HALL NEWS OLINOctober 2015 No. 104 FLEMING GIFT SUPPORTS CBE GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS TABLE OF DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE CONTENTS Julian C. Smith ’41 at the age of 96. Julian focus to the research powerhouse we have Sincerely, MESSAGE FROM: will always hold a special place in the become today. Thanks to the persons Julian field for the large number of students recruited in the early days of the transition, around the world he introduced to the culture of bringing faculty research LYNDEN A. ARCHER Chemical Engineering Unit Operations stars who are also excellent, committed The cover story for this issue of the via his similarly named textbook, co- teachers to Olin Hall continues to this day. DEAR ALUMNI Olin Hall News focuses on an important authored with Peter Harriott ‘49. He will I hope you enjoy the stories we have Lynden A. Archer AND FRIENDS, new development in the graduate be remembered among the faculty for assembled and feel informed after reading William C. Hooey Director and James program. A generous gift by Sam Fleming his skillful leadership of the department this issue of the Olin Hall News. If your A. Friend Family Distinguished ’ve written to you previously ’62 and Nancy Fleming will provide from 1975-83, during a period of transition travels bring you to the Ithaca area, please Professor of Engineering about the high levels of student support for up to four CBE doctoral from a primarily undergraduate education make plans to visit Olin Hall. interest in chemical engineering at students each year. These Fleming Scholars Cornell. I’ve also written about the are among the very best students in the commensurate rise in enrollments in graduate program pursuing research on all of the school’s programs. These biomolecular engineering themes. On page trends continued in 2015 with 81 students 3 we report a related story that highlights TABLE OF CONTENTS Igraduating with B.S. degrees in chemical the success of our students in winning engineering this May and 96 (53 percent highly competitive graduate fellowships Claude Cohen: A career focused on polymer networks ..........................................................2 women) of the College of Engineering’s from the National Science Foundation. Cornell chemical engineering students shine brightly among strongest juniors choosing to affiliate with Along with the Fleming Scholar awards, the chemical engineering major in spring these new fellowships are transforming recipients of NSF Graduate Fellowship Awards ......................................................................3 2015. Research expenditures increased the climate for graduate studies in the Fleming Gift Supports CBE Graduate Fellowships .................................................................7 by 11.4 percent year-over-year, close to department. We are likewise grateful to Graduate Student Awards .........................................................................................................10 the five-year average increase of 12.3 Gordon Dibble ’50 for creating the Gordon percent. Total Ph.D. student enrollments L. Dibble ’50 Endowed Professorship in Faculty Research .......................................................................................................................... 11 reached a new high of 119, meaning CBE to recognize excellence among the Alumni News ...............................................................................................................................13 that with an average time to complete faculty. And, to Michael Zak ‘75 (ORIE) for Reunion 2015................................................................................................................................15 the Ph.D. degree of 5.4 years, each of establishing the Roxanne E. and Michael and generosity in supporting the school In Memoriam ...............................................................................................................................16 the school’s 20.5 faculty members is J. Zak Endowed Professorship in Energy with both your time and resources. recruiting approximately one new Ph.D. Systems Engineering in CBE. This year Faculty News & Awards ............................................................................................................18 Thanks to you, the school’s largest class student per year; an important milestone we recruited Professor Fengqi You from CBE News & Events ...................................................................................................................21 of seniors will this fall move into a newly that highlights the emergence of the Northwestern University as the inaugural renovated and expanded Unit Operations CBE Women’s Outreach in Materials, Energy and Nanobiotechnology Event. ................25 department as a leading national center holder of the Zak Professorship. Professor (UO) Laboratory that preserves the for chemical and biomolecular engineering You’s research lies at the important 5th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium ............................................................26 high standards and important role of (CBE) research. Enrollments in the school’s interface between chemical engineering Staff News & Programs ..............................................................................................................27 the UO Lab in the chemical engineering professional master’s degree programs and operations research; his presence on undergraduate experience at Cornell. I will ChemE Car Comes in First ........................................................................................................29 remained steady at 78. While it is the CBE faculty will add an important new single out Peter Wright ‘75 and the class of Undergraduate Student Profiles ...............................................................................................30 gratifying to conclude from this snapshot dimension to our education and research 1975, John Herslow ‘63, Jack Huddleston that the school is vibrant and strong, the programs in an area of high demand Student Awards ...........................................................................................................................33 ‘51, Billie Nelson ‘49, Richard Sommer ‘63 responsibility of maintaining the high among the companies that hire CBE and Ken Wattman ‘49 for their generous Congratulations to the Class of 2015! .......................................................................................35 standards that define a Cornell chemical students. gifts that made the UO Laboratory engineering education continues to reveal I convey my personal gratitude to the Modernization Project a reality. important opportunities for redefining school’s exceptional network of alumni Photos provided by Thomas Hoebbel Photography, John Reis Photography, In closing, I draw your attention the school’s staffing and space utilization and friends who continue to inspire our and University Photography to the recent passing of our teacher, plans for Olin Hall. students and faculty with your loyalty colleague, mentor and former Director 1 | OLIN Hall News NSF CLAUDE COHEN FELLOWS CORNELL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS SHINE BRIGHTLY HONORING CLAUDE COHEN’S AMONG RECIPIENTS OF NSF GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP AWARDS SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS technique to measure RNA structure- function relationships inside E. coli company devoted to plastics injection remediation studies, these nano-particles cells. He presented this work at the 2014 molding. outperformed molecular surfactants in American Institute of Chemical Engineers The overarching goal of Cohen’s terms of low adsorption onto soil and (AlChE) Annual Meeting and received the research has been to understand structure- greater extraction capacity. Cornell Engineering Alumni Association property relationships in homopolymer During his 38-year career at Cornell, Undergraduate Research Award and networks and particle suspensions. A Cohen supervised 19 Ph.D. students, about the Ferdinand Rodriguez Outstanding major part of his efforts over the last two a half-dozen postdocs and has authored Student Award. During his time at decades concerned elucidating the effect of 116 technical publications in refereed Cornell, Abbott also served as an intern polymer network structure and chemistry journals and eight publications in books for Genentech, where he showed that on microstructural, swelling and dynamic and book chapters. His contributions as a performance of engineered strains of E. Claude Cohen properties of cross-linked polymeric mentor and teacher have been recognized coli cultures is robust across many factors. laude Cohen, the Fred H. Rhodes materials. Cohen devised several clever by several awards, including the Merrill From left to right: Kevin Weyant, Cameron Glasscock, Joseph Brown, Nick Horvath, and Lakshmi Nathan Outside of research, Abbott participated in schemes for synthesizing model, end- Presidential Scholar Mentor and the Mr. Professor of Engineering at Cornell his year, students in the This year six graduate students and Cornell’s iGEM (international genetically linked polydimethylsiloxane networks and Mrs. Richard F. Tucker Award for University, retired this year after School of Chemical and two undergraduates from CBE were engineered machines) team, a competition C with well defined, controlled architectures, Excellence in Teaching. For the last fifteen 38 years of outstanding research, teaching Biomolecular Engineering recognized with these prestigious in which students