South Texas Section – AIChE
Announces
2020 Annual Awards
The Thursday September 30 STS – AIChE Monthly Dinner Meeting at the Sugar Land Marriott Town Square Hotel located at 16090 City Walk, Sugar Land, Texas in connection with the 13th AIChE Southwest Process Technology Conference, September 30 - October 1, 2021 severed as a venue for presented three (3) of the four (4) Annual Awards and one (1) Special Service Award. The other Annual Award will be presented later in the year or early next year.
South Texas Section -- AIChE
2020 Best Papers Judging Team
The 2020 South Texas Section – AIChE Best Papers competition received four (4) Applied Papers, four (4) Fundamental Papers, and no (0) In-Practice Papers. The Best Papers Judging Committee was chaired by Matt Christensen with Ryan Stephens serving as Co-Chair (both of Shell) and was composed of the following Members (All of Shell):
Umang Agarwal Vishal Ahuja
Evalyn Alayon Benjamin Anger
Julian Barnes Roy van den Berg
Steffen Berg Tom Bos
Cristin Bruce Dann de Kort
Michael Golombok
Venkateswaraswamy Gomatham
Heather Gower Julien Granger
Vijay Gupta Sandeep Jain
Rikesh Joshi Sean Legg
Shantanu Maheshwari Vishal Metri
Joost Smits Johan den Breejen
Marco Verlaan Sipke Wadman
The South Texas Section – AIChE wishes to extend its deepest appreciation and thanks for contributing of the 2020 STS -- AIChE Best Papers Judging Team Members’ time talents, efforts, and a job well done.
South Texas Section -- AIChE
2020 Best Applied Paper Award
The 2020 South Texas Section – AIChE’s Best Applied Paper was titled “Compression stiffening of fibrous networks with stiff inclusions” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 117, 17 August 2020, pp. 21037-21044 and was authored by Jordan L. Shivers, Jingchen Feng, Anne S. G. van Oosten, Herbert Levine, Paul A. Janmey, & Fred C. MacKintosh.
South Texas Section -- AIChE
2020 Best Fundamental Paper Award
The 2020 South Texas Section – AIChE’s Best Fundamental Paper was titled “Critical Role of Confinement in the NMR Surface Relaxation and Diffusion of n‑Heptane in a Polymer Matrix Revealed by MD Simulations” published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2020, Vol. 124, April 8, 2020, pp. 3801−3810 and was authored by Arjun Valiya Parambathu, Philip M. Singer, George J. Hirasaki, Walter G. Chapman, & Dilipkumar Asthagiri.
Alan P. Rossiter
2020 South Texas Section - AIChE
Special Service Award Recipient
Alan Rossiter has been instrumental in the direction and arranging of the Southwest Process Technology Conference and the South Texas Section – AIChE wishes to recognize him for his efforts over the years.
Babak Rafienia
2020 South Texas Section - AIChE
Outstanding Young Professional
Award Recipient
Babak Rafienia has a BSChE from Shiraz University, Iran and an MSChE from Lamar University. An AIChE Senior Member, he has been employed by AMACS Process Tower Internals since 2014 and is currently a Mass Transfer Technology Manager. Babak has served the South Texas Section – AIChE as a member of the Executive Committee (Continuing Education from 2019-2020) organizing the Monthly Dinner Meeting technical workshops and also collaborated with the STS – AIChE Chair in inviting Dinner Speakers. He also served as a judge on several SPTC Best Technical Presentation Award committees. Babak also presented technical seminars on distillation and separation for La and TX AIChE Local Chapters and YP groups.
Babak has served as the Secretary of the AIChE Management Division from 2019 to 2020 and currently serves as a Director of the AIChE Management Division from 2021 to 2023. He is a recipient of the 2020 AIChE’s 35 Under 35 Award for Leadership.
Barak is a Member of Houston Gas Processing Association (HGPA) and AMACS Member and Technical Representative at Fractionation Research Incorporated (FRI)
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