Engineering faculty recognized for computational work

Three faculty members and a graduate student in the department of chemical engineering have recently been recognized by the Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. AIChE, the leading international organization for chemical engineers, has more than 40,000 members from 90 countries.

Mayuresh V. Kothare, the R.L. McCann Professor of chemical engineering, was elected second vice-chair of CAST at AIChE’s 2010 annual conference in Salt Lake City. Kothare, who is also a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Biomedical Engineering, studies process control and applications in chemical, micro-chemical and biomedical systems.

In the winter 2010-2011 issue of its newsletter, CAST published a plenary lecture, titled “Broadcast Model Predictive Control of Multi-Cellular Systems,” that was given by Kothare and graduate student Gautam Kumar at AIChE’s 2009 annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Also at AIChE’s 2010 conference, William E. Schiesser, professor emeritus of chemical engineering and also of mathematics, received CAST’s Computing Practice Award, which is given for “pioneering the application of computational methods in chemical engineering and through widespread dissemination of simulation software to universities, government laboratories, and industry.” The award is sponsored by Aspen Technology Inc. and ExxonMobil Chemical Co.

And Mark A. Snyder, the P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor of chemical engineering, received CAST’s 2010 W. David Smith Jr. Graduation Publication Award for his paper “Mesoscopic Modeling of Transport and Reaction in Microporous Crystalline Membranes,” which was published in Chemical Engineering Science.

The Smith Award recognizes individuals “for published work on the application of computing and systems technology to chemical engineering.” The work must be done while the recipient is pursuing a graduate or undergraduate degree. The award is sponsored by Process Systems Enterprise Limited. Snyder earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh in 2000 and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 2006.

Schiesser earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh in 1955.