message from the department head · winter 2016 message from the department head 4 new faculty 6...

WINTER 2016

Message from the Department Head

4 NEW FACULTY 6 ALUMNI STARTUPS 8 GIVING MATTERS 10 IN RETROSPECT

12 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT 14 FACULTY NEWS 16 CLASS NOTES 19 STUDENT NEWS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

C. Daniel Frisbie Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Department Head

In last summer’s newsletter, I explained to you that CEMS would undergo an external review during fall semester by a panel of leading academics, the first such review of the department in 21 years. The review was requested by the Provost and the Dean as part of a comprehensive, multi-year assessment of all academic units across the University. A distinguished committee consisting of department heads and chairs from top chemical and materials engineering departments spent two full days

in CEMS this past October. Their goal was to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities across major CEMS operations including teaching, advising, research, facilities, capital planning, and external relations. In preparation for their October visit, a number of CEMS faculty and staff labored to prepare an extensive self-study report that was sent to the committee in late summer. Happily, after submitting the report, we were notified of several prestigious awards to our faculty and students (see articles within), which were well-timed for the committee’s visit.

It’s fair to say that we made a strong impression during the review. The committee wrote a very favorable report to the Provost and Dean praising the reputation and collegiality of the department, the mentorship of junior faculty, the dedication of the staff, the quality of our students and their strong placement in industry

and academia, the marvelous facilities, especially the new Gore Annex, and the synergistic nature of our teaching and research activities bridging chemical and materials engineering. They also had recommendations, which included hiring additional faculty to meet the demand of a growing program, establishing an external advisory board (EAB), offering more elective classes, increasing mentorship of undergraduates, increasing the percentages of females and underrepresented groups across the faculty, staff, and student body, and continuing the growth of the department endowment for chairs, graduate fellowships, and undergraduate scholarships.

We have our work cut out for us in 2016. By the time you receive this, our 2016 faculty search will be well underway. We are bringing in an exciting and diverse slate of candidates with expertise in electrochemical engineering, battery materials, advanced semiconductors, intermetallic alloys, polymer processing, and statistical mechanics. This spring and summer we will also form an EAB to advise us on matters important to industry, to assist us in identifying trends and needs in the chemical and materials engineering fields, and to help us with capital planning and development. We are also making some improvements to our ChE and MSE undergraduate curricula and advising in response to student feedback and the observations of the external review committee. As we work to make CEMS an even better place for learning and discovery, we will be reaching out to you, our alumni and friends, to get your feedback and solicit your support. Together, we will continue to keep CEMS among the very best engineering departments in the country.

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WINTER 2016

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE HEAD C. Daniel Frisbie

EDITORS Courtney BillingGayle Gabrielski Bev Harren

CEMS News is published semiannually by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science for alumni, faculty, staff, students, and other friends of the department.

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials ScienceCollege of Science & EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota151 Amundson Hall421 Washington Avenue SEMinneapolis, MN 55455-0132USA

Phone: 612-625-1313Fax: 612-626-7246 Email: [email protected] [email protected]

© 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. Printed by University of Minnesota Printing Services. All rights reserved.

STAFF NEWS

Dedicated staff members announce retirements

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CEMS news

Sharon Emde and Laura Ericksen have devoted decades of service to CEMS and the University of Minnesota.The start of a new semester brings about many changes for students, faculty, and staff alike. Two significant changes occurring in the department are the retirements of longtime staff members Sharon Emde, Administrative Director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), and Laura Ericksen, Assistant to the Directors of Undergraduate Studies and Academic Adviser.

MRSEC MavenSharon Emde began her 45-year career at the University of Minnesota as an office manager in the Academic Health Center’s Division of Neuropathology in 1970 and held that position until 1996. Emde shared that a surprising aspect of her AHC job was assisting the laboratory team with the handling and accessioning of thousands of autopsy brain specimens and surgical biopsies for diagnostic processing.

Looking for a fresh start after the Fairview Hospital acquisition caused restructuring within AHC, Emde joined CEMS. Initially, Emde provided support to faculty members including Jim Chelikowsky, Ed Cussler, Lorraine Francis, and Mike Ward. However, when Professors Frank Bates and Mike Ward submitted a proposal to start MRSEC in 1997, Emde seized an opportunity to move out of the “bullpen” and 19 years later, Emde has forever affirmed her legacy in MRSEC.

Emde credits her nearly 20-year tenure in MRSEC to “without question, the wonderful people with whom

I’ve had the privilege of working, including MRSEC Directors Tim Lodge, Mike Ward, and Frank Bates; Education Directors Frank Snowden and Phil Engen; IRG Coordinators Bob Tranquillo, Dan Dahlberg, Marc Hillmyer, Paul Crowell, Uwe Kortshagen, Dan Frisbie, Chris Leighton and Theresa Reineke; CEMS faculty and staff, and many other wonderful colleagues in the College of Science and Engineering and Academic Health Center.”

Emde takes a great deal of pride in her work and would like to be remembered as the person “who tried her best and did her best, and who was always cheerful, helpful, dependable, and trustworthy.” It is likely that all of those same qualities contributed to her selection as a recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Service in 2013.

Sharon Emde, Administrative Director of MRSEC for the past 19 years, retired in January 2016. She was honored by MRSEC Director and Professor Timothy Lodge with a department gathering in December.

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CEMSnews Winter 2016 3

STAFF NEWS

Laura Ericksen, Assistant to the Directors of Undergraduate Programs and Academic Adviser, retired in January 2016 after 10 years in CEMS and 23 years at the University of Minnesota.

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In retirement, Emde will continue to volunteer at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, a role she has enjoyed for 35 years, and pursue other hobbies including traveling the world, cross-country skiing, camping, hiking, fishing, biking, and gardening.

Undergraduate Programs ProCEMS has been fortunate to have Laura Ericksen serve its undergraduate programs for the past 10 years, a relatively brief time period when considering her overall 23-year career at the University of Minnesota and other professional roles in higher education and the United States Air Force, which have led her across the country.

Ericksen has lived in eight states and moved at least 23 times(!). As a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, Ericksen’s job duties once included coordinating an air show where the Blue Angels performed. Ericksen seems to have a penchant for adventure, as she has also whitewater rafted down the Colorado River.

Ericksen has worked in student services roles for her entire career in higher education. She first worked in the graduate school, then the international admissions office at the University of Arkansas. Upon returning to Minnesota, she worked at Augsburg College in their Masters of Leadership Program.

Ericksen began her career at the University of Minnesota as a Pre-

Dentistry advisor in the College of Liberal Arts in 1993. She then transitioned to the Institute of Technology (now, College of Science and Engineering) advising office in 2001, and was hired to support undergraduate programs in CEMS in 2006.

Ericksen has worked in CEMS for so long because “it felt like home. It’s been a pleasure to work with the best students, faculty, and staff there are around. One of the best memories I have in working here is when a top student stopped by my office to thank me because he was not considering attending graduate school, but I encouraged him to apply. He had just received his acceptance letter to MIT. It was a very nice moment to know that I made a difference in at least one student’s life.”

Such assurances are obvious, for in their decades of service to MRSEC and CEMS, Emde and Ericksen have not only made a difference, but done so with a defined purpose to impart kindness and wisdom to better those around them. Thank you, Sharon and Laura.

Did you know?CEMS staff member Sue Wermager has been a member of the Oratorio Society of Minnesota’s Summer Chorus since 2009. Sponsored by the Oratorio Society of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota School of Music, the Summer Chorus is an annual festival chorus featuring experienced choral singers from around the Twin Cities. Wermager even had an opportunity to travel to Prague, Czech Republic as a member of the group in July 2014. There, the chorus performed in Smetana Hall of the magnificent Municipal House as part of the annual “Prague Choral Festival.”

Wermager’s choral concerts also occur closer to home, as the group most recently performed “Great Opera Choruses” to a nearly sold out crowd at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota campus in August 2015. Keep an eye, or rather, ear out for Sue Wermager next summer!

Sue Wermager, a longtime staff member in CEMS, stands alongside the conductor as she performs as part of the Oratorio Society of Minnesota’s Summer Chorus in August 2015.

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CEMS newsNEW FACULTY

CEMS welcomes Mahesh MahanthappaMahanthappa’s innovative research and expertise as a polymer scientist enhances CEMS faculty.

Mahesh Mahanthappa, Associate ProfessorAssociate Professor Mahesh Mahanthappa joined the CEMS faculty in fall 2015. Mahanthappa earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University and served as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Minnesota under the advisement of Regents Professor Frank S. Bates and McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair and Professor of Chemistry Marc A. Hillmyer. Mahanthappa was previously on the faculty in the

Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. What motivates you in your research? I am very much interested in research problems situated at the interface between fundamental science and real-world applications, with an ultimate goal of having my lab develop useful materials that improve our everyday quality of life. A significant number of “grand challenges” confront our global society, especially, pressing needs in clean water supplies and renewable energy resources to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, my group seeks to develop new, functional polymeric materials that are integral components of devices for the generation, storage, and utilization of renewable energy. However, we are not simply interested in developing model materials on small scales – instead, we focus on scalable and sustainable syntheses of new materials that self-assemble into intricate nanoscale structures that manifest exciting bulk properties unachievable by current materials.

How do you differentiate yourself from other polymer scientists? I was originally trained as a Ph.D. chemist with a background in the development of new transition metal-based catalysts for commodity polymer production. However, my scientific course was significantly altered by the three years I spent at the University of Minnesota as a postdoctoral research associate. During

that period, I learned how to leverage my ability to synthesize new organic materials against my newfound skills in materials science characterization, including electron microscopy, X-ray scattering, and rheology. By exploiting the unique synergy within my research group to synthesize new materials and to characterize their nanoscale morphologies, we can iteratively design, develop, and optimize potentially useful materials in relatively short timeframes.

An example might help: over the last five years, I have become very interested in how ions move within the nanochannels of polymer membranes used in both fuel cells and batteries. The mechanisms of ion transport through the water nanoconfined in ion channel proteins and in synthetic polymer membranes differ greatly, and I am interested in understanding the chemical features that principally govern ion motion in each system. This problem has led my group to develop a few new classes of small molecule surfactants that self-assemble in water into a series of both known and new liquid crystal nanostructures, some of which exhibit extremely high proton and hydroxide ion conductivities that could be useful in fuel cell applications. Ongoing studies employ

Mahesh Mahanthappa

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Associate Professor Mahesh Mahanthappa is pleased to have joined a collaborative community of researchers at the University of Minnesota. Photo credit to Richard Anderson.


NEW FACULTY

neutron scattering techniques to probe the mechanisms of ion transport. Our fundamental insights into the water-driven self-assembly of our surfactants have yielded a new strategy for producing polymer membranes with uniform nanopores decorated with well-defined chemical functionalities for molecular separations and selective ion transport.

Why are CEMS and the University of Minnesota the best places for you to conduct your research? UMN CEMS is at the forefront of polymer and soft materials science both in terms of stellar researchers and a broad suite of well-maintained core characterization facilities, much of which are supported by large research centers such as the Materials Research Science & Engineering Center (MRSEC), the Center for Sustainable Polymers (CSP), IPRIME, and

others. Given my group’s interests in both polymers and liquid crystals, we have already benefited from the tremendous expertise within the Minnesota polymer group (Professors Bates, Lodge, Hillmyer, Macosko, Morse, and Reineke). CEMS has also been a hotbed for important developments in surfactant science (especially work by the late Skip Scriven and Ted Davis in microemulsions and liquid crystals), and this area remains a core research strength. Thus, I also anticipate other fruitful collaborations with other faculty in related areas within the Department. Finally, I am excited by opportunities to engage possible industrial partners and to learn more about real problems that we can study through interactions with IPRIME member companies.


Upcoming Short Courses

Principles of Process Scale-Up March 17-18, 2016 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 151D Amundson Hall University of Minnesota

Scale-up can be the ultimate determinate of success or failure in the commercialization of a new product/process. The goal of this two-day short course is to teach product/process development and design engineers an approach that can be used to minimize failure and maximize success. Dr. Leon Levine will serve as course instructor.

Visit this website for more information and registration:

http://z.umn.edu/scale16

Coating Process Fundamentals May 24-26, 2016 University of Minnesota

This course provides coating engineers and their colleagues with an understanding of the principles of the many processes by which liquid coatings are applied and solidified. This course is designed for engineers who are engaged in coating and who seek a deeper understanding of processes and processing problems. It is also relevant to physical scientists.


cceevents.umn.edu/coating-process-fundamentals-short-course

Principles of Process Engineering March 14-15, 2016 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 151D Amundson Hall University of Minnesota

Join us for this two-day workshop designed to provide basic and useful process engineering principles for technicians, scientists, and engineers at all levels of development. Dr. Leon Levine and Dr. Ken Valentas will serve as course instructors.


http://z.umn.edu/process16

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CEMS newsIN FOCUS: ALUMNI STARTUPS

CEMS ignites alumni startups CEMS alumni encompass a vast network of professionals around the world diligently seeking solutions to social, economic, environmental, and scientific problems. If CEMS students are the innovators of tomorrow, then our alumni are the activists and reformers of today, using their education, ambition and curiosity as catalysts to establish their own startup companies to address global challenges.

Impossible FoodsFor Nick Halla (ChE ’05), having the opportunity to change the world seems entirely possible, as he helps advance the mission of Impossible Foods, a startup company based in California.

Impossible Foods was founded with the goal of completely replacing animals in the food system, by creating products that outperform those currently available from animals in taste, nutrition, and affordability. Halla

asserts a need for change because “animal farming is the most destructive industry on earth by many measures.” By replacing animal-derived food products with foods made directly from plants, Impossible Foods will have a transformative impact on the environment. For example, Halla notes that the world’s 10 billion people in 2050 could be fed with less than 10 percent of the land used today for agriculture, enabling preservation of rainforests and native lands, if plants are directly converted into delicious foods instead of feeding plants to animals first.

There are many technical challenges to this approach. Impossible Foods first develops understanding for what makes meat and dairy products so delicious, then searches the plant world for ingredients with the properties they need, and makes products as good as and better than those produced by animals in taste, texture, aroma, cost, nutrition, and more. The Impossible Foods team is developing fundamental knowledge and making breakthroughs every day. Their first product, the Impossible burger, will be launching next year and the burger is just the beginning as several more products are close behind.

The social and economic benefits could be huge. By developing a more cost-effective system, Impossible Foods could deliver more value to farmers and consumers and provide nutrient-rich products to malnourished nations much more effectively and safely.

The Impossible Foods team consists of more than 100 top scientists, engineers, chefs, farmers, and business leaders. Halla joined at the company’s inception shortly before completing his MBA/MS at Stanford University when he was introduced to Dr. Patrick Brown at Stanford Medical School as Brown was founding Impossible Foods.

Impossible Foods may be on the brink of success and Halla recognizes that “each and every success and failure in life and work is important as long as we take time to learn from it. And I’ve luckily had plenty of both.” Halla credits CEMS with teaching him “how to approach and tackle challenges no matter what obstacles appear. Things change rapidly and the approach and the people we choose to surround ourselves with are the most important pieces for tackling challenges of any type. This is especially true today when information sits at our fingertips.” Indeed. Achieving success in this bold new approach towards the global food supply seems absolutely within Halla’s reach.

RebiotixLee Jones (ChE ’79, CSOM Executive Program Certificate ’95), CEO of Rebiotix, Inc., is taking a different approach to improving public health by revolutionizing the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases through a new category of drugs involving the transplantation of live, human-derived microbes. Rebiotix is the first company to conduct human clinical trials with this new class of drugs under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The product works by introducing live microbes into the intestinal tracts of sick patients. There, the microbes grow and restore the microbial mix to something more closely resembling that of a healthy person. Armed with the new microbiota, the patient has the capacity to fight

Nick Halla

CEMS alumni have transformed inventive ideas and research discoveries into new companies.

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Lee Jones


IN FOCUS: ALUMNI STARTUPS

CEMS ignites alumni startups off their disease. This type of therapy has significant implications for how people may be treated for difficult-to-treat diseases in the future, such as infectious gastrointestinal diseases or inflammatory bowel disease. Jones is in the vanguard of a new industry and has high hopes that this type of therapy will prove its potential as research continues and new products come to market.

Jones, a veteran medical industry entrepreneur, remarked that her education in CEMS contributed to her “understanding of processes and process development. Rebiotix technology depends heavily on processes that we needed to develop since we were the first to establish the microbiome as a new drug technology. Understanding processes helped me to drive the technology development and to recognize how important good processes are in the business.”

Jones offered further advice that “engineering can lead to almost any career – not just technical careers – and is a great background to have. It teaches you a way to think and that way of thinking has helped me throughout my career and especially as I have tackled the challenges of my new business. Jump in with both feet and have fun!”

BIONET Corporation & GGA CorporationChris Tsai (Ph.D. ChE ’93) can also attest to the benefits of his CEMS education in preparing him as the founder of two successful startup companies in Taiwan. Tsai invented an innovative process of producing diamond films during his second year of graduate study. The University of Minnesota helped Tsai and other members of the research team to file a patent and circulated the information to potential licensees. Tsai recalls that “we were expecting feedback from automobile or tooling industries, but to our surprise the first company that expressed interest was Medtronic.”

The positive feedback from the biomedical industry inspired him to explore broader biomedical applications of diamond films and also improve their bio-compatibility. One of Tsai’s initial ideas was to cover the diamond films with normal human cells, but that did not work. Many years after he graduated, he read an article about how stem cells could continuously grow into porous materials and then realized that stem cells were the solution to his earlier research problem.

Tsai’s knowledge of stem cell capabilities was one of the

reasons he founded BIONET Corporation 16 years ago, which was the first stem cell company in Taiwan. He also founded another genetics company, GGA Corporation, which provides prenatal testing services to about 40 percent of newborn babies in Taiwan each year. BIONET went public in 2007 and GGA soon followed in 2012. In December 2012, three months after GGA’s IPO, Tsai flew to Minnesota to offer his thanks in person to CEMS Professors Bill Gerberich and Wei-Shou Hu and Professor Heberlein, Professor Pfender, and Dr. John Nelson, for their guidance and help during the initial stages of his research discovery as a CEMS graduate student.

Tsai further reflects on his time in CEMS, remarking, “My education and experiences in CEMS were truly an inspiration and enlightening for me, and still have strong influence on my work even today. I benefited so much from the educational concepts of interdisciplinary training and innovative thinking offered in CEMS. It has been a long journey from graduate school until now, but when I look back, all of the dots are somehow connected.”

Activated Research CompanyCollaboration, personal connections, and a shared research vision also led Andrew Jones (ChE, Chem ’09) and fellow University of Minnesota alumnus Brad Cleveland (M.S. CSci ’95) to co-found Activated Research Company (ARC). Jones met Cleveland through a mentor program while completing his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and chemistry. The two founded ARC in 2014, after Jones received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley where he studied catalysis under the direction of Professor Enrique Iglesia. The company is focused on creating products that use catalysts to improve lives. Their first product embodies that spirit perfectly by combining catalysis and reaction engineering to transform any carbon-containing molecule into methane for chemical analysis. This technology, known as the Polyarc™ reactor, is revolutionizing the way


Chris Tsai

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Brad Cleveland

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CEMS newsGIVING MATTERS

Inspiring commitments to education

Valspar supports CEMS student groupsThe Valspar Foundation created a new Valspar Student Activity Fund to support activities which enhance learning and advance development in CEMS and Chemistry for both undergraduate and graduate students.

In September 2015, graduate students from the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry visited Valspar headquarters to showcase their research on relevant topics including coatings, polymers, and materials processing in a poster session with Valspar executives and staff members. While there, Dan Frisbie, Department Head, and William Tolman, Chair of Chemistry, also provided updates on their respective departments to foster ongoing educational and professional development opportunities for students with Valspar.

Kaler Family FellowshipEric W. Kaler (Ph.D. ChE ’82) and Karen F. Kaler believe deeply in the transformative power of education. They understand the University of Minnesota’s vital role as a public research university and recognize the critical need to provide support to

outstanding graduate students to enable them to benefit from and contribute to the world-class Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Therefore, the Kalers recently established a new fellowship to help graduate students pursue excellence in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota.

Raymond A. Voet Scholarship Raymond A. Voet (1931-2014) considered himself a chemist, even at an early age, when a childhood illness limited his formal education. A voracious reader with an inquisitive mind, Voet passed a Civil Service Test at the age of 25 to begin a lifelong career at the U.S. Bureau of Mines, conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of iron ore. Voet eventually reached his goal of earning a college degree at the age of 53 from Metropolitan State University. A lifetime member of Mensa, as well as the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented, Voet was also active in Toastmasters. In partnership with his sister Mary Ann Bower, and brothers Richard and Leo, Voet and his family established this scholarship to support students pursuing chemical engineering and chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

Valspar executives including Dr. Cynthia Arnold (center) are welcomed into the University of Minnesota Presidents Club Builders Society in recognition of their philanthropy. Also pictured (from right) are William Tolman, Chair of Chemistry, and Dan Frisbie, CEMS Department Head.

Raymond A. Voet

Karen and Eric Kaler

Recent gifts from CEMS alumni and friends drive academic excellence.


SCHOLARSHIPS

American Institute of Chemical Engineers Scholarship Jacob Larsen

Marvin and Christine Ballard Scholarship Zachary Zamzow

Frank and Janis Bates Scholarship Kelly Kazmerski

Raul Caretta Scholarship James Lettow

George and Joan Carlson Scholarship Jackson Baril

CEMS Scholarship Fund Alyssa Bergland, Sarah Thunstrom

Tu and Pi-Fang Chen Scholarship Daniel Balder, Jonathan Damen, Connie Dong, Benjamin Jones, Elin LaBreck

Bobbie Huston Cronquist Scholarship Fund Alexandra Kobe

Thomas W. Cummins Scholarship Christopher Page

Rosalie Sperling Dinkey Scholarship Tony Cui

Harry Fischman Scholarship Jonathan Damen

John P. Fridley Scholarship Fund Connor Beach, Lindsay Carlson, Jon Dable, Jesse Grindstaff, Michael Ho, Stefani Prigozhina

Donald Leask Fuller Scholarship Fund Jacob Pedersen

Christie John Geankoplis Scholarship Nicholas Samoska

Jerry and Leona Hillestad Scholarship Sarah Thunstrom

Archie B. Japs Scholarship Shelby Smith

Kempf Scholarship Fund Chance Hostetler

Kenneth V. Krake Scholarship Fund Laura Murry

Vincent K. Leung Scholarship Brandon Berg

Charles A. Mann Award/Chemical Engineering (1934) Wenshi Zhang

Wendell and Dottie Manske Scholarship Ryan Schilling

Joan Mattern Scholarship in CSE Chance Hostetler

Mendesh Family Scholarship Andrew Timm

Jim and Lorinda Mishek Scholarship Charlyn Arkens, Daniel Balder

Athos J. Monti Scholarship Kevin Fox

Gilbert B. Overson Scholarship Elizabeth Sullivan

Procter & Gamble Company Scholarship Jessica Kartohandojo

Ed and Cora Remus Scholarship Kenneth Wuollet

Jeffrey and Patricia Schott Scholarship Kevin Fox

Donald M. and R. Patricia Sullivan Scholarship Kayla Danko

Barbara J. and David J. Yarusso Scholarship Gift Christopher Page

Paula Zoromski Memorial Scholarship Sasha Rios

2015-2016 scholarship recipients CEMS alumni and friends stand alongside undergraduates.

1. Kevin Fox and Athos J. Monti. 2. Kayla Danko with Pat and Don Sullivan. 3. Gil Overson and Elizabeth Sullivan. 4. John Mendesh (ChE ’79, MBA ’84) served as a keynote speaker for the CEMS Celebration of Giving event, which provided an opportunity for scholarship and fellowship recipients to meet their benefactors.

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CEMS newsIN RETROSPECT

The long road to here Harold B. Kaiser (ChE ’52,’54, M.D. ’56) describes his journey of lifelong learning.

Hal and Ruth Kaiser on a cruise to Cape Town, South Africa.


Spring, 1952. Before computers, email, fax, and elegant auto-analyzers in the Unit Ops lab. In a few weeks I would graduate and officially be chemical engineer. It was a good time. Jobs were plentiful. Great classmates. Great faculty. The program was rated number one in the country (as usual!). Several of us even played golf with Dr. Amundson on an occasional Thursday afternoon. Real life was just ahead. I was not comfortable with the idea, and I was not sure why. The problem was that I didn’t quite understand what chemical engineers actually did. Dr. Art Madden once told us that most of chemical engineering had to do with the flow of fluids through pipes. There was probably more to that explanation, but that stuck. Entropy was expanding all around me.

A couple of friends from IT (the Institute of Technology was the previous name of the College of Science and Engineering) had gone into medicine and encouraged me to think about it. There were reasons. It was a different science, more options would be open (practice, research, teaching, etc.), more independence, no more slide rules (I liked my slide rule!), no more partial differential equations (I didn’t like them very much) and besides medical school, the program probably wouldn’t take longer than a Ph.D. Ha! Dr. Amundson thought I should get a master’s degree in chemical engineering, then decide what to do when I grew up. He did not discourage me from going into medicine, but I felt he was vaguely disappointed that he had lost me to the dark side.

Medical school was hard but not “ChE hard” and certainly not “ChE fun.” There was much more to memorize, a new vocabulary, long hours, smelly labs, sick people, and night calls. There were some high points. I was asked to give a talk to our physiology class about my idea to consider using Reynold’s numbers as a way to help measure and define blood flow through the aorta, which is important in medicine. No one in the class understood what I was talking about except a former physicist and maybe the professor; they were impressed and I enjoyed impressing them.

I liked the shared misery of hospital life. I interned in big, busy Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. I became a real doctor there. I delivered babies,

set fractures, sewed up stab wounds, treated heart attacks, and didn’t sleep very much (if you need eight hours of sleep a night, don’t go into medicine). However, I got to know New York. It was a wonderful year.

After completing my internship, I went to UCLA to specialize in Internal Medicine. After a year I was called into the Air Force and was sent to France. I was stationed at a fighter base in Chaumont, halfway between Paris and Switzerland, and a year later I was transferred to Orly Field near Paris. While in Europe, I skied in the Alps, broke the sound barrier (back seat of F100 jet fighter), learned another language (barely), traveled extensively, and also learned firsthand about fine wines and French food. And as a physician I worked hard taking care of the sick. It was great, and I knew I was privileged and lucky to be where I was and doing what I did.

While in Brussels I met a beautiful, smart, clever, sophisticated woman who spoke six languages. We were married two years later in Paris. After the Air Force and Europe we returned to Minneapolis to complete my residency and then moved to Los Angeles (UCLA) for my specialty training in Allergy and Immunology.

We liked Los Angeles. The weather. The ocean. The craziness. The creativity. The idea that fun should be part of life. We had an interesting life there. We traveled, saw movie stars, and I moonlighted in the emergency room in Watts and also wrote for TV! (That’s another long story for another time). We liked the lifestyle, but for family and other reasons we returned to Minnesota.


IN RETROSPECT


My wife, Ruth, and I now live in Minnetonka. Our two children, their spouses and granddaughter live in California. I practice Allergy and Immunology in a group of six physicians. We also teach medical students and residents and do clinical research. We study how drugs affect patients and if they are safe and effective. We have taken part in more than 800 clinical studies in the last 30 years. Our work has resulted in publications in the medical literature, chapters in books, specialty publications and invitations to present at conferences and courses locally, nationally, and internationally. We have a modest amount of recognition in our specialty (Okay, maybe more than a modest amount). My academic title is Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School. I am proud of it. Some years ago some of my colleagues established an annual lectureship in my name. I am proud of that, too.

All the while doing medicine, I have been a ChE “groupie.” I keep up with the department, scan journals, attend

occasional lectures, and read chemistry and physics for fun. Feynman’s lectures are really tough!

So what have I learned? There are life paths that one can take other than engineering. Doors are open: law, medicine, teaching, research, writing, etc. I followed one of the paths less traveled and it’s been O.K. Better than O.K. Life and work have been good.

Hemingway once wrote: “If you were lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

He’s right. I lived in Paris. I know. Still, millions of people have lived in Paris. But very few of us are in that special elite group of University of Minnesota Chemical Engineers. It is something special. Think back on those challenging, exciting, happy days. We knew we were the best and are the best. It stays with you. It’s stayed with me.

Alumni RecognitionTu Chen (MetEng M.S. ’64, Ph.D. ’67) was honored by the University of Minnesota Board of Regents with an Outstanding Achievement Award in October 2015 for his groundbreaking work in the hard-drive disk industry. Chen is an icon of innovation in magnetic data storage, pioneering creator of new technologies in sputtered magnetic disks, and co-founder of Komag, Inc.

Chen came from humble beginnings in Taiwan, but eventually rose to success in the United States by creating novel technologies in thin-film disks, the primary storage medium for digital data used in computer hard-disk drives. Chen’s entrepreneurial spirit, pioneering research discoveries, and insightful acumen for business matters culminated in the co-founding of Komag, Inc, the world’s top producer of hard disk media in the 1990s. Chen’s achievements in research, innovation, and technology provide a remarkable example of the highest caliber of achievement by a University of Minnesota alumnus.

The University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award may be conferred on graduates or former students of the University who have attained unusual distinction in their chosen fields or in public service and who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership on a community, state, national or international level.

Dr. Tu Chen (center) received an Outstanding Achievement Award during a ceremony in October 2015. Chen is pictured with College of Science and Engineering Dean Steven L. Crouch (left) and President Eric W. Kaler.

12 www.cems.umn.edu

CEMS news

Alumnus Thomas H. Epps, III has found fulfillment and success in academia.

A passion for discovery

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

A career in chemical engineering was on the horizon for Thomas Epps, III (Ph.D. ChE ’04) from an early age. The combination of having a chemistry professor for a father and an accounting professor for a mother might influence a child’s future career path to becoming a chemical engineer, a discipline which elegantly unites principles of both chemistry and math.

During high school, an internship at NASA’s Langley Research Center, as part of the Virginia Governor’s School Program, solidified Epps’ interest in chemical engineering. While there, he had the unique opportunity to engage in the building of a space environment simulator. He examined polymer films damaged by exposure to UV radiation and atomic oxygen as a result of space flight. These samples, which were model coverings for solar panels, were flown on the remote manipulator arm of the space shuttle as part of Columbia’s STS 52 MELEO experiment in 1992.

“Seeing the impact of my work first-hand and how I could contribute to something meaningful inspired me to pursue chemical engineering at MIT,” said Epps.

At MIT, Epps’ chemical engineering advisor was Robert Brown, (PhD ChE ’79 and current president of Boston University). After completing his master’s degree as part of MIT’s Practice School Program, Epps began to search for a Ph.D. program. He was aware of Minnesota’s prominence in the field, which was attested to by alumni of the program

and MIT professors. However, one obstacle remained—the weather.

“Brown had often said, ‘Thomas, you should consider Minnesota.’ When I voiced concern about the cold, he replied succinctly, ‘Thomas, you should consider Minnesota.’ So, I did.”

Upon arriving in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS), Epps began to work closely with University of Minnesota Regents Professor Frank Bates.

“When I started in the program, Frank was named department head,” said Epps. “I, along with others in my group, expected that his new duties would take him away from the lab in some capacity, but he remained very engaged and enthusiastically involved!”

The drive for excellence and the supportive nature of CEMS sustained Epps and his own passion for discovery. He credits

the department, as well as the University of Minnesota, for fostering a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, which continues today in his own career at the University of Delaware, where he is the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering with a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering. His present work efforts focus on nanostructured polymer systems, with applications in the areas of human health, sustainability, and alternative energy.

When asked about his decision to pursue an academic rather than an industrial career, he says the ability to identify and define a problem, then seeing the process through to the end and understanding the “why” is very gratifying. “Academia supports my creativity,” he adds. While the applications of his research are far-reaching, Epps also is quick to note that at a fundamental level, all of this research focuses on manipulating

Thomas H. Epps, III with his wife, Professor Jean Stephens Epps, and daughter, Olivia Epps. Photo courtesy of the University of Delaware/Lane McLaughlin photographer.


“The collaborative spirit in CEMS and across the U of M enables its professors to solve tough problems. As a graduate student, being part of this environment helped prepare me to have an impact through my work.”

— THOMAS H. EPPS, III


ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

the assembly of polymer chains to control structure and function.

Epps credits CEMS, with its unique combination of both chemical engineering and materials science disciplines, in addition to a close and collaborative relationship with other departments across the campus, for making his time at Minnesota a fertile ground for discovery.

“The collaborative spirit in CEMS and across the U of M enables its professors to solve tough problems. As a graduate student, being part of this environment helped prepare me to have an impact through my work,” he said.

Epps remains close to CEMS, continuing relationships with faculty and through his own advising of students. In 2013, recalling the impression that Professor Brown had made on him earlier in his career, he sent Ronald Lewis, one of his University of Delaware undergraduate students, to join Frank Bates and his research group.

“My research interactions continue with Frank [Bates] and Tim Lodge, as well as Marc Hillmyer in Chemistry. I also enjoy research discussions with Theresa Reineke, Mahesh Mahanthappa, and others at conferences and workshops. Of course, I also look forward to seeing Julie Prince [CEMS graduate studies program associate] and

many others each year at AIChE!” he said.

This past November, Epps once again traveled to the annual AIChE conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he received the Owens Corning Early Career Award. The distinct honor recognizes outstanding independent contributions to the scientific, technological, educational or service areas of materials science and engineering.

Epps also has been named the 2016 John H. Dillon Medal Recipient in Polymer Physics from the American Physical Society for significant advancement in the control, characterization, and understanding of polymer nanoscale-structure and energetics. Other previous award recipients include CEMS faculty members Mahesh Mahanthappa (2013) and Frank S. Bates (1989) and former CEMS faculty member and department head Matthew Tirrell (1987).

Epps says CEMS is a family—a broad network of alumni who remain involved and engaged with the department. “You never know where you’ll find them—from South Korea to down the hall of my own department at the University of Delaware,” he notes.

For Epps, and many others, the department remains an integral part of their lives.

Alumni EngagementBradley J. Steinhoff (ChE, Chem ’85) and Dr. Darrel F. Untereker (Chem ’67) returned to campus to deliver a guest lecture to undergraduate students in November 2015. Steinhoff and Untereker, both top executives at Medtronic, Inc., presented on “Leadership and Reflection for New Graduates—A Look Back 30+ Years.”

Steinhoff serves as a Senior Engineering Program Manager at Medtronic, Inc. He also holds a master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering. In his 30+ year career, he has worked at Thin Film (thin film resistor manufacturing), Hutchinson Technology (disk drive suspension R&D/Manufacturing), Ecolab (surfactant chemistry and pilot plant scale-up), Seagate (disk drive recording head manufacturing) and Medtronic. He lives in Ham Lake, Minnesota, and he and his wife, Corrine, have two daughters.

Untereker joined Medtronic, Inc. in 1976 and has held several technical and managerial positions over the years involving power sources, materials science, and biomedical engineering of implantable medical devices. He is currently the Vice President of Corporate Research and Technology, and a Senior Technical Fellow. He holds a doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of New York at Buffalo.

CEMS alumnus Brad Steinhoff (right) and Chemistry alumnus Darrel Untereker gave a guest lecture to CEMS and Chemistry undergraduate students in November 2015.


14 www.cems.umn.edu

CEMS newsFACULTY NEWS

Assistant Professor David Flannigan in his ultrafast electron microscopy lab. Photo credit to Richard Anderson.

Assistant Professor Xiang Cheng (far right) in his lab with CEMS graduate students. Photo credit to Richard Anderson.

Unprecedented achievementsAssistant Professors Cheng and Flannigan awarded prestigious honors.

This may be a feat for the record books. By all accounts, it appears that for the first time in history two assistant professors from the same department secured two of the nation’s top scientific research prizes in the same award year. Assistant Professors Xiang Cheng and David Flannigan secured grants totaling nearly $1 million each to advance their research.

Cheng wins Packard Fellowship

Xiang Cheng is among 18 of the nation’s most innovative early-career scientists and engineers as a recipient of the 2015 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. Cheng will receive a grant of $875,000 over five years to pursue his research on the physics of soft materials, a broad class of condensed matter that has important technological applications and forms the basis of most biological systems. The Cheng lab is interested in the flow of suspensions composed of active particles and aims to design complex fluids with controllable fluid properties.

The Packard Foundation established the Fellowships program in 1988 to provide early-career scientists with flexible funding and the freedom to take risks and explore new frontiers in their fields. Each year, the Foundation invites 50 universities to nominate two faculty members for award consideration.

Previous CEMS recipients of Packard Fellowships include Professors Kevin Dorfman, Dan Frisbie, and Michael Tsapatsis.

Flannigan named Beckman Young Investigator

David Flannigan is one of eight recipients nationwide to be named a 2015 Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) and will receive a grant of $750,000 to support his research, “Simultaneous Visualization of Charge-Carrier and Lattice Dynamics with Ultrafast Electron Microscopy.” He is the first CEMS faculty member to receive this award.

The Beckman Young Investigator Program was established in 1991 to provide research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of their academic careers in the chemical and life sciences, particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments, and materials that will uncover new avenues of research in science.

Projects proposed for this program are truly innovative, forging bold new research paths and showing promise for contributing to significant advances in chemistry and the life sciences. The Flannigan lab focuses on development of new chemical imaging methods based on ultrafast electron microscopy, emphasizing visualization of dynamics with angstrom-femtosecond spatiotemporal resolution. Their methods have led to the first-ever real-space imaging of ultrafast collective excitations in nanoscale compounds, paving the way to elucidation of correlated electron-lattice ordering phenomena.


FACULTY NEWS

Frank BatesRegents Professor Frank S. Bates is the winner of the 2016 Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award, sponsored by the Ralph S. Graff Foundation, honoring significant contributions to the advancement of chemistry of thermoplastic elastomers. From his early work aimed at understanding the fundamental thermodynamics of mixing in blended polymeric systems, Bates has demonstrated a mastery of both the chemical and physical aspects of polymer science. Bates and his collaborators have conducted research in numerous areas of polymer science and engineering, ranging from the intricate nanometer scale features of self-assembled block copolymers to the mechanical behavior of toughened plastics and multiblock thermoplastic elastomers. In recognition of this award, Bates will receive a commemorative plaque and financial stipend at the Rubber Division, ACS 189th Technical Meeting and Educational Symposium occurring on April 18-21, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas.

Xiang ChengAssistant Professor Xiang Cheng is among eight recipients of the 2016-2018 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. This University-wide program seeks to advance the careers of the most promising junior faculty members who have potential to make significant contributions to their departments and scholarly fields. Using state-of-the-art imaging techniques including confocal microscopy, high-speed photography and holography, Cheng investigates the structural origin of soft material flows and aims to design complex fluids with controllable fluid properties.

Kevin DorfmanKevin Dorfman was promoted to the rank of Professor effective in AY 2015-16. Dorfman’s research is focused on polymer physics and microfluidic/nanofluidic technologies.

Vivian Ferry and Bharat JalanAssistant Professors Vivian Ferry and Bharat Jalan have been awarded grant funding through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) for their winning research proposals. AFOSR received over 265 research proposals in the award competition and Ferry and Jalan are among 56 scientists nationwide to receive funding. Ferry will receive support for her research on “Tunable Chiroptical Response In Metamaterial-nanocrystal Hybrid Systems”

and Jalan will pursue his research on “Ultra High-Density Complex Oxide Quantum Wells for Emerging THz Plasmonic Effects and Devices.”

Lorraine Francis and Mike MannoProfessor Lorraine Francis and Teaching Assistant Professor Mike Manno were both awarded University of Minnesota “Experiments in Learning Innovation Grants.” Francis’ project titled, “3D Printing in Materials Science and Engineering Labs” (with Mike Manno) supported the purchase of two 3D printers: (i) Form Labs Stereolithography Printer and (ii) a Makerbot Replicator 2 Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printer. These printers allow CEMS to have a greater capacity for printing student projects and to contrast the advantages and disadvantages of different printing processes.

Additionally, Francis and Manno obtained a profilometer and an optical microscope for characterizing the printed parts. All of the equipment is housed in the Valspar Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. The grant enables further integration of 3D printing labs and projects into senior student lab courses including MatS 4221 and MatS 4301 and the launching of an effort to introduce 3D printing in the junior student lab courses MatS 3801 and MatS 3851.

Manno’s project titled, “Video series on safety, instrument operation, and outreach for materials science and engineering labs” (with Lorraine Francis) partnered CEMS with the University of Minnesota Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS) to begin producing a video series on safety, instrument operation, and outreach that is used by CEMS undergraduates. As a result of the project, two videos were produced showcasing lab safety and an overview of lab equipment in the Valspar Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. In addition, the grant provided funding to purchase audio and video recording equipment that students will also use to document experiments for presentations or reports. With the Valspar Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory fully in operation, Manno seeks to continue CEMS efforts with ATSS to produce a whole series of instrument operations videos that will support the four undergraduate laboratory courses.

David MorseDavid Morse was promoted to the rank of Professor effective AY 2015-16. Morse’s research aims to improve theoretical understanding of complex polymer liquids.

16 www.cems.umn.edu

CEMS newsCLASS NOTES


Kathy and Stanley Vejtasa

1965Jerome “Jerry” Auge (ChE ’65).

I chose to major in chemical engineering for my undergraduate degree because I liked math, chemistry and physics. I attended the University of Saint Thomas for two years studying pre-engineering and then spent my final three years pursuing my degree at the University of Minnesota. My fondest memories from my time as a student are the great football and basketball teams and the excellent education I received.

If I could offer advice to current students I would tell them to be responsible and serious students.

Andre Riazance (ChE ’65).

Upon graduating from the department, I worked at 3M Company in the Tape Division and subsequently, International Division. In 1972, I moved to California for a job at Bechtel Corp. in San Francisco as a corrosion/materials (non-metallics) engineer and inspector. I traveled to construction sites in the United States (such as power plants involving Flue Gas Desulfurization and SO2 scrubbers and materials such as fiberglass reinforced plastics) and throughout the world as a technical specialist on many Bechtel projects including France, Holland, Korea, Russia, Canada and Mexico. In 1998, I served as a Technical Consultant to cities and counties in the San Francisco Bay Area on disaster cost recovery following disasters such as floods, landslides and earthquakes. I coordinated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the California Office of Emergency Services on disaster cost recovery. As of 2015, I am semi-retired.

Some of my best memories as a chemical engineering student include the fact that our class had some great professors (I did not realize this until after graduation) such as Scriven, Aris, Ranz and Isbin.

In one of the classes in the fifth year of ChE, we were divided in teams of three in order to investigate ten different methods to desalinate sea water. The team I was on was asked to investigate desalination by reverse osmosis. This technology at the time was still new, but it turned out later to be very successful and is extensively used in parts of the world where fresh water is scarce. Because of the ongoing drought/need for water conservation in California, reverse osmosis has great potential to alleviate the drought.

Our class of 1965 was the last with the five-year ChE curriculum. Because of that, I was able to take some interesting “elective” courses such as Astronomy,

Economics and Political Science.

My advice to current engineering students is that chemical engineering provides a broad base in chemistry, physics, math, and engineering (including unit ops). From my personal experience, it gives you an excellent background to tackle problems in many different fields. So, buckle down and study. You will not regret it.

Note that you have computers and the Internet available to you now. Our class of 1965 did not have these. We used IBM punch cards as part of the “early” computers, and slide rules to do multiplication/division.

Stanley Vejtasa (ChE ’65).

Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota, I went on to obtain a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois and worked for Shell Oil as a process engineer for seven years. It was a great job and a great company but a lousy place to live (Houston and the Gulf coast). I then got a position as Manager of Technology Evaluation at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, California, which was a good job and a great location. I met my wife, Kathy, at EPRI in 1980. When she was promoted to Manager of Strategic Planning, we decided to diversify, and I worked as a senior consultant at SFA Pacific.

We moved to Oregon in 1995 where I have taken extensive courses in forestry and have completed Oregon State University’s Master Woodland Manager Program. I have been on the Board of the Umpqua Basin Watershed Council that funds projects to restore our rivers damaged by past logging practices. I am the Conservation Chair of the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society. Our focus is to prevent the logging of old growth forests and to preserve other wildlife habitat. I feel my technical and scientific background has been invaluable in formulating balanced positions on how our natural resources should be managed.

I have always been very active outdoors and I still hike, backpack, kayak, cycle and mountain climb. I also manage a 40-acre conifer forest and we live on eight acres on the North Umpqua River.

Jerry Auge

CLASS NOTES



1988Frank Halfen (ChE ’88). Not only have I reached an 18-year milestone in public service designing wastewater conveyance and treatment systems for the Metropolitan Council in the Twin Cities, but I’ve published a novel called Karl and the Kooltones under the pen name JS Quelch. It is currently available at Chapter2Books in Hudson, Wisconsin (where I reside) or on Amazon.com or Oak Tree Books. To find out where I’m signing books, find me on Facebook under JS Quelch.

1997Mark T. Swihart (Ph.D. ChE ’97). Swihart, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Buffalo, The State University of New York, was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Swihart is also the Executive Director of the University of Buffalo’s New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics (CMI). Swihart’s research focuses on the creation of new nanomaterials with applications in optoelectronics, such as light-

emitting diodes and solar cells; biomedical imaging and therapy; and diverse energy-related applications.

2011Laura Danielson (ChE ’11). In May of 2015, I graduated from the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine with an M.D. Starting in June 2015, I will be doing a Neurology residency at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. One of my big accomplishments during medical school was presenting a poster at the VEITH Symposium in New York City in November 2014, which took 2nd place at the International Society of Vascular Surgery poster competition where I was the only non-physician and only one of two people from the United States competing.

Frank Halfen

In MemoriamAudun Fredriksen (ChE ’48, MBA ’50) on August 18, 2015.

Francis Michael “Mike” Megarry (ChE ’65) on July 28, 2015.

Paul Gordon “Gordy” Nygren (ChE ’48) on July 5, 2015.

CEMS Professor Emeritus Richard A. Oriani passed away on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at the age of 95. Professor Oriani joined the department after establishing himself as the world’s expert on hydrogen embrittlement of steels, first at General Electric and then at U.S. Steel. For a number of years, he served as Director of the Corrosion Research Center within the Department. He formally retired from his faculty appointment in 1989.

Donald J. Swadner on November 10, 2015. Swadner worked in the CEMS machine shop for many years, rising to a shop manager position before retiring in 1989. His passion in retirement was wood carving and he won numerous ribbons and awards, including honors at the Minnesota State Fair.

We’d like to hear from you!Do you have an update to share with us? Please submit Class Notes entries to [email protected]

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CEMS newsALUMNI STARTUPS

Alumni startups continued from page 7

scientists in a variety of lab settings perform chemical analysis, allowing them to analyze and accurately quantify mixtures that were previously unfeasible, including bio-based fuels and chemicals, pesticides, foods, fragrances and more.

The ARC team believes that the Polyarc™ reactor will enable scientists to increase the throughput of research in their labs by eliminating time and reducing capital spent on calibrations, allowing for the analysis of mixtures with more specificity and accuracy than ever before. Industrially, this technology allows plant operators to trace yields and purity more carefully and with less effort than current methods.

Activated Research Company is very much a product of CEMS and the University of Minnesota. Kimberly Herzog (ChE ’09) met Jones while they were both undergraduates and formed a study group in CEMS. Eight years later, Jones hired her to help launch the Polyarc™ product line and lead technical sales and product commercialization efforts.

For Jones, his CEMS education was instrumental in realizing

his dreams of starting a company to tackle complex energy-related problems. Jones credits dedicated CEMS professors and the intense chemical engineering curriculum in preparing him to think on his feet, adapt to various situations quickly, and have confidence in

his logic. The fundamentals of reactor design, transport and diffusion, thermodynamics and materials science are essential parts of the everyday functions of Activated Research Company. Jones remarked that, “It has been rewarding to see real value come out of my CEMS experience and a pleasure staying in touch with many of the professors who encouraged and motivated me when I was a student and continue to inspire the problems and solutions I think about today.”

While CEMS provided a solid educational foundation for these enterprising entrepreneurs, their accomplishments are uniquely their own, having been achieved through an impassioned desire to advance science and technology on a global scale.

Kimberly Herzog

Andrew Jones

For its novel design and universal application to scientists using gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detectors (FID), the Polyarc™ reactor was recognized as a winner of The Analytical Scientist’s 2015 Innovation Award and named the 2015 Best New Product by the Gulf Coast Conference (GCC).

CEMS ConnectionsMatthew V. Tirrell, a former faculty member and department head of CEMS and Founding Director of the Institute of Molecular Engineering (IME) at the University of Chicago, has been appointed to an additional leadership role at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, which will undoubtedly strengthen both institutions’ combined scientific efforts.

Tirrell, a pioneering researcher in the fields of biomolecular engineering and nanotechnology, will maintain his leadership of the IME, which is a scientific partnership between the University of Chicago and Argonne. In his new role, he also will serve as Argonne’s Deputy Laboratory Director for Science.

Tirrell began his academic career in 1977 at the University of Minnesota, where he served as Shell Distinguished Chair in Chemical Engineering, Earl E. Bakken Professor of Biomedical Engineering, director of the Biomedical Engineering Institute, and head of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Prior to leading IME, Tirrell served for 10 years as dean of engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he was credited with bringing the program to national prominence.

Matthew V. Tirrell

STUDENT NEWS


Sparking interest with Science For AllCEMS students launch Twin Cities STEM outreach program.

A group of University of Minnesota graduate students including CEMS students Joseph DeWilde, Ralm Ricarte, and Nancy Trejo founded the “Science for All” (SFA) outreach program in 2014 to improve STEM education in urban Twin Cities communities by conducting science experiments with middle school students.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, SFA worked with a small group of 8th graders at KIPP Northstar Academy, a charter school in North Minneapolis. Through SFA outreach activities, the middle school students explored a diverse portfolio of science topics and developed a strong scientific curiosity. KIPP teacher Heidi Smith noticed a remarkable improvement in her students’ overall academic performance as a result of SFA outreach, indicating, “One of the most noticeable developments has been the quality of questions that follow experiments. They are much more likely to respond to results with higher-level questions that push them to a deeper understanding of what they observed and a motivation to explore more.”

The SFA program is structured in such a way that graduate student mentors from the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry meet twice a month with a small group of students on a variety of scientific topics like sustainable energy, reaction kinetics, and nanoengineering. For each experiment, mentors guide students through major

steps of the scientific method to identify pertinent questions, conceive plausible hypotheses, and develop appropriate experiments to test the hypotheses.

Starting in spring semester 2016, SFA will expand the program to include students from the American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.

To see photos of the group’s experiments, please visit https://sfa.cems.umn.edu. Those who are interested in becoming an SFA mentor or assisting the program in other ways should email [email protected].

The Science For All (SFA) group is promoting science eduction through community outreach with local middle school students.

Students win $10K Dow SISCA prize A team of graduate students from the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS) and Chemistry claimed the $10,000 top prize in the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA) competition for their project, “Sustainable and Recyclable Polyurethane Foams.” The students developed a polyol — the main building block for polyurethane foam — made from renewable sources that can degrade into environmentally benign products or be recycled, creating a closed-loop life cycle. Their winning project was one of 24 submitted to the University’s Dow SISCA challenge.

The award, made possible by a collaboration between the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment and the Dow Chemical Company, recognizes and rewards students and universities for innovation and research that

encourages and promotes sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing social, economic and environmental problems.

Members of the winning team are pictured (from left to right): Tessie Panthani (CEMS), Debbie Schneiderman (Chemistry), Alex Mannion (CEMS), and Marie Vanderlaan (Chemistry).

CEMS ACHIEVEMENTS

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDTwin Cities, MN

Permit No. 90155Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science151 Amundson Hall421 Washington Avenue S.E.Minneapolis, MN 55455

Gore Annex of Amundson Hall named “Top Project of 2015” in Finance & Commerce

Professor Jeff Schott (right) accepted a “Top Project of 2015” award for the Gore Annex addition to Amundson Hall from Finance & Commerce in October 2015.

Gore Annex receives architectural recognition The Gore Annex of Amundson Hall was featured in a special section of Finance & Commerce as a “Top Project of 2015” among other architectural standouts in the Twin Cities. Aesthetically, the building renovation and construction of the Gore Annex addition have transformed Amundson Hall into a campus landmark and a showcase of chemical engineering and materials science in action. The architectural firm Perkins+Will designed the 42,000-square-foot Gore Annex addition. The Gore Annex is named after CEMS alumnus Robert W. “Bob” Gore (Ph.D. ChE ’63) and his wife, Jane Gore.

message from the department head · winter 2016 message from the department head 4 new faculty 6...

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