2017 Inaugural Academy of Distinguished Chemical Engineers Honorees

Dr. William A. Cunningham* (B.S. ’27, M.S. ’29, Ph.D. ’41)

William A. Cunningham was a Professor Emeritus of Texas ChE. Dr. Cunningham began his professional career in 1929 with the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company in Fort Worth. He joined Texas ChE faculty in 1935 as a professor. 

Dr. Cunningham was appointed as chair of the department for three terms and, in 1962, became associate director of the Bureau of Engineering Research at the University. In 1971, he was named Professor Emeritus. He was a vice president of Chemoil Consultants and a director of Round Rock White Lime Company.

Dr. Cunningham wrote “Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas, 1910-1990”, a book documenting the history and accomplishments of Texas ChE and its faculty, co-authored with Dr. Howard Rase. He was the recipient of a number of honors, including a UT Austin Distinguished Alumnus award, the Distinguished Advisor Award of the UT Student Engineering Council in 1970 and ’71, and the award for Outstanding Service in Graduate Education at UT in 1971.

Dr. Joe L. Franklin, Jr.* (B.S. ’29)

After graduating, Joe L. Franklin joined Rice University in 1963, where he was the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Department of Chemistry, as well as an adjunct professor for the Baylor College of Medicine. His first career was as a research chemist and research associate with Humble Oil & Refining CO. at Baytown, from 1934 to 1963. As a specialist in physical chemistry, he published 116 papers and co-authored two books. Dr. Franklin was a guest scientist to the National Bureau of Standards and served on committees of the National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences. He held offices in ten major professional societies and has received numerous honors and awards for his outstanding contributions to the professions of science and engineering.

Robert Rea Jackson* (B.S. ’23)

Before his retirement, Robert Rea Jackson was vice president in charge of planning and supply, Mobil Oil Company. During his earlier career, he was in charge of transportation; pipe line, refining, planning, and supply operations, at both domestic and foreign locations. During the Korean Conflict, Jackson was director of domestic refining, Petroleum Administration for Defense in Washington, D.C

Herbert Herman Meier* (B.S. ’24, M.S. ’27)

Herbert Herman Meier retired in 1968 as manager of the Baytown Refinery of Humble Oil & Refining Company. Meier specialized in technical research and new projects and held a number of patents related to the manufacturers of petroleum and chemical products.

During World War II, he developed a number of processes that greatly increased the availability of premium aviation gasoline and nitration-grade toluene. He also made contributions in the fields of lubricating oils and synthetic rubber.

Dr. Judson S. Swearingen* (B.S. ’29, M.S. ’30, Ph.D. ’33)

Judson S. Swearingen was the founder, owner, and chief executive officer of Rotoflow Corporation, Los Angeles. He was also president of Rotoflow A. G. (Switzerland). In 1939-1942, Swearingen was a professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at UT Austin. Swearingen wrote numerous publications and held more than 75 patents. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, a member of several national professional and honorary societies, including the National Academy of Engineering and the Mexican National Academy of Engineering, and received the Hanlon Award from GPA Midstream.

Stuart E. Buckley* (B.S. ’32)

Stuart Buckley retired in 1961 as manager of Humble Oil & Refining Company. Buckley received the American Institute of Mining Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal in 1956, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1960, and an honorary member of American Institute of Mining Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. in 1971.

Dr. Arthur Andrew Draeger* (B.S. ’32, M.S. ’32)

Arthur A. Draeger retired in 1975 as executive assistant to the president of Exxon Company, U.S.A. Following his retirement, he was a part-time energy consultant for the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Energy Research and Development Administration, and was a trustee of Retina Research Foundation.

After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas ChE in 1932, and receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry from UT Austin in 1935, Dr. Draeger began his professional career as a chemical engineer in process work with Humble Oil & Refining Co., now Exxon. He held a number of engineering and administrative assignments with the company: research and development manager, technical services manager, manager of North Texas Sales Division and manager of the Corporate Planning Department in Houston. He served as executive assistant to the president of Exxon in 1974.

As a student, Dr. Draeger was a member of Tau Beta Pi. He was a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, American Petroleum Institute and the Petroleum Club, and was named a Distinguished Engineering Graduate of the Cockrell School of Engineering in 1977.

Outside of his involvements in chemical engineering, he served of the administrative board of St. Luke’s Methodist Church in Houston.

Dr. W. B. Franklin* (B.S. ’30, M.S. ’31)

After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas ChE and his Ph.D in physical chemistry from UT Austin, William BalfourFranklin joined the Humble Oil and Refining Company. He later became the head of the Research and Development Division and Technical Service Manager of the Baytown Refinery. At the time of his retirement, he was the head of refining, mathematics, computing and systems, and technical manpower planning in the Houston headquarters of Humble, which later became Exxon. 

Dr. Franklin was a president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and received the institute’s Founder Award and the Distinguished Service Award of its South Texas Section. He was a charter member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council and was chair of the council from 1961 to 1962. He received a Cockrell School of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Graduate Award from UT.

Dr. Claude R. Hocott* (B.S. ’33, M.S. ’34, Ph.D. ’37)

Claude R. Hocott was a professor emeritus of petroleum engineering at UT Austin. Hocott retired as professor and director of the Texas Petroleum Research Committee at UT Austin in 1978. He was also a former executive vice president of Exxon Production Research Company in Houston. In 1974, Hocott was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 1975, was selected as honorary member of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. He was the recipient of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ DeGloyer Medal in 1980 and the AIME Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal in 1981.

Dr. Charles Franklin Jones* (B.S. ’33, M.S. ’34, Ph.D. ’37)

Charles Franklin Jones is a former director, president and vice chairman of the board, Humble Oil & Refining Company, and a past chairman of the UT Austin Engineering Foundation Advisory Council. He was dean of the College of Business Administration, University of Houston, for two years and was engaged in consulting activities in the management and energy fields. Jones was a chairman of the Houston Symphony Society, president of the board of the Houston Public Library System, and was listed in the Who’s Who in America; Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry, and Who’s Who in the Southwest.

Dr. John E. Kasch* (B.S. ’38, M.S. ’39, Ph.D. ’43)

In 1981 John Kasch retired as vice president of Supply & Technology, and director of Standard Oil Company in Indiana. Previously, he was chairman of the board of Colonial Pipeline Company. He was chairman of the UT Austin Engineering Foundation Advisory Council from 1973 to 74, a trustee of the University of Health Sciences of The Chicago Medical School and a member of the advisory boards of the Transportation Center, Northwestern University and MIT Energy Laboratory. Dr. Kasch was elected a Citizen Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago in 1981.

Dr. Jerry McAfee* (B.S. ’37)

Jerry McAfee retired in 1981 as chairman of the Board and CEO of Gulf Oil Corporation, having served in that capacity for the last six years of his 36-year career with Gulf. As chairman, he helped the company earn its highest profits in history.

He was elected president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers after several years as a director, and was a fellow of the AIChE and recipient of its Founders Award. He was one of three U.S. representatives to the Permanent Council of the World Petroleum Congress and was a member of the Advisory Board of the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund.

Dr. McAfee was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1967. He received the Distinguished Service Award of the Texas Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, and in 1984, he was awarded the American Petroleum Institute’s Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement.

Dr. Robert Lerman Purvin* (B.S. ’38)

Robert L. Purvin was a consultant, and from 1946 to 1957, he was senior partner of Purvin & Gertz, consulting engineers. He was an executive vice president of Foster Grant Company Inc. from 1957 to 1962 and senior partner of Purvin and Lee, consultants from 1962 to 1975. Purvin was president and Chief Executive Officer for Barber Oil Corporation from 1975 to 1978 and was the president and director of the Purmil Corporation. He also  founded the Texas Butadiene and Chemical Corporation, Gulf Central Pipeline, and Distrigas Corporation. Purvin was listed in Who’s Who in America and World Who’s Who in Finance and Industry and was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

Fred S. Schwend* (B.S. ’39)

Fred Schwend was an energy consultant in Houston, TX. After working for Phillips Petroleum during World War II, he was in the Office of Rubber Reserve, RFC Washington, D.C.; then, for 19 years, was with Warren Petroleum in Tulsa, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corporation. He became senior vice president, Gulf Oil Corporation, president and later, chairman of Gulf Oil Company. He held directorships in the Texas Commerce Bank, N.A., Entex, Inc., and served in several professional, civic and charitable organizations.

Dr. C. T. Wells* (B.S. ’37, M.S. ’37, Ph.D. ’39)

Charles T. Wells was president and chief executive officer as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Gulf Interstate, Houston. Prior, he was president of Goliad Corporation, Olsen Engineering Corporation, chairman of the board of National Propane Corporation, and vice president of Mobil Oil Company. He was a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Apco Oil Corporation and Northwest Energy Company and was a member of the board of directors of Matagorda Drilling and Exploration Company and The Appalachian Company. He was also vice president and a member of the board of The American Red Brangus Association.

Maurice F. Granville Jr. (B.S. ’37)

Maurice F. Granville is a retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texaco Inc. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and on the Governing Board of the Corporation of MIT. He is a director of GTE Corp., First Florida Banks, Inc., Crown Zellerbach Corporation, The LTV Corporation and NL Industries Inc. Mr. Granville is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of The Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He was vice chairman, Engineering Foundation Advisory Council from 1972 to 1973, and is a distinguished alumnus of UT Austin.

Z. David Bonner* (B.S. ’41)

Z. David Bonner was president of Gulf Oil Chemicals Co., a division of Gulf Oil Corp. in Pittsburgh. Joining Gulf after service in the Navy during WWII, Bonner filled increasingly responsible positions with Gulf and its affiliates in Pittsburgh, Washington, D. C., Port Arthur, Tokyo, London, and Cleveland.

Bob R. Dorsey* (B.S. ’40)

Bob Rawls Dorsey was senior vice president of Gulf Oil Corp. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With Gulf since 1940, he served as manager of the Venezuelan Gulf Refining Co., supervisor of schedule and cost control in the manufacturing department, coordinator of the manufacturing department and administrative vice president. He was the board chairman of Colonial Pipeline Co., a director of Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and was listed in Who’s Who and World’s Who’s Who in commerce and industry.

A. Ray Dudley, Jr. (B.S. ’48)

Arthur Ray Dudley, Jr. was senior vice president of Tenneco Oil Company. A veteran of World War II, Dudley was a bomber pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps and served in the European Theatre from 1943 to 1945. He received an air medal with four oak leaf clusters and the purple heart.

In 1948, Dudley was employed by Humble Oil and Refining Company in Baytown, Texas. He stayed with the Humble facility in Baytown until 1959, progressing from junior engineer to assistant chemical engineer, to chemical engineer, to senior chemical engineer, and finally to section head of the lubricant section.

In 1949, Tenneco Oil Company hired Dudley as a senior process engineer. After a year in Houston, he was transferred to the Tenneco facility in Chalmette, Louisiana, where he was promoted to chief refinery engineering in 1961. Returning to Houston in 1963, he was named director of refining. In 1964, he was appointed vice president, and in 1968, senior vice president of the company.

Dudley is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Petroleum Institute, and the national Petroleum Refiners Association. Dudley showed continuing commitment to UT Austin, particularly through participation on the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council of the College of Engineering.

Charles Shults Faulkner* (B.S. ’43)

Charles Shults Faulkner spent his 46-year career in the petroleum refining, chemical, petrochemical, and natural gas processing industry. He was president of C.S. Faulkner, Inc., a consulting engineers firm. After 10 years with oil and natural gas companies following graduation, Faulkner founded PONA Engineers Inc. in 1953 with $6,500 of his personal savings. Earlier in his career he had designed, constructed and started-up the first totally skid mounted, modular, fully integrated process plants ever built. In 1974, Faulkner sold the company which had grown to a multimillion dollar business.

In 1988, Faulkner was the leader in establishing the Chemical Engineering Class of 1943 Undergraduate Unit Operations Laboratory Endowment. He kept a close relationship with the department and the Cockrell School of Engineering through membership and involvement in Friends of Alec.

John T. Files* (B.S. ’41, M.S. ’42)

John T. Files was the founder and chairman of Merichem Company, a manufacturer of chemical intermediates from recycling of refinery wastes. Formerly with Dow Chemical Company, he pioneered processes for recovery of magnesium from sea water and chlorinated hydrocarbons. He was a founding member of the Texas Air Control Board in 1966, and was director of the Chemical Manufacturers Association, Texas Chemical Council, National Petroleum Refiners Association, Southwest Research Institute, Keystone Center Foundation and Texas Engineering Foundation. Files was also chairman of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council. 

Louis Garbrecht* (B.S. ’44, M.S. ’48)

Louis Garbrecht, Jr., was the general manager in charge of the Engineering Department of Texaco, Inc. Garbrecht joined Texaco in 1944 as a chemical engineer in the U.S. Refining Department in Texas, and then served 18 months in the U.S. Army assigned to the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

After returning to Texaco, he held chemical engineering positions at Tulsa and El Paso until 1958, when he became a chief process engineer at Texaco’s Casper, Wyoming plant. In 1965, he was appointed assistant plant manager at the Puget Sound Plant in Anacortes, Washington, and in 1967, he became manager of the process division for Texaco Development Corporation, the patent licensing subsidiary of Texaco, Inc.

In 1972, Garbrecht was appointed as assistant to the general manager in the Refining Department-International of Texaco. In 1974, he was appointed assistant general manager of Refining in the Petroleum Products Department-Europe. He was named deputy general manager of the Engineering Department in 1979

In 1983 and 1984, Garbrecht served as chairman of the executive committee of the Board of Advisors of the Construction Industry Institute, a research center in the Cockrell School of Engineering. He was on Texas ChE’s former Engineering Visiting Committee from 1981 to 1984, and was named “Man-of-the-Year” by The Engineering News Record in 1985.

Melvin H. Gertz* (B.S. ’43, M.S. ’44)

Melvin H. Gertz was employed by Humble Oil in 1944, and left the company in 1947 to join Robert L. Purvin in their consulting firm, Purvin & Gertz, becoming its president in 1957. The company has opened offices worldwide throughout the last 50 years.

In 1965, he founded Guam Oil & Refining Company and was the company’s president and CEO. They became a pioneer in business in the Western Pacific, providing fuel to U.S. Military strategic bases in Guam and around the world.

Gertz was a registered professional engineer, and a member of national chemical, gas and petroleum societies. He participated in numerous civic and benevolent activities, including director of the Dallas Civic Opera and was a member of the Public Health Committee of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. 

While at UT Austin, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Lambda Upsilon, and Omega Chi Upsilon honor societies, the Student Assembly and the Cowboys service organization. Gertz was listed as a Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry and was proud to serve as the Cockrell School of Engineering Chairman of the Foundation Advisory Council. He was honored in 1969 as a Cockrell School Distinguished Engineering Graduate, and the Melvin H. Gertz Regents Chair in Chemical Engineering was established in 2007 by his friends and colleagues.

E. Henry Groppe (B.S. ’46)

Henry Groppe has spent 70 years working in the petrochemical and petroleum industries.  He held various management and technical positions with Dow, Texaco, Aramco in Saudi Arabia and Monsanto before founding the industry consulting firm Groppe, Long and Littell in Houston in 1955. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the Cockrell School of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and in 1978 established the Carol and Henry Groppe Professorship in Engineering at UT Austin.

Groppe is a former chairman and current member of the EAB and a founder of the Energy Institute at UT. He was chair of the Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee and founder of the UT Chemical Engineering Alumni Club used as a model for other Engineering Departments. He served as a director of Transco Energy Company, Tom Brown, Inc. and Space Industries and co-founded the Southwest Chemical Group of companies.

He is a founder of two pioneering preventive medicine research organizations, the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in San Francisco and Houston based Southwest Health Technology Foundation.

Fred I. Harmon* (B.S. ’46)

Fred Harmon was president and owner of Southwestern Engineering and Equipment Company in Dallas, Texas. His professional career began in 1946 as a process design engineer with Celanese Chemical Corporation in corpus Christi. From 1947 to 1948, he was a sales engineer for Puffer-Sweiven Company, and from 1948 to 1949, he was chief engineer, and later, manager of Dallas Operations for Gulf Engineers, Inc.

Harmon and three partners founded Southwestern Engineering and Equipment Company in 1949. He was made president of the firm in 1958 and, in 1964, became its sole owner.

He was a member of the Instrument Society of America, the Institute of Environmental Sciences, the Society of Applied Spectroscopy, and the Texas and National Society of Professional Engineers. He was a member of the Advisory Councils of the Skyline Technical Center in Dallas, Texas, the UT Austin Engineering Foundation, and a lifelong member of Texas Exes.

Dr. J. William Haun* (B.S. ’46, Ph.D ’50)

James William Haun was vice president for engineering policy with General Mills, Inc. He was a director of the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., and chairman of the board of Center for Parish Development in Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of the Environmental Engineering Committee, Science Advisory Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Haun was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States Committee on the Environment and a member of the Board of Directors of the World Environment Center.

Dr. L. Roberts Hellwig* (B.S. ’49, M.S. ’51, Ph.D. ’55)

L. Roberts Hellwig was executive vice president of Cities Service Company and president of the Chemicals Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He joined Cities Service Company in 1960 as manager for planning for Cities Service Research and Development Company. In 1963, he became director of the Chemical and Plastics Research Development, Technology and Planning Davison of Columbian Carbon Company. He was named vice president and manager of Research for Cities Service Research and Development in 1967. He also served the company as vice president of the Planning and Economics Division for four years and as manager of Planning and Acquisitions for the Research and Corporate Planning Group for three years.

T. Brockett Hudson* (B.S. ’47, M.S. ’49)

T. Brockett Hudson’s education at UT Austin was interrupted by World War II, during which he served his country in the U.S. Navy.

He began his career in the research labs of Texaco’s Port Arthur Refinery. In 1952, he moved to Houston where he helped form Index Chemical Company and eventually became a vice president.

In 1960, Hudson helped form Southwest Chemical and Plastics Company where he served as president and chair of the board from its inception. The company was engaged in providing custom compounding and dispersion services to plastics manufacturers. In 1970, the company began producing specialty chemicals. In 1973, Southwest Chemical expanded its services to include the fabrication and sale of wire screen filters for use in plastics extruding equipment. In 1976, the company began formulating, blending and selling industrial and automotive lubricants, and in 1978, Thiokol purchased Southwest Chemical.

Hudson remained as president of Southwest until March of 1979. For the remainder of 1979 Southwest retained Mr. Hudson on a consulting basis. Hudson was involved in private investments. After the sale of Southwest Chemical, Hudson and his wife Dottie established the T. Brockett Hudson Professorship in Chemical Engineering at Texas ChE. He was active in the Texas Chemical Council, was a director of the Texas Commerce Medical Bank, and served as a director of several other smaller companies.

Curtis M. Klaerner* (B.S. ’42)

Curtis M. Klaerner received his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1942.

Daniel M. Krausse (B.S. ’47)

Dan M. Krausse was the president of the Krausse Company. He was a founder, president, and chief executive officer of Earth Resources Company, Dallas, before its merger into MAPCO Inc., in 1981. Krausse was president of Champlin Petroleum Company, group vice president and director of Dresser Industries, Inc., and senior vice president of Cosden Petroleum Corporation. He was chairman of the Centennial Endowment Committee, president of Texas Exes and chairman of the University’s Department Board. Krausse was also a director of Spring Industries, Inc., of Fort Mill, South Caroline, Baker International, Orange, California, and Roy M. Huffington, Inc.

Ernest E. Ludwig* (B.S. ’41)

Ernest E. Ludwig was the head of Ludwig Consulting Engineering, Inc., in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His company provided technical design, evaluation services, and complete plant designs for chemical, petroleum, and polymer industries.

Beginning in 1981, Ludwig served as an adjunct professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana State University. He taught a senior course in chemical plant design, including cost estimation.

Before forming his own company in 1969, he was Vice President of Manufacturing at Copolymer Rubber and Chemical Corporation in Baton Rouge. Between 1961 and 1967, Mr. Ludwig worked for Rexall Chemical Company (nor Rexene Polymers, a division of Dart) as a General Works Manager. While with Rexall, he served a brief time in Los Angeles, California, as a Project and Process Manager.

For 18 years, Mr. Ludwig worked in the Texas Division of the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport. The majority of that time was spent as a Process Engineering Manager.

Mr. Ludwig was a registered professional engineer in seven states, including Texas. He authored a number of publications including 16 technical and management articles, a three volume set of technical books, and a chapter in an encyclopedia and a textbook on chemical processing. In addition, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon, and Phi Lambda Upsilon. He won the local AIChE Chemical Engineering Management Award.

Mr. Ludwig is listed in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in Engineering, and the Royal Blue Book.

Joseph Magliolo Jr.* (B.S. ’48, M.S. ’49)

Joseph Magliolo, Jr. enjoyed an extensive career as a chemical engineer before his retirement in 1981. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering in 1948 and 1949 at UT Austin. He began his studies in 1942 but interrupted them during world War II to join the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific Theatre from 1943 through 19467. In 1947, he returned to UT Austin, where he was varsity football letterman, president of Ramshorn, and a member of Omega Chi Epsilon, Sigma Xi, and Friars. Upon graduation, he played professional football with the New York Yankees, now known as the New York Giants.

In 1949, Magliolo was employed by the Monsanto Company, where he worked in plant technical service and production and sales. He was general operating supervisor of the oxygen and acetylene units when he left Monsanto in 1962. From 1962 through 1978, he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Southwest Chemical Service, where he was responsible or production and plant technical service, marketing and sales technical service, and engineering. In 1978, he formed J. Magliolo & Co. and worked as a consultant and sales representative to the plastics industry until 1981.

In 1970, Mr. Magliolo joined the south Texas section of the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE). In 1972, as south Texas section councilor, he became active at the international level of that organization. He went on to serve the SPE as international membership chairman, as a member of the executive committee, as second vice president, and finally as president in 1979. In 1980-81, he was the SPE liaison on the board of directors of the Society of Plastics Industry. He was also a member of the Plastic Pioneers. As a member of the Ex-Students’ Association, the Friends of Alec, and the former Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee, Magliolo demonstrated a continuing commitment to his alma mater.

Dr. Guy T. McBride Jr.* (B.S. ’40)

Guy T. McBride was president of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. Formerly, he was a professor of chemical engineering and dean of students at Rice University, and then went on to become vice president and general manager of the Phosphate Division of Texasgulf Inc.

William W. McLean* (B.S. ’40, M.S. ’41)

William W. McLean was a retiree of Union Carbide Corporate where he served 37 years in the Chemicals and Plastics and the International Divisions. McLean held a variety of positions in Carbide including president of a subsidiary, plant manager, market areas manager, manager of Human Resource Planning and Utilization, and associate director of R & D.

George H. Meason* (B.S. ’40)

George H. Meason retired as executive vice president of Tenneco Inc., Houston. After 16 years with Humble Oil, he joined Tennaco Oil Company as chief process engineer in 1956. He became president in 1970 and was elected executive vice president of Tenneco inc. in 1974. He was a member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Texas Society of Petroleum Engineers, a senior active member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council and a trustee of the Southwest Research Institute.

Robert J. Phillips* (B.S. ’48)

Robert J. Phillips was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The R.J. Phillips Company Inc., headquartered in Tyler, and was the director of several companies. He was president of the Tyler Chamber of Commerce from 1968 to 1969, and was chosen the outstanding Citizen of Tyler in 1969. Although his engineering business involved world travel to five continents, Phillips was active in civic, religious, and philanthropic activities.

Dr. Howard F. Rase* (B.S. ’42)

Howard F. Rase was the W.A Cunningham Professor in Engineering and former chair of  Texas ChE. Rase was the fourth of four brothers to attend UT Austin, receiving a bachelor’s from Texas ChE in 1942. After graduating, Rase worked for Dow Chemical, Eastern States Petroleum Co. and Foster Wheeler Corp. He left Foster Wheeler in 1949 to pursue his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Wisconsin. He returned to Texas ChE in 1952 as assistant professor.

Dr. Rase’s teaching and research interests included applied kinetics and catalyst development, catalyst deactivation, pesticide detoxification, enzyme catalysis, product and process development. His research publications and patents were related to catalysts, and his books were written for practicing process engineers. He was listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Education, American Men of Science, Who’s Who in Engineering and the National Register of Prominent Americans. In 1957, he won a Fulbright Professorship to teach chemical engineering at the University of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Dr. Rase originated the Freshman Engineering Honors Program, the Engineering Honors/Plan II Liberal-Arts Dual Degree Program and the Chemical Engineering Tutorial program. His teaching innovations in both graduate and undergraduate programs were an effort to improve the professional content of the curriculum. Dr. Rase received the General Dynamics Award of Excellence in Teaching in 1961, the Outstanding Graduate Professor Award in 1980 and the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council Faculty Award in 1985. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and member of the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Rase married in 1954. He and his wife had two children, Victoria and Howard Jr., both of whom work in medicine.

Dr. Arch C. Scurlock* (B.S. ’41)

Arch C. Scurlock received his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1941.

Dr. John W. Sheehan* (Ph.D. ’48)

John W. Sheehan was the Executive Vice-President of the Commonwealth Oil Refining Company, Inc., San Antonio, Texas. His professional career began with the Shell Oil Company as senior technologist in 1947. He became Vice-President in the main office in Houston in 1970 and retired from that position in 1977. Dr. Sheehan was a professional engineer in Texas and a member of the National Petroleum Refiners Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Texas Tech Foundation, the former Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee, Texas Society of Professional Engineers, Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Quarter Horse Committee, Houston Livestock and Rodeo, and a Senior Active member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council. He was also a recipient of the Texas Tech University’s Distinguished Engineering Award.

Mr. Arthur L. Smalley Jr.* (B.S. ’42)

Arthur L. Smalley, Jr. retired as president, chief executive officer, and director of Matthew Hall and Company, Inc., an international engineering and construction firm for the petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, and mining industries. Smalley started his company in 1973 as a subsidiary of the parent company, Matthew Hall PLC of London. He directed its growth to a group of five companies employing more than one thousand people working on all continents.

From 1942 to 1971, Smalley was employed by the Celanese Chemical Company where he worked in plant operations, design, and construction. He became director of engineering for the company in 1968. In that capacity, he was responsible for all major capital plant expenditures. He was also a director of Scott-Ortech, Inc., in Denver, Colorado; Barnard and Burk Group, Inc., in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Pincock, Allen & Holt, Inc., in Tucson, Arizona; Matthew Hall overseas, Ltd., in London, England; and Cullen bank Northfield in Houston, Texas.

He was a registered professional engineering and a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was a member of the international advisory board of the Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering and Design. He is listed in Who’s Who in Houston; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; Who’s Who in Engineering; Men and Women of Distinction, England; International Who’s Who in Engineering; and Who’s Who in the World.

Smalley was a member of the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council and Texas Exes Students’ Association. He served on the former Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee and was a member of the Friends of Alec.

Smalley was a member of the Houston Rotary Club, the Houston Club, the Petroleum Club of Houston, the Chemist Club of New York, and the Oriental Club of London. He received the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He is past president of the Pampa, Texas, Rotary Club, and a lifetime member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Dr. Robert V. West Jr.* (B.S. ’42, M.S. ’43, Ph.D. ’49)

Between pursuing his masters and doctoral degrees, Dr. Robert West Jr. worked for Humble Oil & Refining Co. He was a successful petroleum engineer, production manager, and ultimately, president of Slick Secondary Recovery Corp. Dr. West later became vice president and director of Texstar Corp., and president of Texstar Petroleum Corp.

In 1964, Dr. West formed Tesoro Petroleum Corp. as president, then chair of the board and CEO. As a registered professional engineer in Texas, he was active in the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He was a director of Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association, Frost National Bank and the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Dr. West also provided outstanding services as a member and vice chairman of the Engineering Foundation.

He served on the boards of Continental Telecom Inc., Commonwealth Oil Refining Company, Inc., the Frost National Bank of San Antonio and Trinidad-Tesoro Petroleum Company Limited. He was a director of the American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association, and the San Antonio/Austin Chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Dr. West was also a member of the national Petroleum Council, a trustee of Southwest Research Institute and chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Corporation.

Dr. West’s business interests were balanced by his educational, religious and civic activities in a rewarding career.

Earl N. Brasfield* (B.S. ’57)

Earl N. Brasfield was a corporate vice president of Monsanto Company and group vice president of Monsanto Chemical Company with responsibility for Fibers and Intermediates plus the Engineered Products Division.

Brasfield joined Monsanto as a technical manufacturing assistant at the Texas City, Texas plant. He held several operating and manufacturing management positions at Texas City, and later St. Louis and Alvin, Texas. He was named director of manufacturing of the former Monsanto Polymers and Petrochemical Company in 1972 with responsibility for Monsanto Oil and Gas Division, and was appointed general manager, manufacturing, of the former Monsanto Chemical Intermediates Company in 1976. In 1982 he was named general manager, manufacturing, Monsanto Fibers and Intermediates Company, a former Monsanto operating unit. In early 1984 he was appointed General Manager for the Plastics Division and in late 1984 he was appointed corporate vice president and managing director of Monsanto Fibers and Intermediates Company. He assumed his present position and responsibilities in Fibers and Engineered Products in January 1986.

Brasfield was a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, The National Petroleum Refiners Association, the society of Chemical Industry-American Section, American Textile Manufacturing Institute, Inc. He was a chairman and 1991 Treasurer of American Fiber Manufacturers Association, Vice-Chairman, UT Engineering Foundation Advisory Council, member of the board of directors of Fisher Controls International, Inc., and president of the Parkway School Foundation.

Curt G. Engelhorn* (B.S. ’51)

German-born Curt G. Engelhorn was a pharmaceutical industry veteran and philanthropist. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UT Austin in 1951, Engelhorn went on to build a pharmaceutical empire.

For more than 35 years, Engelhorn led pharmaceutical companies Boehringer Mannheim and DePuy Inc. In 1997, he sold Boehringer Mannheim and DePuy to Swiss health care company Hoffmann-La Roche. Engelhorn was the great-grandson of the founder of German chemical company BASF.

Engelhorn was an ardent supporter of the arts and education. He funds the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, in Germany. He was also a benefactor of the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim, Germany.

Dr. James R. Fair* (Ph.D. ’55)

James R. Fair was director of the engineering-technology area of Monsanto Company’s corporate engineering department in St. Louis. Dr. Fair was also an affiliate professor at Washington University, St. Louis, and director and vice-president of fractionation research, Inc. He began his career in 1942 as a junior engineer with Monsanto, becoming engineering director in 1969. He made many contributions to the proprietary company and patent literature, and published more than 50 articles in technical journals and books. He was a Fellow and former director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was a member of the former chemical engineering visiting committee. His honors include the Personal Achievement Award of AIChE and election to the National Academy of Engineering. He is listed in Who’s Who in Chemistry, Who’s Who in Engineering, Who’s Who in the Midwest, American Men and Women of Science and Contemporary Authors.

John L. Gidley* (B.S. ’50)

After earning three chemical engineering degrees from UT Austin, Dr. Gidley joined Humble Oil and Refining Company’s Production Research Division in 1954. His 31-year career with Exxon was highlighted by many professional publications and the awarding of eight patents.

From 1968 to 1981, Dr. Gidley supervised Exxon’s Subsurface Engineering Group, which was responsible for applying new techniques for well stimulation, cementing and sand control. In 1969 he invented, patented and fostered the application of a sandstone acidizing process which, within the first three years of its use, increased daily oil production at Exxon by more than 25,000 barrels. The Acid Mutual Solvent Method was widely applied throughout the oil industry, and royalties earned on the patent by Exxon’s research affiliate more than covered Dr. Gidley’s salary and benefits during his last 17 years of employment.

Dr. Gidley managed Exxon’s engineering training program from 1971 to 1981. From 1982 to 1985, he oversaw collection of detailed engineering data on more than 2,000 acidizing and 500 fracturing treatments. This formed the basis of Exxon’s detailed knowledge of well stimulation processes.

Dr. Gidley also contributed to oilfield technical literature. From 1969 to 1986, he chaired the American Petroleum Institute Subcommittee on Well Completion Materials, which produced several recommended practices on the evaluation of materials used in well simulation and sand control. In 1979, he co-authored the Society of Petroleum Engineers monograph Acidizing Fundamentals, which became the industry reference. He was editor-in-chief of the Society of Petroleum Engineers monograph Recent Advances in Hydraulic Fracturing, published in 1989, which became the authoritative work on that subject.

Upon retiring from Exxon in 1986, he organized a petroleum engineering consulting firm specializing in well stimulation and has been awarded six more patents. He was named a distinguished member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers in 1990 and received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award in 1990 and its John Franklin Carll Award in 1992. In 1994, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was a member of the UT System’s Chancellor’s Council and the University’s Littlefield Society and was a life member of Friends of Alec.

M. E. Gillis* (B.S. ’51)

In August, 1986 M. E. “Gene” Gillis became president of Exxon Chemical Americas with regional responsibility for the U.S and Latin America, and a senior vice president of Exxon Chemical Company, the worldwide chemical division of Exxon Corp.

Gillis joined the Exxon organization in 1951 as an engineer at the Baytown Chemical Plant after graduating that year from The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. Following a series of engineering and supervisory assignments, including serving in New York as investment coordination manager for Exxon Chemical’s U.S. operating division, he was named manager of the Baytown Chemical Plant.

In 1969 he was appointed manager of plans coordination and analysis for Exxon Chemical Co., the worldwide company, and served as secretary of the management committee. In 1970 he became vice president for chemical raw materials for Essochem Europe, Inc. in Brussels. Mr. Gillis returned to the U.S. in 1974 as executive vice president of Exxon Chemical Americas in Houston, a position he held until moving to Darien, Connecticut to become senior vice president of Exxon Chemical Co. in 1981.

He was a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and serves on the Advisory Board of AIChE’s Chemical Center for process Safety. In addition, he served on the Executive Committee of American Industrial Health Council, the Board of Trustees for The Keystone Center, and was a life member of Friends of Alec.

Joe D. Ligon* (B.S. ’51)

Joe D. Ligon received his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1951.

Dr. Carl E. Locke (B.S. ’58, M.S. ’59, Ph.D. ’72)

Shortly after graduating with his bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in chemical engineering, Dr. Carl Locke worked at Continental Oil (CONOCO) on development and commercialization of a new corrosion control system, anodic protection.   He returned to UT for his doctoral degree and then joined the faculty of the School of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Oklahoma. Locke served as the director of the department for six years.

Locke’s career in academia continued at the University of Kansas’ School of Engineering as Dean. His 16 years as dean marked the second-longest tenure for that position in school history. After stepping down as Dean in 2002, Locke remained on the faculty of the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department until his retirement in 2005.

At that time, Locke began his own consulting firm, Carl E. Locke consulting. Through the firm, Locke consulted with engineering programs to help them prepare for ABET – EAC Comprehensive Reviews.

At the national level, Locke was an ABET – EAC accreditation visitor in chemical engineering from 1985 to 2005 and was an accreditation visitor for the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools from 1992 to 2000. He has held several offices in the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) since 1963. In 1998, he served as the National Society of Professional Engineers’ chair for Professional Engineers in Education.   He was Chair of the American Society for Engineering Education’s  Engineering Dean’s Council 2001-2002.

Locke was honored as a Cockrell School of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Graduate in 1993.  He received a Distinguished Engineering Service Award from the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas in 2002.

Paul D. Meek* (B.S. ’53)

Paul D. Meek  was elected president of Cosden Oil and Chemical Company of Big Spring, Texas in 1968. Joining Cosden in 1955, his career spanned the company’s major developments in the petrochemicals field. Meek was named vice president and director of parent company, American Petrofina, Inc., in 1968. In 1976, he was elected president and chief operating officer of American Petrofina, inc., in Dallas Texas.

Dr. Thomas K. Perkins (Ph.D. ’57)

Thomas K. Perkins received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1957.

Bob G. Perry (B.S. ’56)

Bob G. Perry received his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1956.

C. A. Rundell Jr. (B.S. ’54)

Clarence Ainsworth Rundell Jr. was the president, chief executive officer and director of Cronus Industries, Inc. He held that position for eight years. Prior to the Cronus presidency, Rundell was the executive vice president and director of the Tyler Corporation. He also served as executive vice president and director of United States Brass Corporation and management associate of Electro-Science Investors, Inc. He was in manufacturing management at Texas Instruments, Inc. 

Rundell was a senior active member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council, a member of the board and treasurer of The Isthmus Institute, and a member of UTAS 20/10 Club at The University of Texas at Austin.

He was a director of several corporations including Tyler Corporation, Communications Industries, Inc., and Capital Wire and Cable Corporation. In addition, he served as a director of Energy Incorporated and Electronic Monitors.

Glenn E. Taylor (B.S. ’58)

Glenn E. Taylor’s career began after graduation at Diamond Shamrock, now Industrial Chemicals, headquartered in Richmond, Va. During 20 years with the corporation, he served in process engineering and development, as an operations supervisor, a technical manager, a plant manager, and eventually a division operations manager.

In the late 1970s, Taylor applied his diverse expertise to lead a privately owned instrumentation company, where he served as president for four years. He then joined Engelhard Corp. in New Jersey as director of manufacturing in the Pigments Division, eventually assuming overall responsibility for that business unit. Taylor became the corporation’s vice president of joint ventures and manufacturing services. He was responsible for purchasing, environmental, health, and safety aspects of manufacturing, and for joint ventures the company pursued in Japan and Korea. His leadership skills were also tapped when he oversaw a team that developed a corporate-wide strategy for the company’s business in Asia and the Pacific.

Taylor retired from Engelhard in 1996, but soon after assumed the position of executive director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). As director for five years, Taylor implemented a new strategic plan that involved the first major governance change in 30 years. He was also a member of the Cockrell School of Engineering External Advisory Board.

Taylor now helps operate a school for underprivileged children in Honduras, and volunteers with the AIChE and his church. He also maintains an active interest in Texas ChE and in Longhorn sports. Taylor currently lives in Basking Rdige, NJ and spends the winters in Austin.

Donald L. Wiley* (B.S. ’51)

A poor farm boy from Kansas, Donald L. Wiley took advantage of the GI Bill after serving in World War II to attend the University of Texas beginning in 1946. He spent his professional career at Union Carbide. Because of his knowledge and skill, over the years, he earned his way to Vice President of Operations for the Polyolefins Division.

He began his career as an engineer in Union Carbide’s chemicals and plastics plant in Texas City, Texas. After a stint in the New York corporate office in the early 1960s, he became manager of the Seadrift, Texas plant. Four years later, he was appointed as manager of the Taft plant in Louisiana. He returned to the New York corporate offices in 1973 as senior vice president for chemicals and plastics with responsibility for employee relations, engineering, manufacturing, safety, and research and development. He was promoted to his final position in 1979, retiring in 1984 to return to Texas and enjoy his grandchildren.

He gave back to UT Austin by serving on the Cockrell School’s Engineering Foundation Advisory Board as a Senior Active member. He was a member of the Friends of Alec, Texas Exes, and the Texas ChE External Advisory Committee.  

Wiley served in the United States Marine Air Corps from 1941 to 1946 and was released with the rank of Captain.

He married Rae Cage of San Antonio, in 1945, their marriage lasting 59 years until his death in 2004. Their children Pat, Bill, Pam, and Kelly have given them eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Dr. David C. Bonner (B.S. ’67)

Dr. David C. Bonner is a leading authority on polymer engineering and technology commercialization, with long experience in petrochemicals, rubber, plastics and specialty chemicals.

Dr. Bonner followed his master’s degree at UT with a 1972 doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley, and soon accepted a position as assistant professor of chemical engineering at Texas Tech University. Four years later, he moved on to the Texas A & M University faculty as associate professor of chemical engineering.

In 1977, he joined Shell Oil Company, remaining for nine years in various positions. He subsequently served as vice president for research and development of the B.F. Goodrich Company; senior vice president and Chief Technical Officer of Ohio-based Premix, Inc, a major developer/manufacturer of thermoset composite molding compounds; and senior vice president of technology and engineering for The Westlake Group of Houston prior to taking his current post at Rohm and Haas in 1999. His career has included technology group management, engineering group management, and business unit responsibilities.

He has worked tirelessly to further engineering education through development activities. A longstanding, active member of UT’s Engineering Foundation Advisory Council and Friend of Alec, he also sits on the chemical engineering advisory committees of Rice (as chair), Vanderbilt and Virginia Commonwealth universities and the University of California-Berkeley; and the advancement council of the University of Akron College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.

Dr. Bonner has served on the National Academy of Engineering’s Commission on Environmental Metrics and the National Research Council’s Board of Chemical Sciences and Technology. He is an advisor to the Commission on Natural and Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences and an at-large member of the National Institute of Science and Technology’s Oversight Board.

He holds the rank of Colonel of the State of Kentucky, in recognition of outstanding service to the state and is an officer of the B.F. Goodrich Company.

Peter R. Buenz (B.S. ’60)

After three years as an officer in the U.S. Navy and seven years with ARCO Chemical Company, Peter Buenz joined a non-engineer fraternity brother in 1970 to establish Chemical Exchange Industries, the forerunner of Creekside Industries. Their business model was to purchase processing facilities no longer needed by major chemical companies and adapt them to produce specialty and commodity products using innovative processes. Buenz amicably split the business with his partner in 1993, and his share became Creekside.

Creekside Industries is headquartered in Houston, but its plants in Baytown and Houston were sold in 2012 and 2013. Both continue in full operation under the new ownership.

Buenz and his wife, Claire, are strong supporters of the department, establishing several endowed scholarships and maintaining a keen interest in the department’s programs. Buenz has been a member and president of the Texas ChE External Advisory Committee and was a member of the Cockrell School’s Engineering Advisory Board.

Dr. Ramsey W. Farley* (B.S. ’60, Ph.D. ’65)

Ramsey Farley, an alumnus of both Texas ChE’s undergraduate and doctoral programs, studied surface tension gradients and the dynamics of an interface.

After graduation, Dr. Farley enjoyed a career as a leader in research, exploration, and production technology at Exxon, Getty Oil, and finally Chevron/Texaco as Director of International Technology, retiring in 1995. In 1993, he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate of the Cockrell School of Engineering.

Ramsey was very active with his family, church and in the communities he lived. He married his Temple High School sweetheart Eva Vrba, who went on to become Mrs. University of Texas in 1959. He has three children and four grandchildren. He was a member of St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church, an active Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow, a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Fourth Degree. An avid Longhorn, he was also a lifetime member of Texas Exes and a Friend of Alec.

Dr. Ralph T. Ferrell (B.S. ’61, Ph.D. ’66)

After receiving both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Ralph Ferrell began his career with Conoco Research and Development where he received several patents related to detergent processing and production of high-purity catalytic alumina (auto emissions control).  In 1974, Dr. Ferrell switched his focus from research and development to manufacturing, becoming manager of Conoco’s chemical plant in Oklahoma City. He progressed thru manufacturing managerial positions to become General Manager of Conoco Chemicals Louisiana operations.

In 1984, Dr. Ferrell joined a management team to form Vista Chemical Company.  Vista was a Fortune 500 commodity and specialty chemical company created via a leveraged buyout of Conoco’s international chemical operations.  At Vista, Dr. Ferrell held the positons of Vice President of Manufacturing and later Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. In the latter role, he oversaw Vista’s Research and Development, Engineering, and Strategic Planning functions. After retiring from Vista, Dr. Ferrell and his wife, Reba, relocated to Plano, Texas to be closer to family. Post retirement, Ralph pursued consultant and investment opportunities, including venture capital.

Dr. Ferrell served as a member and president of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee and as a member of the Cockrell School Advisory Board.  The Ferrells have paid tribute to the Cockrell School through funding for naming of the Biomedical Engineering Learning Resource Center, an endowed graduate fellowship, benefactor support of the McKetta Challenge in Chemical Engineering Excellence, support of the Challenge for McKetta, and are lifetime members of Friends of Alec.  They further support The University as endowed members of the Presidents Associates and Chancellors Council, an endowed undergraduate scholarship in Reba’s honor administered by the Texas Exes and are Legends members of the Exes.

The Ferrells are avid travelers, having visited all seven continents and more than 120 countries.  They began a Longhorn legacy. Their daughter, Lisa, and son-in-law, Chris Bacic are UT alumni. Their grandson, Daniel, and granddaughter, Kelsey, will become Longhorn alumni in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Dr. Robert A. Hermes (B.S. ’62)

Dr. Robert Hermes has had a major impact on the global refining industry as a leading consultant for the downstream petroleum industry for more than 30 years. 

His accolades began as an undergraduate at Texas ChE. He was a member of several honor societies on campus, and received an outstanding student award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He completed a chemical engineering doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1965, and spent several years at Mobil Oil Corp. before entering the consulting field. 

Soon after, he joined Purvin & Gertz., which provides technical and other advice to the oil and gas industry. Hermes worked his way up from a consulting position to managing the company’s London office. He then served as company president and CEO from 1987 to 1999, and chairman of Purvin & Gertz from 2000 to 2004. 

The Houstonite doubled the consulting company’s staff during his executive tenure and oversaw its expansion into China and other countries. The company’s international reach also allowed him to serve as an advisor on energy policy for the United States, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and more than a dozen other countries. 

After retiring, he served on the boards of public companies Murphy Oil Corporation and Murphy USA, Inc. for 17 years.  He also is a member of the boards of Urban Harvest, a Houston non-profit that encourages growing local food and Montana Conservation Corps, a non-profit that does stewardship projects on public lands using AmeriCorps and local student volunteers. He and his wife of 51 years, Carol spend summers at their home in Montana.

Dr. William J. Koros (B.S. ’69)

While he began his career as a chemical engineer for the DuPont Company, Dr. William J. Koros has spent the major portion of his professional life in higher education.

After a few years in industry, Dr. Koros returned to UT Austin to complete his Ph.D., then taught at North Carolina State University from 1977 to 1984. He returned to The University in 1984 as a professor, and became recognized throughout his career for both his teaching and research. In 1990 he received the College of Engineering’s highest teaching award, and his research in membranes was recognized first by the National Science Foundation through a Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1984 and this year through his election to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. His innovations in new materials and membrane structures for the separation of mixed gases include the separation of nitrogen from air. This process is being used to reduce the need for refrigeration for the storage of fruits and vegetables, which last longer at higher temperatures and ripen more slowly in a nitrogen-rich environment.

From 1991 to 1993, Dr. Koros served as associate chairman of Texas ChE, then chairman from 1993 to 1997. As chairman, Dr. Koros guided the department as it enlisted alumni and industry to honor emeritus faculty member John McKetta. The McKetta Challenge raised $2.5 million to endow initiatives in chemical engineering teaching and research.

Dr. Koros was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Membrane Science, a 4,000-page, international journal. He’s held leadership roles in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the North American Membrane Society. He has over 200 published and refereed articles and five patents.

Dr. J. Winston Porter (B.S. ’60)

After receiving his bachelor degree from Texas ChE, Winston Porter earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University at California, Berkeley in 1965. Porter chaired the University of Petroleum and Minerals chemistry department in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia from 1965 to 1966, then managed the Bechtel Organization’s environmental department and later served as project manager for the master plan of the $20 billion Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. He also served as a vice president of several Bechtel affiliates in the Middle East.

In 1976, Dr. Porter created the management and engineering consulting firm of Porter & Associates in Leesburg, Virginia, specializing in environmental issues, regional planning, and Middle Eastern business consulting.

In 1985, he was appointed by President Reagan as assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he managed the Superfund and other solid and hazardous waste programs. He established a national goal for recycling 25 percent of the country’s municipal solid wastes, which was reached in 1995. Under his direction, a joint EPA-state mechanism was developed to remediate federal facilities such as nuclear weapon sites.

Dr. Porter became president of the Waste Policy Center in Leesburg, Virginia in 1989. He is also a frequent communicator on environmental issues through reports and speeches as well as op-ed articles in major newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He has written about American and European waste management, federal facilities site remediation, and changes needed to reduce Superfund cleanup times dramatically. Since 1985, he has also testified at some 60 Congressional hearings.

Dr. Porter is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, and Tau Beta Pi. He has also served on the Texas ChE External Advisory Council and is a Friend of Alec.

R. R. Rothwell* (B.S. ’62)

Ruel Richard Rothwell Jr. began his collegiate career at East Texas State in Commerce, TX. Academically, he excelled beyond his peers and transferred to UT Austin after two years at East Texas State. While at UT Austin, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon, Alpha Chi Sigma and Lambda Upsilon. He received a Cabot Carbon Scholarship and was president of the UT student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Following graduation, Dr. Rothwell worked as a plant engineer for Humble Oil & Refining. He then went to work for Northern Natural Gas/Northern Petrochemical for four years, where he was project manager for the design and construction of an ethylene oxide and glycol plant. He spent five years as vice president at APCO Oil Company, where he served as chairman of the Refining/Marketing/Supply Operating Committee. He worked in Indonesia for Roy Huffington, Inc., where he successfully negotiated with Japanese Utilities for the financing of a liquefied natural gas plant.

In 1976, Dr. Rothwell founded Horizon Resources and began trading wet barrels of crude oil. The company quickly grew under his direction, and eventually expanded into oil and gas exploration, futures trading and ranching. Under his guidance, Horizon discovered more than 285 billion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 20 million barrels of crude oil.

From 1995 to 1997, Dr. Rothwell co-chaired the McKetta Challenge to raise money for Texas ChE. He later established the Dick Rothwell Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering and the Dick Rothwell Endowed Scholarship. He was also on the Foundation Board at Texas A&M Commerce, formally East Texas State, and was a generous donor to the Tejas/Sig Ep Endowment.

Dr. Rothwell loved youth sports and coaching his sons and grandson. He loved hunting and fishing, running, collecting wine and art, and watching UT football.

Bill L. Stanley (B.S. ’61)

After graduating from UT Austin in 1961, Stanley joined Diamond Alkali Co. and worked as a process engineer in Houston for three years. In 1964, he joined Houston Research Institute, a consulting firm, doing design engineering for the process industry.

Stanley then formed Ventech Engineers Inc. in 1967 by creating a new business model to recycle process instrumentation. Over the years, Stanley guided the growth of Ventech, which is headquartered in Pasadena, Texas and operates offices in Manila and Moscow.

Ventech, along with several subsidiaries, builds modular refineries, handles surplus process equipment, relocates gas and oil processing plants, as well as does engineering and plant design work. The company is currently building refineries on an international basis and has built the first American modular oil refineries supplied to Russia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Iraq. Although the company is currently being managed by Stanley’s sons, he still actively participates in the business as a director.

Stanley’s hobbies include a passion for UT football, traveling with his family and spending time on his cattle ranch near Schulenburg or hunting ranch near Laredo.

Bill married Alvern (Gartman) Stanley who graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Together, they have five children and eight grandchildren.

Dr. Michael E. Thomas (B.S. ’60)

Michael E. Thomas received his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1960.

Robert A. Brown (B.S. ’73)

Robert A. Brown, a distinguished chemical engineer, became president of Boston University in September 2005.

A Texas native, Dr. Brown earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he worked under the guidance of Professor L.E. Scriven. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences, among other professional societies.

At Boston University, Dr. Brown has emphasized strengthening the core missions of undergraduate, graduate and professional education, interdisciplinary work, and research and scholarship across all sixteen schools and colleges. He initiated an eighteen-month planning process that culminated in a ten-year strategic plan, Choosing to be Great. Under Brown’s leadership, Boston University was invited in 2012 to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), the organization of the 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.

Dr. Brown has worked to underscore the central importance of the teaching and research functions of the University, with particular emphasis on efforts to increase opportunities for interdisciplinary study by students from all of the University’s undergraduate schools and colleges. He is actively engaged in both the public and private sectors. He currently serves as a trustee of the University Research Association, a member of the Council on Competitiveness, and a director of the DuPont Company. From 2006 through 2008, he served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), for the President of the United States. Also, in 2008 Dr. Brown was named one of the top 100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Dr. Brown is chairman of the Academic Research Council of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Singapore, a key funding body for academic research in that country. In Singapore, he also serves on the Research Innovation and Enterprise Council chaired by the Prime Minister. In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to higher education in Singapore, Dr. Brown was named an honorary citizen in January 2006. This award is the highest form of recognition given by the Singapore government to any non-Singaporean.

Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Dr. Brown was provost and Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the MIT faculty in 1979, beginning a distinguished career in education and research. He has published more than 250 papers in areas related to mathematical modeling of transport phenomena in materials and served as executive editor of the Journal of Chemical Engineering Science from 1991 to 2004. In his twenty-five years at MIT, he held a number of leadership positions, including head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and dean of the School of Engineering. He became provost there in 1998.

Janet H. Lowe (B.S. ’79)

Engineer-turned-entrepreneur Janet H. Lowe is co-founder and principal of LTI LLC, a consulting company.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 1979, Lowe joined Shell as a process engineer.

Seeking business skills to facilitate her entrepreneurial ambitions, Lowe left industry to earn her MBA from Rice University in 1988 and then accepted management and executive positions in marketing, sales, finance and strategy at Sterling Partners, Compaq and WilTel Communications. She eventually co-founded CPLEX Optimization, a software startup.

Lowe and her team grew CPLEX steadily, displacing IBM and all other competitors to become the leader in high-performance mathematical programming. After 10 successive years of high growth and profitability, she negotiated and executed the sale of CPLEX to ILOG SA, a Paris-based publicly traded corporation. For founding CPLEX, and for its contributions to industry, Lowe received the first-ever Impact Prize from The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Lowe also co-founded and sold another startup, Compass Solutions, in 1999.

Lowe remained at ILOG SA as vice president of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, acquiring technology companies. In 2007, she negotiated and executed the sale of ILOG SA to IBM. She stayed at IBM as an executive, managing large and complex integration projects until 2010. That year, Lowe left IBM and joined her husband, Todd, in their latest business, LTI LLC, where they manage private investments and provide strategic consulting services.

Lowe serves on the Board of Trustees for Sierra Nevada College and the Sage Ridge School. She is a member of Sierra Angels and supports local young entrepreneurs as an investor, mentor and judge for business plan competitions.

Lowe and her husband live in the home they built on the shore of Lake Tahoe, where they raised twin daughters who are now freshmen in college. Lowe is a helicopter pilot who also skis, sails and hikes. Last year, she completed the 170-mile Tahoe Rim Trail and summited Mount Kilimanjaro.

Dana D. Sellers (B.S. ’75)

Dana Sellers is the CEO of Encore Health Resources, one of the fastest-growing consulting firms in the health care technology industry and one of Modern Healthcare magazine’s “Best Places to Work in Healthcare” for three years running. 

Sellers has more than 25 years of experience in health care, technology and consulting. Under her leadership, Encore’s annual revenue growth has averaged more than 200 percent since the company’s founding. 

Before founding Encore in 2009, Sellers was president and COO of Healthlink, then the nation’s largest privately held health care information systems consulting firm. After IBM acquired Healthlink in 2005, Sellers served as a partner in IBM’s Global Business Services and leader for the U.S. Healthcare Provider team. Sellers’ career has also included leadership roles at DuPont and Trinity Computing Systems, which she co-founded. 

Sellers is a member of the Texas Health Institute’s Board of Trustees and has also served as interim CIO for The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and for INTEGRIS Health. In addition, Sellers sits on the boards of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the CHIME Foundation and the CHIME Education Foundation. She is a past chair of the board of Healthcare for the Homeless in Houston, her hometown. 

Bella D. Goren (B.S. ’83)

Bella Goren earned her executive and Fortune 500 chief financial officer credentials in the airline industry, one of the most intensely competitive and dynamic global industries. She now serves as a director on the boards of three global companies — LyondellBasell Industries N.V., one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies; Gap Inc., a retail company with a portfolio of brands; and MassMutual Financial Group, a leading mutual life insurance company, with a number of major affiliates, including OppenheimerFunds.

After graduating from Texas ChE with highest honors, Goren joined DuPont, where she conducted nuclear waste disposal research. She went on to receive an MBA from Southern Methodist University, graduating first in her class.

Goren joined American Airlines as a financial analyst, beginning her multifaceted, 27-year career with the company. She held roles of progressively greater responsibility in areas that included human resources, revenue management, investor relations, customer services planning, Asia/Pacific operations and customer relationship marketing, before becoming Chief Financial Officer of American Airlines and AMR Corporation.

Goren is fluent in Russian. She resides in Dallas and is active in both professional organizations and philanthropic efforts. She serves on the boards of the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University and the National Association of Corporate Directors of North Texas. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum. Previously, she served on the boards of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas and Business Council for the Arts. In 2013, she received the Dallas Business Journal’s Women in Business Award.

Dr. Amar S. Sawhney (M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ‘92)

Amarpreet Sawhney is the president and CEO of Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCUL) and chair of Augmenix, Inc.  Ocular focuses on solving unmet needs in ophthalmic drug delivery and Augmenix concentrates on absorbable materials that can help improve outcomes and targeting of radiotherapy.  Prior to this, Dr. Sawhney was the founder and CEO of Confluent Surgical, a biosurgery company, (acquired by Covidien), the technology founder of Focal, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme) and of Access Closure, Inc. (acquired by Cardinal Health).  Dr. Sawhney’s innovations are the subject of over 120 issued and pending patents in biomaterials and bio-surgery.  His inventions include several “first of a kind” surgical sealants to be approved by the United States FDA.

Dr. Sawhney has also created a platform to support and enable other entrepreneurs via Incept LLC.  Incept counts among its companies, Embolic Protection, Endo-Tex, and Sadra Medical (all acquired by Boston Scientific), Access Closure, Inc. Hotspur, Inc (acquired by Teleflex), Ostial LLC, and The Stroke Project (TSP) in California, Axtria and MarketRx in New Jersey (acquired by Cognizant), Maya Medical (acquired by Covidien) and Neurolutions in St. Louis. He currently serves on the board of directors of Axtria, The Stroke Project, Augmenix and Ocular Therapeutix.

Through his family foundation, Dr. Sawhney has been active in charitable causes that are dear to him, including education, wildlife and the environment. He is also a Friend of Alec in the Cockrell School of Engineering. 

Dr. Sawhney has been recognized with several awards including being named the “Champion of Change” by the White House and an “Outstanding American by Choice” by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. MassDevice lists him among the five most innovative medical device CEOs. Dr. Sawhney’s other notable awards include: the MassMedic Best Startup Company award, the Frost and Sullivan Product Innovation award, the MIT Global Indus Technovators Award, the E&Y Regional Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Mass High Tech All Star award, the Immigrant Entrepreneur Award, the Indian Institute of Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award, and the University of Texas Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate award, and the New England Choice award.

In addition to his masters and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Sawhney earned a B. Tech. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. 

Dr. Christine E. Schmidt (B.S. ’88)

After completing her bachelor’s degree from Texas ChE, her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow, Christine Schmidt joined Texas ChE faculty in 1996. She is currently a professor and department chair of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida.

Dr. Schmidt’s research focuses on developing new biomaterials and biomaterial composites that stimulate and guide appropriate healing of tissues. Her research on development of decellularized nerve tissue has been licensed and utilized in AxoGen Inc.’s Avance® nerve graft, which has impacted thousands of patients who suffer from peripheral nerve injuries. Her research is also the foundation for the start-up company, Alafair Biosciences, which focuses on internal wound care management.

Dr. Schmidt is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on many external advisory boards and editorial boards for several scientific journals.

She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching contributions, including the CAREER Award and the American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. She has also received the Cockrell School’s Outstanding Engineering Teaching Award and the ING Professor of Excellence Award.

Dr. Van Truskett (B.S. ’96)

Van Truskett is a highly accomplished inventor and leads jetting technology development for Canon Nanotechnologies Inc. Dr. Truskett’s innovations have solved many of the fundamental and important problems for enabling nanoscale manufacturing in semiconductors, hard disk drives and flexible films for display applications.

After graduating, Dr. Truskett worked for equipment manufacturing startup Molecular Imprints Inc., a company that was spun out of research conducted in the Cockrell School and founded by two professors. In 2014, Molecular Imprints’ semiconductor business was acquired by Canon Inc. and is now known as Canon Nanotechnologies Inc.

During her career, Dr. Truskett has developed multiple innovations in drop-on-demand dispense methods to enable the production of industry-leading, high-resolution, low-cost-of-ownership nanoimprint lithography systems for hard disk drives, semiconductors and flat panel display applications. These systems, known as Jet and FlashTM Imprint Lithography, have revolutionized the approach to manufacturing nanoscale patterns by making it possible to directly print features onto substrates. She has introduced many new jetting systems over the last 10 years. Dr. Truskett’s work has taken jetting technology from scholarship to practice in the United States and Asia, enabling a novel path for lower production costs for the semiconductor industry.

Dr. Truskett is the recipient of the 2014 Industrial Research & Development Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the 2016 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award for Technology Innovation from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.