2024 Election for the 2025 Board of Directors

Gavin Towler is Honeywell’s Chief Scientist for Sustainability. Before that he held several R&D roles including Chief Technology Officer of Honeywell UOP.

He has worked in process design and clean fuels technologies for 32 years, has 77 patents, co-authored a textbook on process design, and is a Chartered Engineer, AIChE Fellow, and member of the National Academy of Engineering. Gavin has a BA and MEng from Cambridge and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, all in chemical engineering.

An AIChE member for 35 years, Gavin has been active in programming and leadership of the Computing and Systems Technology (CAST), Process Development, Fuels and Petrochemicals, and Management divisions. He also served on the Board of Directors (2008–10), Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council (CTOC), Membership Committee, Foundation Board, CCPS Board, Industrial Advisory Board, and CEP editorial advisory board.

He is a trustee of CACHE Corporation and helps teach design at the National University of Singapore.

Statement: When I first attended an AIChE meeting, I was amazed and inspired by all the problems chemical engineers were working on and the curiosity, passion, and engagement everyone had. I loved it so much that I’ve been coming back ever since.

We have always been a diverse and interdisciplinary profession, and AIChE mirrors that and gives us opportunities to come together to learn, share, and support each other, make new friends, and apply our skills to solving global challenges. If elected, I plan to continue the great work AIChE has been doing in expanding the diversity and inclusivity of the profession through programs such as the Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI) and IDEAL, and creating more value and opportunities for members though initiatives like RAPID and the Institute for Learning and Innovation.

I came to the USA for grad school and was fortunate that I could make my career here. For decades, the U.S. economy and our world-class universities made the USA a magnet for talent. That’s an advantage worth keeping, but recently the H-1B visa process has become overwhelmed by applications for IT workers, making it ever harder for overseas students to find work here after graduation. If elected as AIChE President, I want to engage with other professional societies and the National Academies to build a consensus for revising visa policies to make it easier to attract top talent to our schools and offer graduates a better chance of contributing their skills and diverse perspectives to the U.S. economy.

I would love to hear your ideas and concerns and you can contact me at gavin.towler@honeywell.com.

Stephen P. (Steve) Beaudoin is Professor in Purdue’s Davidson School of Chemical Engineering. He is Founding Director of the Purdue Energetics Research Center (PERC), where he directs multiple DoD-sponsored research centers focused on explosives and propellant engineering.

He is also Founding Academic Director of a novel online Master’s degree program focused on defense and security that serves three U.S. Navy bases. Beaudoin was the 2021–2022 Chair of the Purdue University Senate, and has served Purdue as Interim Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs.

He has chaired multiple sessions at AIChE’s regional and Annual meetings and has been a mentor at the AIChE Young Faculty Workshop. He has published more than 100 refereed articles, has made ~200 technical presentations, and has received the NSF Early Career Faculty Research Award as well as numerous teaching and mentoring awards.

He earned his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988), his MS from the University of Texas at Austin (1990), and his PhD from North Carolina State University (1995), all in chemical engineering.

Statement: As a Board member, I would encourage the Institute to pursue workforce development activities that bring more engineers into our profession and help existing professionals to enhance their skills. I have substantial experience with workforce educational programs through an MS degree program that I direct and through a program I am developing at a local community college to train operators to work in chemical facilities. I would encourage the use of the AIChE Institute for Learning and Innovation (ILI) construct to review emerging industrial needs against the classical chemical engineering curriculum to find ways to address such needs without sacrificing valuable outcomes.

We learned from the COVID pandemic that educational and professional activities can be successful when executed remotely. I would encourage activity within the AIChE Academy to develop more asynchronous, remote educational content leading to short course or university credits (including certificates) in key topic areas. The certificates could be stackable to form advanced degrees, and this would provide maximum flexibility as our stakeholders pursue their lifelong learning needs. To develop more engineering talent, it is also important to create compelling educational content for junior and senior high schools. This can inspire students to prepare themselves to succeed in university chemical engineering programs — which is important in general but especially so for schools in diverse communities where there may be few existing chemical engineering role models.

If elected to the Board of Directors, I will help AIChE to remain the leading international voice in the chemical and related engineering professions by promoting new partnerships and activities such as these that help us to be responsive to the needs of our stakeholders and society.

Recognized for his impressive 30+ year career in R&D, operations, and commercial and strategic leadership roles in North America, Europe, and Asia, David Klanecky brings this experience to his role as the CEO and President of Cirba Solutions, the most comprehensive and trusted battery materials and management provider. Leading the strategic growth of Cirba Solutions, Klanecky led a capital raise, securing roughly $300 million. Collaborating with the private and public sectors, David is focused on expanding operational and technology capabilities to support the growing needs of the circular battery supply chain.

David currently sits on the board of AIChE’s Institute for Sustainability Board; the External Advisory Committee for the Advanced Energy Technologies Directorate of the Argonne National Laboratory; is a Board Director for NanoGraf; and is president-elect of NAATBatt International.

Statement: As a member of AIChE for more than 30 years, I currently sit on the managing board of the organization’s Institute for Sustainability. It’s an honor to be considered for the Institute Director role, to help further the success of critical advancements in communities through the chemical engineering profession. I want to use this platform to encourage current and future generations to play a more active role in the evolving scientific disciplines arising in the face of today’s challenges.

As a society, we are undergoing a multitude of transformational changes, including electrification and the creation of sustainable supply chains. These are difficult problems to solve and cannot be accomplished in a vacuum. We need the versatile skillsets and expertise possessed by chemical engineers to be invited to the table, as they are critical collaborators and elite scientific minds that are part of providing solutions for these large societal issues.

With industries moving towards automation, we must face this challenge head-on to ensure that chemical engineers, and those entering the field, remain relevant during this transformation, and emerge at the forefront. This evolution includes enhancing academic curriculums by ensuring that students have access to real-world and hands-on experiences to promote lifelong learning, including adaptable and flexible learning styles to meet the future needs that this profession will demand.

During my 10 years spent overseas, I led organizations of differing cultural backgrounds, reenforcing the importance to me of having a diverse workforce to address the creation and strengthening of new initiatives to solve global challenges.

As Director of AIChE, I will use my leadership experience and passion to ensure the future of AIChE and that the required chemical engineering skillset is deployed to its fullest potential.

Robert Y. Ofoli is an AIChE Fellow. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering (Carnegie Mellon University), a PhD in agricultural engineering (Michigan State University), and a BS in agricultural mechanization (University of Maine).

He is an associate professor of chemical engineering, student chapter advisor, and Faculty Excellence Advocate for the College of Engineering at Michigan State University, with active research in plastics upcycling. His service to AIChE includes the Student Chapters Committee (Chair in 2006), Chem-E-Car Committee, Chem-E-Car Rules Committee, and member of the team that successfully revamped Chem-E-Car operations safety as requested by the AIChE Board. Robert served three terms on the Career and Education Operating Council (CEOC; 2017 Chair).

He was also a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Joint Board-Council Committee on Publications, and a Treasurer of the ACS Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division, during which he became familiar with organizational tax-exempt 501(c)(3) regulations.

Statement: AIChE is a global organization with diverse cultures, languages, races, ethnicities, and genders. Its leadership requires a diverse set of approaches — for example, thinking “mosaic,” not “melting pot;” building from the bottom up, not top down; focusing on core values (ethics, trust, transparency, professionalism); and cognizance of implicit bias.

The necessity for globally-sensitive programming is reflected in 2024 AIChE President Alan Nelson’s support for several AIChE initiatives and programs: IDEAL (inclusion, diversity, equity, anti-racism, and learning); RAPID (Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment); Explorer AIChE membership for non-traditional chemical engineers; FOSSI (Future of STEM Scholars Initiative) scholarships for diversification; and the “Bee a ChemE” campaign for middle school students. Achieving these diverse goals requires dedicated efforts to broaden our global impact.

When I think of the difficulty of doing this successfully, I remember Billy Jean King’s assurance that “pressure is a privilege.” I embrace the pressure, with the knowledge that successful solutions are not a one-person job; they require collaborating with colleagues to develop measurable metrics to assess real progress.

My goal is to use the principles of servant leadership that I depend on for complicated issues. I am committed to advancing AIChE’s strategic plans by:

• enabling the success of stakeholders in chemical engineering and related professions;

• supporting IDEAL, FOSSI, and RAPID, and working to create other essential communities;

• working with Directors and Fellows to educate our national political leaders on the true value of DEI in academic institutions;

• promoting lifelong learning across the profession; and

• utilizing the extensive and diverse chemical engineering expertise around the globe to address societal issues such as climate change.

Frank van Lier was Global Senior Director of Process Technology for The Lubrizol Corporation, retiring in 2022 with 40+ years industrial experience across R&D, operations, and technology. His experience included numerous leadership roles at Lubrizol’s Ohio and Texas plants and a year as the General Manager of Lubrizol’s Zhuhai, China, manufacturing facility (2018). He also spent six years on the board of the Lubrizol/Indian Oil joint venture located in Mumbai, India. Frank earned a BSChE from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

An AIChE Fellow, Frank has been a member of AIChE since 1980. Most recently, he was on the inaugural governing board of AIChE’s RAPID Manufacturing Institute, acting as Chair in 2022. He also chaired the Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council (CTOC; 2015) and was a director and Chair of the Management Division. Current activities include service as a reviewer for the Virtual Technician and Operator Training Program (VTOP) being developed by AIChE’s Institute for Learning and Innovations, and continued engagement with the Management Division.

Statement: My hopes for AIChE are to continue to build on the successes of the past. I see RAPID and the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) as key examples of successful efforts to engage chemical engineers from across industries. RAPID has created valuable industry and academia collaborations focused on more sustainable, safer, and more economical manufacture as exemplified by the successful implementation of process intensification projects at Lubrizol plants in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh. The next five years of RAPID are all about shifting to a more sustainable model while still delivering value to AIChE members and their organizations.

Continuing to improve and add member value through AIChE’s education efforts will lead to expanded membership and increased corporate engagement if members can cost effectively learn from experts in the field.

The number of AIChE technical divisions, forums, and technology groups can make it confusing for even veteran members to navigate the massive volume of offerings. Opportunities to continuously improve targeted communications are critical to keeping members engaged and attracting new members.

The above are the areas I’ve supported in the past and intend to support as a director of the Institute. We need to continue to build the network of engineers and encourage/engage with the younger and more diverse cohorts to bring out the best in all as part of AIChE’s mission to build an inclusive community united in “doing a world of good.”

I am honored to be a nominee for the AIChE Board of Directors and ask for your support.