1. Annual Meeting ACADEMY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
April 27, 2018
CHAIR’S REPORT

2. Department News
Inaugural BMEG class graduated in May Sixteen students received BS degrees
It is planned to apply for ABET accreditation for the Biomedical Engineering BS program in a few weeks
Graduate program in Biomedical Engineering (M.S. and Ph.D. degrees) approved by Board of Governors
Drs. Jessica Allen, Margaret Bennewitz and Shuo Wang started as Assistant Professors in Fall 2017
Drs. Jeevan Maddala and Yong Yang resigned as Assistant Professors
Dr. Jeremy Hardinger is full-time Lecturer. A separate offer is being made to an individual to be Teaching Associate Professor

3. Center for Innovation in Gas Research & Utilization
AIChE-led Institute called RAPID -- Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment – created last year. Dr. John Hu is a key participant in this 5-year, $140 million effort
Dr. Hu is also Director of CIGRU that involves 8 faculty from Engineering, Law, Finance, Resource Economics & Management and Public Administration
CIGRU faculty have won 12 grants totaling $ 15 million from DOE, NSF, Industry and the State, including the Research Challenge Grant. Eleven proposals are pending
Already 17 journal and 22 conference papers have been published and 2 patents filed. Three workshops organized
16 Graduate students and 8 undergraduate summer students have been involved in shale gas utilization research

4. Student News
Enrollments in the department, both undergraduate and graduate, are at historic highs
In Fall 2017 there were 59 seniors, 66 juniors and 85 sophomores in the ChE program. ChE enrollments have reached a plateau
There are 27 seniors, 27 juniors and 39 sophomores currently in the biomedical engineering program. These numbers will grow
ChE graduate program now has more than 50 full-time students. Two-thirds are in the Ph.D. program
Graduate student body is extremely diverse -- ten countries are represented. About half are domestic, and one-third are women
44 BS ChE degrees granted in 2017, half with University honors or latin honors

5. Student Honors – Outstanding Seniors
Cassidy Bland – Wellsburg, WV. B.S. in BMEG
Lindsay Elliott – Moseley, VA. B.S. in BMEG
Yacine Feliachi – Morgantown, WV. B.S. in ChE
Tanner Filben – Glen Dale, WV. B.S. in BMEG
Anna Gilpin – Martinsburg, WV. B.S. in BMEG
Ahmed Haque – Bridgeport, WV. B.S. in ChE
Tanner Filben and Anna Gilpin
Further honored with 2018 Order of Augusta

6. Student Honors (Continued)
Yacine Feliachi won 3rd place in the Process Simulation and Control Division poster competition at the 2017 AIChE annual meeting
Meshal Alshalan received the Professional Promise award from the Pittsburgh section of the AIChE
Anna Gilpin, who had earlier won the Barry Goldwater scholarship, was awarded the NSF graduate fellowship
Selorme Agbleze, a current McNair scholar, obtained the Du Bois fellowship to do his Ph.D. with Dr. Lima
Hunter Snoderly received a Provost Fellowship for coming year
Elijah Hedrick won a 4-year Statler Ph.D. fellowship in Fall 2017

7. Faculty Honors
Dr. Robin Hissam is one of five Outstanding Advisors in the Statler College for
Dr. John Zondlo has been named one of the 2018 co-recipients of the Nick Evans Faculty Advising Excellence Award
Dr. Fernando Lima is one of two winners of the 2018 Faculty Award for Distinction in Undergraduate Research Mentoring

8. Other Items
State funding which pays for faculty and staff salaries, TAs and current expense is being further reduced permanently
Use of non-centrally-controlled funds is still capped
For the first time, we will be offering a ChE summer course
A major issue for the future is recruitment of qualified students for the graduate program
We have involved undergraduates in research, and this has encouraged them to become graduate students at WVU
WVU is again on the “Shanghai” list of the best Universities in the world. It is ranked between 401 and 500. This should help in the recruitment of foreign graduate students

9. Questions?