Notes from the chair

James B. Rawlings (Large image)

The fall semester is winding down and it has been a busy one. Nineteen new graduate students joined the department in September, and began the annual process of selecting thesis advisors and finding new homes with research groups. We expect another seven graduate students to join the department in January.

Yannis Kevrekidis of Princeton was the Hougen Professor this fall. He presented Hougen lectures on September 12 and October 3. Klavs Jensen (PhD ’80) of MIT presented the 2002 BSL Lecture on Sept. 17. It was a special honor for me to introduce both of these outstanding colleagues at the BSL banquet held during the evening of Sept. 17 at the Fluno Center.

In October our Visiting Committee meeting took place. All 12 members were present, which is in itself unusual considering the travel schedules of this esteemed group. This committee did its usual outstanding job of evaluating the department’s strengths and identifying new issues we should address. The final report indicates that key department strengths are the high quality of the academic program, faculty and students, and the department’s collegial atmosphere with strong interdisciplinary networks. The next priority areas to address are laboratory safety, and planning for space renovation and future laboratory space needs. I would like to thank Roger Rolke (BS ’63) of Shell (retired) for chairing this meeting of the Visiting Committee.

October also brings Engineers' Day, and the department was pleased to recognize two of our accomplished alumni, Richard Antoine of Procter & Gamble and Richard Weaver of Exxon (retired). This issue contains further information on the careers of these two distinguished graduates.

Engineering Centers Building (Large image)

The 135,000 square-foot Engineering Centers Building was also dedicated during the Engineers’ Day festivities. We thank the numerous chemical engineering alumni who contributed to the $53.4 million building either through the Vision 2000 campaign or to the Engineering Centers Building fund.

Along with most other departments of chemical engineering, a major topic in faculty meetings recently has been whether or not we wish to make changes to the program to address the revolution now taking place in the life sciences. We have also had formal and informal discussions on this issue with the Visiting Committee, alumni at Engineers’ Day, a focus group of undergraduate students, and the freshman counselors in the College of Engineering.

The first outcome of all these discussions was to add two life science requirements to the ChE undergraduate curriculum: a molecular biochemistry course and a cellular biology course (read more in Department News). These courses replaced an advanced chemistry elective and a chemistry lab elective.

One major argument for the inclusion of these courses was to enable our students to have the basic scientific literacy to understand the changes taking place in the life sciences so they can take advantage of the many opportunities these changes present to the chemical engineering profession. Faculty discussions of the impact of these new challenges on chemical engineering are continuing so that the department can be positioned to provide our students with the best possible opportunities to contribute. We will provide an update in a future newsletter.

James B. Rawlings
2020 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1691
Phone: 608/262-1092
Fax: 608/5434
che@che.wisc.edu