Notes from the chair

James B. Rawlings (21K JPG)

Any organization—be it a government, company, university, or chemical engineering department—any organization that attains and sustains long-term success finds ways to do two things: continue to do well the core activities that are responsible for the current success, and create and grow the new activities that will become the sources of strength in the future. The current American culture emphasizes mainly the creation of the new. We read daily warnings about the demise of companies that ignored the need to create new products while their traditional products were replaced by competitors. But we can also see examples of organizational failures due to a neglected core that eventually could not sustain itself and could not be saved by the fledgling growth of new areas. Care and attention to both aspects are required for long-term success.

Our department's long-term success gives us a valuable historical record that we can examine for lessons in how these two aspects have been managed over the years. As the newly elected department chair, I would like to share my views of our current situation and our future outlook. The most striking characteristic of our current period is that we continue to proceed along a trajectory of rapid transformation in the composition of the faculty. In this issue of On These Foundations, we are delighted to introduce Sean Palecek, the most recent addition to our faculty, and we plan to hire several more faculty members during the next few years. Because of our fac-ulty demographics, after we emerge from this hiring period, the composition of the faculty may be largely determined for a reasonably long time. We recently finished a major, department-wide strategic planning effort to help guide us through this critical period. You will be seeing the outcome and implementation of this plan over the next several years.

One of the challenges we face in departmental planning is the major transformation that is taking place in the chemical engineering profession as a whole. The industries that employ our students are now strikingly diverse. Chemical engineers are valued by companies that design and manufacture single molecules as well as companies that design and operate integrated chemical plants. That is good news for our graduates, of course, but it has pro-found implications regarding how we educate chemical engineers at all degree levels. The topic of what constitutes the core of a chemical engineering education is generating vigorous debate throughout the profession.

The changes on the UW campus are also striking. Construction of the new Engineering Centers Building is well under way and scheduled to be completed in early 2002. The university is two years into the Madison Initiative, which is a public/private four-year investment plan, calling for an investment of $57 million in new funds from the state and students to be matched by $40 million in private support. The success of this initiative is one indicator of the state's support for enhancing Wisconsin's economic development through investment in the UW.

With sadness we learned of the death this past summer of Emeritus Professor Charles Watson. In this issue, we present a summary of Chuck Watson's long and productive career. We invite those of you who knew Chuck to join his son Richard in contributing to the Charles C. Watson Memorial Instructional Laboratories Fund. In honor of Chuck's interest in hands-on laboratory education, and the summer lab program in particular, proceeds from the endowment fund will provide supplemental support to the instructional laboratories of the department.

Finally, I would like to thank James Dumesic for his valuable service and leadership as department chair during the last three years. As all of you who know Jim can imagine, it is a pleasure taking over this job from him. His highly developed senses of organization and humor are greatly appreciated and made this transition an easy one.

James B. Rawlings
rawlings@engr.wisc.edu