja, Brazil. Dr. Henson also served on a review panel, “Quantitative
Systems Biotechnology,” for the National Science Foundation. He
continues to serve as the Associate Editor for the Journal of
Process Control and as Director of the Computing and Systems
Technology (CAST) Division of AIChE.
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Podlaha co-presented three
papers at the joint meeting between the Electrochemical Society
and the International Society of Electrochemistry in San Francisco,
California: “Electrodeposition of Ni-W Alloys into Deep Recesses,”
“Kinetic Study of FeCoNi Ternary Alloy Deposition,” and “Electrodeposition
of FeCoNi Quaternary Alloys.” She also published “Selective Electrodeposition
of Nanoparticulates into Metal Matrices” in Nano Letters.
Professor Danny Reible chaired the NATO Advanced Study Institute
on In-Situ Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites—which
included more than 100 participants from the US and Europe—in Prague,
Czech Republic. Based upon its success, he secured NSF funding in
the amount of $90,000 for a similar Pan American Advanced Study
Institute held July 22-August 3, 2001 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reible also gave testimony on strategies to manage contaminated
sediments before the United States House Committee on Water Resources
and the Environment. In spite of these accomplishments, Reible sid
he’s beginning to feel his age in some ways, especially since he
sent his oldest daughter, who used to “visit the back of his class,”
to college this past fall.
Profesor Danny Reible accepts an award check from the EPA’s Christie
Whitman.
Professor K.T. Valsaraj presented an invited paper on “Mineral
Oxides For Wastewater Treatment” at the International Conference
on Materials for Advanced Technologies in Singapore. The conference,
featuring lectures by Nobel laureates, showcased materials-related
technology research in the interest of advancing this kind of research
in developing countries. Valsaraj also participated in a Technology
Forum on Advanced Catalysis at Lamar University, hosted by the Hazardous
Substance Research Center. Raghunathan Ravikrishna, a post-doctoral
researcher with Dr. Valsaraj, presented a paper on “Reusable Adsorbents
for Dilute Solutions Treatment” at the Air and Waste Management
Association’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Faculty Awards
F. Carl Knopf and Kerry Dooley and were issued a
patent for developing the process, “Pressure-Assisted Molding and
Carbonation of Cementitious Materials.”
TDA Research, Inc. awarded $151,043 to Douglas Harrison
and Armando Corripio for their work on “A Novel Hydrogen-Oxygen
Generation System.”
The Department of Energy awarded $268,196 to Michael Henson
for his work on “Dynamic Modeling and Automatic Control of Natural
Gas Pipeline Networks.”
The National Science Foundation awarded Elizabeth Podlaha
a $4,250 supplement to support undergraduate research in nanocomposite
electrodeposition.
Danny Reible has received confirmation of an award from
the EPA to fund the Hazardous Substance Research Center/South and
Southwest in the amount of $900,000 this year and a total of $4.5
million over the next five years. He has also received funds in
the amount of $150,000 for a technical assistant for the Brownfields
program.
Karsten Thompson received $36,456 from the
Schlumberger Corporation for his research on “Pore Level Modeling
of Polymer Transport and Clean-Up in Propant Packs.”
Wedding Bells for Emeritus Professor Frank Groves
Mary R. Focht of Akron, Ohio, and Emeritus Professor Frank Groves
were married on June 10, 2001. Mary and Frank were both widowed
in the fall of 1999. Mary’s deceased husband, Lawrence G. Focht,
was a 1969 Ph.D. graduate of this department, and Professor Groves
served as his major professor. After graduation, Dr. Focht joined
the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Akron,
where he taught for 29 years and was department chairman.
The Fochts and the Groves kept in touch over the years with Christmas
letters and occasional contacts. The Fochts’ son Gary also earned
his Ph.D. in LSU’s Chemical Engineering Department, and Professor
Groves was a member of his research committee. Gary married Lisa
Knotts, a former student worker in the department, and he now works
for Albemarle Corporation in Baton Rouge.
Mary and Frank began to correspond during the illness of their
spouses, and got better acquainted during her visits with her son
and his family. This led to their recent marriage. Mary is adjusting
well to the new climate of Baton Rouge and enjoys being close to
her son Gary and his family and her daughter Kathleen, a chemical
engineer with International Paper Company in Natchez, Mississippi.
Mary’s other child, Jim, lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and
teaches severely developmentally handicapped children. Professor
Groves’ son, Frank D., is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Professor
Groves continues to teach part-time in LSU’s Chemical Engineering
Department, enjoying activities with his new wife, their children,
and her six grandchildren.
Now ... and Then
Thibodeaux revives his tradition of cycling around campus (above),
something he first did during his graduate studies in the late 1960s
at LSU (below).
^
Top |
