(312g) Remarks by W. Harmon Ray - Fifty Years of Exciting Times in Chemical Engineering

The excitement of 50 years of experiences by the speaker as a student, industrial intern, researcher, teacher, and industrial consultant in the evolving field of chemical engineering will provide the basis of this talk. From Sputnik in 1957 (with the resulting tremendous expansion of new ideas and opportunities in research and teaching) up to the present state of our field, there have been many exciting developments in fundamental understanding, in new tools for engineering R&D, and in engineering practice. Some of the developments leading to changes in engineering practice arising from the fields of process modeling, optimization, and control, chemical reaction engineering, and polymerization reaction engineering will be discussed. Working in these fields together with students and senior colleagues has provided a half-century of adventure, satisfaction, and tremendous fun.