Volume IV Fall 2007 DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNI NEWSLETTER Welcome from the Department Chair Dear Friends, honor of Professor Ken Van Wormer, new initiatives will The academic year 2006-07 has held on May 5th (see page 4). be to teach some brought a number of changes to the The academic year ended with our classes with wire- Department. Professor Georgakis traditional Senior Luncheon (see page less laptops, and all decided to step down as Department 7). This year, the Department awarded sophomores will be Chair in order to focus on directing 21 B.S., 16 M.E. and M.S., and 3 expected to have the Systems Research Institute. I Ph.D. degrees. Congratulations to the their own laptop assumed the position in January Class of 2007! computer. 2007, and we have had a very busy We are experiencing an unprece- The Department’s continued growth in- semester since then! dented increase in the number of volves launching a search for two new In April we hosted our third annual freshmen who have declared chemical faculty members in the 2007-08 aca- Department Advisory Board meeting. engineering as their major. Forty in- demic year. We will be appointing one We are grateful to our board mem- coming sophomores are expected in Professor of the Practice and one Assis- bers who focused on issues as di- the next academic year; to provide a tant Professor to fill the position vacated verse as improving our undergradu- contrast, the average class size for the by Professor Van Wormer, who retired ate laboratory, the undergraduate and past five graduating classes is only 24! this year. We also anticipate a search for graduate student experience, gradu- This unexpected growth presents a an appointee to the Robert and Marcy ate research direction and depart- logistical problem in terms of Depart- Haber Endowed Professorship in Energy ment strategy. This event was fol- ment resources, which is a top priority Sustainability in academic year 2008-09 lowed only a few weeks later by the and will be addressed prior to the start (see below). incredibly successful Alumni Dinner in of classes in September. One of the Planning is currently underway for the inaugural Jeanne and Martin Sussman Endowed Lectureship this fall. Details will Robert and Marcy Haber Endow be posted to our website, so please Professorship in Energy Sustainability check back often! I hope that you will continue to keep in In the spring of 2007, Dean Abriola Professorship supports Tufts’ vision touch with us by sharing your updated announced that School of Engineering of developing a Center of Environ- contact information, your milestones, and Overseer and ChBE Alumnus, Bob mental Sustainability at the School of memories of your ChBE experience. We Haber (E79, G80) and his wife, Marcy Engineering which will provide the always look forward to hearing from our Haber, have committed to endow the leadership needed to research alter- illustrious alumni! “Robert and Marcy Haber Endowed native energy concepts. The Habers’ Dr. Nakho Sung, Department Chair Professorship in Energy Sustainabil- hope is that by establishing this pro- ity.” This Professorship will be the third fessorship in energy sustainability endowed in the School of Engineering. they will have a part in decreasing the Inside this Issue Preference in awarding the Professor- world’s dependence on oil in an envi- ship has been given to faculty ap- ronmentally sensitive manner. The Faculty Briefs......................... 2 pointed in the Department of Chemical School of Engineering is extremely Advisory Board..................... 2 and Biological Engineering. grateful for this gift, which will help to attract and retain the best faculty in Alumni Updates.................... 3 As the world’s attention is increasingly the sustainable energy area. focused on the adverse environmental May 2007 impacts of fossil fuel consumption, as The Professorship coincides with the Alumni Dinner....................... 4 well as the global economic and politi- ChBE Department’s new research cal destabilizing effects of petroleum direction towards energy and environ- Faculty dependence, it has become imperative mental research, incorporating clean Publications .......................... 5 that engineers step forward to develop technology, alternative and renewable alternative energy sources and clean energy, fuel cells, and sustainable Alumni Survey ...................... 6 technologies. The endowment of this manufacturing. Commencement ................. 7 DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNI NEWSLETTER Page 2 Kyongbum Lee Receives Jay Christos Georgakis Elected Bailey Young IFAC Fellow Investigator Best Professor Christos Georgakis In the fall of 2006, Professor Kyong- was recently elected a fellow of bum Lee was selected to receive the the International Federation of Jay Bailey Young Investigator Best Automatic Control (IFAC). The Paper Award in Metabolic Engineer- IFAC Fellow Award is given to ing. The award was established in persons who have made out- honor of Jay Bailey, a visionary of standing and extraordinary contri- future directions in biotechnological butions in the field of interest of research and a brilliant contributor to IFAC, in the role of Engineer/ the founding and advancement of the Scientist, Technical Leader, or field of Metabolic Engineering. Award Educator. winners have advanced the frontiers Prof. Georgakis was chosen for of metabolic engineering through originality and creativity of this honor "for seminal methodo- experimental or computational concept application. logical contributions to chemical Professor Lee was recognized for his article “Identification of process control and for fostering highly productive Indus- distributed metabolic objectives in the hypermetabolic liver by try/University research collaborations." flux and energy balance analysis,” which appeared in the January 2006 issue of Metabolic Engineering and has been praised for its significant advances to the field. David Kaplan Named to Dean’s Professorship in Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos is Bioengineering Tufts “Distinguished Scholar,” In September 2006, David spends Sabbatical Year at ETH Kaplan became the first to hold the recently endowed The Tufts Faculty Research Awards Committee (FRAC) Dean’s Professorship in Bio- awarded this year’s “Distinguished Scholar Award” to Profes- engineering. The establish- sor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos. This award recognizes ment of this endowed Profes- Tufts faculty members each year for distinguished research sorship was made possible and scholarship in their discipline over the past five years. through the generosity of an Professor Flytzani-Stephanopoulos spent the 2006-07 aca- anonymous donor. It is in- demic year at the Swiss Federal Insti- tended to support faculty tute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, leadership in bioengineering, Switzerland. There, she interacted one of the School of Engineering’s strategic cross- with Professor Alfons Baiker and his disciplinary focus areas. group of students and senior re- searchers in the area of heterogene- ous catalysis of gold, specifically for Third Annual Department the selective oxidation of alcohols and for the water-gas shift and fuel oxida- Advisory Board Meeting tion reactions for energy applications. The Department hosted the third annual Department Advisory Board meet- ing on April 10–11, 2007 at the Science & Technology Center. This year, discussions focused on the ChBE graduate research program and the un- dergraduate laboratory experience. We are extremely grateful to the Board Current ChBE members who could attend this year’s meeting. Committee Chairs ChBE Department Advisory Board Members (2007 annual meeting attendees marked with an asterisk): • Graduate Program Chair: Dan Ryder *Michael Thien, Chair of the Advisory Board Vice President of Process R&D, Merck Corporation • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Chair: Jerry Meldon Kristi S. Anseth Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado • Lecture Series Committee Chair: (Continued on page 8) Christos Georgakis FALL 2007 Alumni Updates Page 3 We love hearing from our alumni! If you have news—promotions, weddings, births, retirement etc.— or stories that you would like to share with the Department, or would like to provide us with updated contact information, please fill out the survey on page 6 and return to us for inclusion in future news- letters (your personal contact information will never be published). Edward H. Gillespie, E34, writes: “My life In Memoriam from the 1934 graduation of Tufts College to We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing my retirement as principal of Bedford High of the following ChBE Alumni in the past two years: School in 1969 has been 100% pleasant and successful.” His fondest memory is of “Dr. Robert O’Brien, E33, on February 23, 2005 Durkee doing a demonstration with his hands Joseph Richmond, E36, on February 23, 2005 in Bunsen burner flame and taking no notice of it!” Nicholas Prodany, E58, on July 15, 2005 Dr. Robert E. Murch, E58, retired from Polar- Charlotte Clarke Taylor, E44, on August 2005 oid in 2000 following thirty years of service. He is now enjoying a “new life” as a musician. Warren Whiton, E50, on August 8, 2005 Boris M. Krantz, E60, is partially retired and Harold Killam, E45, on May 15, 2006 works as a marketing communications con- Richard Ball, E48, on June 8, 2006 sultant. In 2006 he was named the “Counselor” Award recipient by the American Runo Johnson, E39, on July 26, 2006 Welding