Chemical Engineering NEWSLETTER Spring1999 Purdue University Dear Alumni and Friends of ChE, Katie Eckman retires... Welcome back to the Chemical Engineering In her role as the undergraduate counselor, Newsletter! Much has happened since our last Katie probably knew all of our students. publication. Most notably, we’ve completed and “Knowing” the students for her meant going launched a Strategic Plan for the School for beyond the day to day practicalities of mak- 1997-2002. I am delighted to highlight key ing sure that a student was in the right class items of this exciting road map. or on track for graduation. Her relationship Faculty and staff, with the strong involvement with a student often pre-dated that of the School’s New Directions Industrial Advi- individual’s participation within the depart- sory Council and its Executive Committee, ment, for she was also a counselor in Fresh- worked together for more than a year to de- man Engineering. Katie’s strength is her velop this plan. Officially launched Fall 1997 at ability to unite professional competence with the Council’s annual meeting, it defines the ob- interpersonal involvement. In a program as jectives, strategies, action items, and metrics difficult and rigorous as Chemical Engineer- which will drive our School over the next five ing, she provided emotional support for stu- years. Six component areas were addressed: dents having difficulties, a very • Graduate program important role deeply appreciated • Undergraduate program by the students. She’d take a per- • Faculty sonal interest in each student and • Technical infrastructure go “that extra mile” to help. At the • Administrative infrastructure same time, she also knew when to • Associated resource requirements be firm, when to remind the stu- The five highest priority items and the associ- dent to buckle down and work ate resource implications are: harder—but she did so kindly and • Improve the Graduate program: Reevalu- fairly. When asked who helped ate and redesign the graduate core curriculum them the most in getting through to best prepare graduates to meet the R&D chal- Purdue, recent graduates invari- lenges of the 21st century. We have identified ably answer—Katie! Each year at steps to improve graduate program procedures, the senior banquet she invariably educational and research environments, and re- receives special recognition from cruiting processes. Resource implications in- the graduating seniors. In 1990, clude renewal of the research instrumentation Omega Chi Epsilon awarded her and computing facilities of the School and of its their outstanding service award. research groups through cost-shared competi- She was further honored with the Katie talks with well wishers at gathering in her honor (top), and tive proposals. Association of Women Student’s • Refocus the Undergraduate Program: Refo- has a light moment with Rex after Very Important Woman award. receiving an award in recognition. cus the undergraduate curriculum emphasizing desired outcomes and metrics. We will enhance hands-on laboratory and other interactive edu- cational experiences and integrate them into the curriculum. We will strengthen the program’s professional practice component through on- and off-campus initiatives. Students will be more actively involved in recruitment, retention, and strengthening the program. Resource impli- cations primarily involve instructional facilities and associated staffing. • Add ten faculty over the next five years: The goal is to reach a faculty headcount of 28. Katie with New laboratory space and start-up funds are family needed to recruit, retain, and launch the careers of these new faculty who will set the directions of the School for the next several decades. continued on page 5 “ChE Space Program” In the past two years groups of Purdue students from ChE, Aero and ME have traveled to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to experience weightlessness aboard the KC-135A (aka, the “vomit comet”), a plane astronauts use to train for space flight. It goes through several steep climbs and descents, creating 25 or 30 seconds of weightlessness on each dip. The students, along with their faculty adviser, Prof. Jochen Lauterbach, went through a week of preflight training and activities. Each team designed and built an experiment and each also involved local elementary, middle and high-school students in the experience. National as well as local media reported the event (including Good Morning America on ABC). A reporter from an Indianapolis newspaper also went along. Students at Happy Hollow Elementary School in West Lafayette Alumna in space - gave them several toys to take along, complete Dr. Mary Ellen Weber with specific instructions After receiving her bachelor’s degree in on what to do with them chemical engineering in 1984, Mary during the flight. Harrison Ellen Weber earned a doctorate in High School helped design physical chemistry from the University of a special box for the California at Berkeley in 1988. She then toys to fly in. Afterwards, joined Texas Instruments in Dallas, the team took the video Texas, to research new techniques in mi- of the flight back to the croelectronics manufacturing, applying elementary school and physical and chemical models of film compared the students’ deposition processes to enhance reactor predictions with what designs. In 1990 she was assigned by TI actually happened to to SEMATECH, a semiconductor manu- the toys. facturing consortium in Austin, Texas, In March 1998, Trisha which led to a further assignment at Ap- Beutien, Brad Ecker, plied Materials and Technology in Santa Cassandra Forthofer, Clara, California. She was selected by Hilary Grinstead, NASA in March 1992. Following her ini- Jennifer Ralston, tial year of training she assisted in shuttle Nicholas Saadah, and processing and launches at the Kennedy Amanda Schreiweis Space Center. Other technical assign- formed the ChE team. ments included flight software verifica- This year’s group tion in the Shuttle Avionics Integration consisted of Jessica Laboratory, and support in Payload De- Arnold, Trisha Beutien, velopment. Hilary Grinstead, Shawn In her flight she was a mission special- Kaleta, Caroline Kostak, ist on the five-member crew of STS-70, and Amanda which took place from July 13-22, 1995 Schreiweis. Both groups (after a month’s delay because wood- studied the effects of peckers had chipped numerous holes in microgravity on a type (Top) The group gathers pre-flight in front of the of chemical reaction: v-comet. (Bottom) Hillary Grinstead and Trisha Bentien the insulation on the external fuel tanks!). (right) experiencing the sensation of zero gravity. She was one of two crew members re- “Spatial pattern sponsible for deploying a “Tracking and formations formed by Data Relay Satellite,” or TRDS, a commu- the Belousov-Zhabotinskii (BZ) reaction in 1-g.” This research gives new insight nications satellite. She also operated sev- into the nonlinearity and pattern formation present in many chemical reactions, and eral mid-deck experiments, including a further evaluates the role of gravity in the reaction mechanisms. The data collected bioreactor experiment. Although well help show the influence of microgravity on chemical transport and molecular prepared for the mission she was none- diffusion. The reaction is a classic example of a nonlinear, oscillatory chemical theless overwhelmed as the view was reaction that had never been performed in microgravity in space (a Japanese team “far better than any picture can depict. tried it down a long vertical shaft). The current team modified the experiment by The atmosphere about 50 miles above varying the thickness of the reaction vessels to study how convection affects the the earth cast a glow which was very reaction. The polymerization, however, was entirely new. The results could help tranquil. Also there were shooting stars NASA develop fuels for the space program, as well as provide information that below the shuttle which were extraordi- is vital to chemical production and chemical plants in future space flight. nary.” As for the future she hopes to fly Visit http://atom.ecn.purdue.edu/~vcomet/ to get more info and see the photos. again and to participate in several more Finally...the plane did space missions, continuing with technical support assignments between missions. live up to its nickname! 2 Distinguished Engineering Alumni OCHE 98 Charles R. Kline (BS,’61), President and Chief Executive Officer, EQUATE Petrochemicals (Kuwait). Guy J. Camarata (BSChE ’60), Executive Vice President and Director, Caltex Student Awards 1997 / 1998 William E. Smith III (BS,’69), Magoon Award (TA) Executive Director, Michael Buss Global Manufacturing Services, Mark Byrne Eli Lilly & Company. Jeff Varner Chris Williams Karen Green Steve Honkomp Praveen Gunaseelan, Steve Richter Will Walters Another distinguished Professor... AIChE Outstanding Senior Phillip C. Wankat (BS ’66) was named the Clifton L. Lovell Distinguished Stephen Schwallie Professor of Chemical Engineering. Based on teaching and scholarship of Tom Manske teaching, the award recognizes senior faculty who are outstandingly origi- nal, creative, and productive individuals whose achievements in teaching Omega Chi Epsilon have been nationally and internationally recognized. His teaching awards include the Chester F. Carlson Award from ASEE for teaching innovations, Jeffrey Lin the Catalyst Award from the Chemical Manufacturer’s Association national Bryan Comstock teaching award for chemists and chemical