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2024

	Mark Darby (1980 B.S. Ch.E.) has received the 2024 Process Automation Hall of Fame Award! Darby's career took him across the globe, from Europe to Asia, working with companies like Setpoint and Aspen Technology before establishing his consultancy, CMiD Solutions.
	Rodney Priestly (2003 B.S., 2008 Ph.D. Ch.E.) has been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering for 2024! Dr. Priestly serves as the Dean of the Graduate School at Princeton University, Pomeroy Betty Perry Smith Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Co-Director of NSF I-Corps Hub.

2018

julie

Congrats to 1979 ChE graduate, Julie Spicer England for receiving her BFA from SMU with a concentration in oil painting! Julie had a distinguished career as a chemical engineer before retiring and starting her second career.

randy

Randy Broiles (1979 B.S.Ch.E.) has been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering. Broiles was the Vice President, Africa, for ExxonMobil Production Company appointed in February 2014. Prior to relocating to Houston, Randy was President, Imperial Oil Resources and Senior Vice-President, Imperial Oil Limited for five years, based in Calgary.

2017

Rodney D. Priestley

Rodney D. Priestley (2003 B.S.Ch.E.) was awarded the 2017 Owens Corning Early Career Award for his work in ultrastable glassy polymer films and structured colloidal particles. Rod is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Quadrant Award, ACS New Investigator Grant, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Grant, NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR YIP, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers, Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. In 2014, he was named one of the most influential African Americans by The Root 100.

Jack McCavit

Jack McCavit (1970 B.S.Ch.E.) was awarded the 2017 Walton-Miller Award at the AIChE Safety and Health Division dinner at the 2017 spring meeting. The Walton-Miller Award is the highest AIChE award for process safety and recognizes outstanding contributions and achievements in the fields of chemical engineering loss prevention, safety, and health.

Christopher Klaasan

Christopher Klaasan (2016 B.S.Ch.E.) received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Chris is a Ph.D. student at Cornell University working on electrode materials for battery applications in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department.

2016

Yongchul Chung

Greg Yongchul Chung (BSChE 2007) joined the faculty of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Pusan National University in March 2016. Yongchul obtained his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 2013, with a dissertation entitled, “Molecular Simulation Studies of Physical Aging and Mechanical Rejuvenation in Polymer Glasses.” He then did his postdoctoral work at Northwestern University before accepting his current position as an Assistant Professor.

Martin

Fred David “Dave” Martin received the Whitacre College of Engineering Distinguished Engineer Award. For almost 20 years he was employed at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC), a division of New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico and served as director of PRRC from 1987-1996. He has also served the State of New Mexico, as Cabinet Secretary of the Environment Department from 2011 - 2013, and since 2013, as Secretary of the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department. Dave has 16 patents and over 60 technical publications. One of his important contributions has been the development and implementation of the Gas and Oil Technology Exchange and Communication Highway (GO-TECH), the first Website developed for the petroleum industry.

2015

Wade

Rene Hatten Wade (1983 B.S.Ch.E.) was honored in April as a Whitacre College of Engineering Distinguished Engineer (DE). As vice president for Product Quality at Mary Kay, Inc., Wade oversees global quality for the company including for multiple manufacturing sites and the distribution network. She is dedicated to excellence and recognized for her selfless professional and community service.

eric

Dr. Eric Vasbinder (2004 Ph.D.) has received the Golden Shield Award from Phillips 66. He is currently the Advanced Controls and Optimization Team Lead for the Borger Refinery. His duties include regulatory control system support and applications, alarm management, and advanced model based control implementation. The award, only seven of which were awarded in 2015, recognized the significant contributions of the Advanced Process Control group, including for leadership, cost savings, developing a strategy for multi-unit integration optimization, and creating a value-adding, disciplined and self-sustaining company program.

2014

Jeff Morris

Jeff Morris (1974 B.S.Ch.E.) vice chair of Alon USA, and a Whitacre College of Engineering Distinguished Engineer, has been named the 2014 Dream Achiever by Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region (CISDR). The Communities in Schools program has built a successful legacy and has an extensive record of exceptional outcomes. Morris has contributed significantly to this mission, serving on the board of directors for the past 12 years and establishing the CISDR Endowment in 2002 with a $1,000,000 gift from Alon, while serving as the president and CEO.

Ken Baker

Ken Baker (1965 B.S.Ch.E.) has been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering. Baker founded Baker and O'Brien, Inc., with the vision of developing a firm that would be known for holding to the highest of professional standards. In 1982, Baker received the Outstanding Engineer Award from the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and in 2013, Baker and O'Brien received recognition from the U.S. Congress for twenty years of outstanding service. This award was accepted postmortem by Ken Baker's wife, Cara Lynette Baker.

2013

McCavit

Jack McCavit (1970 B.S.Ch.E.) has been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering. McCavit is a fellow of AIChE and a fellow of the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS). He was employed with Celanese for 35 years before starting his own consulting firm, J. L. McCavit Consulting, LLC, in 2005.

2012

Jack McCavit (1970 B.S.Ch.E.) has been named named a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. McCavit, who is also a fellow and staff consultant for the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), was employed with Celanese for 35 years before starting his own consulting firm, J. L. McCavit Consulting, LLC, in 2005.

Wei Zheng (2008 Ph.D.) joins the Department of Engineering and Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Dr. Zheng completed her Ph.D. at Texas Tech in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Sindee L. Simon. She then spent a year in Prof. Alan Lesser's laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include biopolymers and biopolymer-based nanocomposites.

2011

Jack McCavit (1970 B.S.Ch.E.) is awarded the Mary Kay O'Conner Process Safety Center Merit Award. The award is presented to individuals who make significant contributions to advancing research, education, and service projects related to safety processes and technologies. McCavit was employed with Celanese for 35 years before starting his own consulting firm, J. L. McCavit Consulting, LLC, in 2005.

2009

Micah Green (2002 B.S.Ch.E.) joins the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech as an Assistant Professor in 2009. Dr. Green completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007 with Prof. Robert C. Armstrong. He then spent two years as the J. Evans Attwell-Welch Postdoctoral Researcher at Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

Christie Peebles (2002 B.S.Ch.E.) joins the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado State University in 2009. Dr. Peebles completed her Ph.D. at Rice in 2008 working on the metabolic engineering of the Madagascar periwinkle in an effort to increase production of two important anti-cancer drugs. She then did a one-year postdoctoral stint at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in biofuels before joining the faculty at CSU.

Rodney Priestley (2003 B.S.Ch.E.) joins the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University in 2009. Dr. Priestley completed his Ph.D. at Northwestern in 2008 under the mentorship of Prof. John Torkelson. He was then awarded a Chateaubriand/NSF International Research Postdoctoral Fellowship to perform research at the ESPCI in Paris, France. Since joining Princeton, Dr. Priestley has won several prestigious awards, including an NSF Career Award in 2011 and an AFOSR Young Investigator Award in 2012.

Yan Meng (2008 Ph.D.) joins the faculty at Beijing University of Chemical Technology as an Associate Professor in 2009. Dr. Meng completed his Ph.D. at Texas Tech under the supervision of Prof. Sindee L. Simon. He then spent one year as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Joshua Otaigbe at the University of Southern Mississippi. His research focus is on composite materials.

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