2019 STS AIChE Executive Committee Election

Executive Committee 2020 Election Information

To be eligible to vote, you must be an active member and have paid your AIChE and STS-AIChE dues for 2020. Please have your membership number available to complete the ballot. Your membership number will serve as your personal identification number. You may obtain your member information by accessing your member account on the AIChE website (aiche.org) or you may call the AIChE Customer Service tollfree at (800) 242-4363. Your membership number was also included in a recent email sent by AIChE to renew your 2020 membership. *Reminder to pay local section dues when paying national dues!  We will only have online voting this year. You may cast your ballot electronically by following the link supplied below and in an e-mail that will be sent out. You will also be able to vote at the November 7th Monthly Dinner Meeting via computer at the meeting registration desk. You may vote a maximum of once for this year’s election (either electronically or by paper ballot).

Click Here to participate in Online Voting! Voting will close in mid November– exact date to come.

Thank you for your participation! If you need additional assistance or have any questions regarding the election or voting process, please contact Carlos Salamanca by email sts-pastchair@aiche.org or call (832) 419-1328. The STS-AIChE wants your vote to be counted!-

Chair-Elect 2020 (and to succeed to the Chair in 2021 and Past Chair in 2022)

Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti

Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti is the chief energy officer at the University of Houston. Prior to his current position, Krishnamoorti served as interim vice president for research and technology transfer for UH and the UH System. During his tenure at the university, he has served as chair of the UH Cullen College of Engineering’s chemical and biomolecular engineering department, associate dean of research for engineering, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with affiliated appointments as professor of petroleum engineering and professor of chemistry. UH Energy is an umbrella for efforts across the University of Houston system to position the university as a strategic partner to the energy industry by producing trained workforce, strategic and technical leadership, research and development for needed innovations and new technologies. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

His publications include:

Conducting instant adhesives by grafting of silane polymer onto expanded graphite. 

publication date Sep 11, 2014, ACS applied materials & interfaces

large-scale self-assembled zirconium phosphate smectic layers via a simple spray-coating process.

publication date Apr 7, 2014, Nature communications

Fast Sol-Gel Preparation of Silicon Carbide-Silicon Oxycarbide Nanocomposites

publication date 2011, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 94, 4444

Facile Method of Controlling Monomer Sequence Distributions in Random Copolymers

publication date Oct 5, 2007, Advanced Materials

Somnath Basu

Over 30 years of experience in multiple areas of process engineering – water and wastewater treatment system design; operations management, start-up and commissioning; and R&D. This includes permit application preparation for large industrial facilities. Primary strength - provide technology based innovative solutions to industrial facilities and mentoring young professionals. Key sectors: Oil & Gas – upstream and downstream, petrochemical, power plant, and large municipal wastewater treatment plants. Below lists just some professional experience and industry work:

Professional Experience Highlights

Headworks International, Inc., Houston, TX, VP Global Process Engineering & Chief Technology Officer (May 2016 – Present)

• Manage activities of Process Engineering department for execution of technology-based projects for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.
• Support technical marketing for Headworks international on biological wastewater treatment pursuits.
• Lead R&D initiatives for the company for new technology and product development in collaboration with universities in the US and Canada, and partners in engineering and consulting firms
• Manage all IP database and patents for the company.
• Conduct in-house training at Headworks, and technology presentations at regional, national and international conferences.

Shell Global Solutions, Senior Engineer (Utilities & Water Treatment) (July 2012 – April 2016) Shell Technology Center, Houston, USA

• Technology expert for upstream and downstream process water (desalter) and wastewater treatment processes; utility systems for demineralized water, service water, cooling water and boiler feed water treatment; Lead engineering design projects; and support water/wastewater R&D activities of Shell globally.
• From May 2013 to October 2015 was on an expatriate assignment to the Asia-Pacific region of Shell to build up engineering capability in utility and water treatment systems in the Shell Bangalore office (headquarter for Shell Asia-Pacific) to train up and mentor young engineers in the region.
• Shell in-house Technical Advisor (TA) in water and wastewater treatment for conducting technical reviews of new capital projects and studies on the refinery utilities and ETP systems.

Education

• MBA – Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• MS and PhD – Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston
• ME – Chemical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State
• M Tech – Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
• BE – Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India

Licenses and Registrations

• Professional Engineer, State of Massachusetts, USA
• Board Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineer

Professional Memberships

• Senior Member – American Institute of Chemical Engineers Professional
• Member – Water Environment Federation
• Member of the WEF Industrial Wastewater Committee since 2009 Member of the WEF Government Affairs Committee since 2008

Professional Services

• Editor and Committee Chair, Journal of New England Water Environment Association (2010 – 2013)
• Water Environment Federation (WEF) Technical Practice Committee (TPC) Chair for Industrial Wastewater
• Member of the WEF Government Affairs Committee
• Member of Peer Review Panel for International Journals: Environmental Science & Technology, Water Environment Research, Environmental Progress, Environmental Engineering Science, Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (London, UK), ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering, Journal of Soil Contamination.
• Assistant Session Moderator for Leading Edge Research: Wastewater Treatment Innovations (Session 19) at WFTEC 2004 held in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5, 2004.
• Session Chair, Applications of Biological Wastewater Treatment at the 1998 Spring National Conference of the AIChE, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 9-12, 1998. Session Co-Chair, Advanced Oxidation at the Summer National Conference of the AIChE, Boston, Massachusetts, 1995.
• Editor, Journal of the Chemical Engineering Students’ Society (Student chapter of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers) of the National Institute of Technology, India (1970)

Secretary (2020-2021)

Joseph Hernandez

Mr. Joseph A. Hernandez is a Process Engineer at Burns & McDonnell. He has 1 year of experience in the Oil, Gas, and Chemicals industry, focusing on midstream and downstream engineering consulting. He earned his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station and is a licensed Engineer-In-Training (EIT). He has been an AIChE Member since 2017.

Relevant Experience & Accomplishments

• 2019 – Process Engineer
• 2018 – Process Engineer / Graduate Student
• 2017 – Graduate Student

Position 4, Human Resources

Dr. William Pittman

Dr. Pittman holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and received the university’s Safety Engineering Certificate in August 2015. He has 10 years of experience with process safety research working mostly with Texas A&M’s Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC). He has worked in process safety consulting and incident investigation for 5 years. After receiving his doctorate, he briefly served as a post-doctoral research scientist with MKOPSC before joining Smith and Burgess to work as a Safety Relief Engineer. He now works with Micropack (Detection) Americas as a Fire and Gas Detection Consultant.

He has authored or co-authored 6 peer-reviewed papers and 3 technical papers on topics including the West Fertilizer explosion, risk communication, and confirmation of process de-energization. He was the instructor for Texas A&M’s Industrial Safety Engineering class as well as short-courses offered by MKOPSC.

Position 2, Outreach

Nabila Shamim

Nabila Shamim holds a Ph.D. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a B.Sc. In Chemical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Listed below are her experience and affiliations:

Professional Experience

• Sep 2018- Present Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Prairie View A & M University.
• Sep 2014- Aug 2018 Instructor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Prairie View A & M University.
• Jan 2012- May 2014 Instructor, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.
• Jul 2008- Jun 2014 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Texas Tech University; Polymer Rheology and Condensed Matter Physics Group
  • Rheological and thermal characterization of polymers,
  • Structure property relationship in polymers, ultrathin films, ionic liquids, energetic materials and biological fluids. 
• Jan 2003-2007 Graduate Research Assistant, National University of Singapore
  • Full research scholarship, National University of Singapore
  • Synthesis and characterization of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for bio-separation application

Professional Affiliations

• American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE)
• Society of Black Engineers
• Society of Women Engineering (SWE)
• American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB)