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Preface to W. Harmon Ray Festschrift During a 37-year teaching and research career, Professor W. Harmon Ray achieved a level of research scholarship and industrial impact that is universally admired. This achievement is being honored with this special issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. This issue contains more than 40 research papers from a wide variety of researchers who have benefited from their professional interactions with Harmon Ray. It is only appropriate that this issue contains papers on a wide diversity of topics, which reflects the diversity of research fields in which Harmon has had significant impact. In this preface, we briefly summarize some of the highlights of Harmon’s teaching and research career and provide an overview of the contents of this special issue. Harmon received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University in 1963 and his Ph.D. in
Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1966, working under the supervision of Professor Rutherford Aris as his Ph.D. advisor. After graduation, Harmon served on the faculties of the Departments of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo (1966-1970), State University of New York at Buffalo (1970-1976), and the University of WisconsinsMadison (after 1976). He retired and became an emeritus faculty at the University of Wisconsin in 2003. During his tenure as a faculty member, Harmon supervised 30 M.S. and 53 Ph.D. students. His former students serve on the faculties of more than 12 universities in several countries around the world. Harmon supervised the graduate studies of 11 different authors of papers appearing in this special issue. Harmon has made significant contributions to the following research fields: (i) polymer modeling and
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polymer reactor engineering, (ii) computer-aided reactor modeling and reactor engineering, (iii) feedback control and state estimation, and (iv) particle technology. All of these fields are represented by papers appearing in this special issue. The following table lists the breakdown of this special issue by research area. Note that many of the papers could have been listed in multiple areas.
The current polymerization processes of most leading companies have been influenced either directly or indirectly through the research activities of Harmon’s group over the last 30 years. This impact is demonstrated in several ways. (i) The University of Wisconsin Polymerization Reaction Engineering Laboratory (UWPREL) research consortium founded by Harmon in 1983. More than 30 companies were members during UWPREL’s 20-year history, and the membership reads like the who’s who of industrial polymer manufacturers. (ii) Experimental and theoretical modeling of many aspects of polymerization, including emulsion, anionic, living free-radical, and Ziegler-Natta polymerizations, and the impact of mixing on polymer properties. (iii) A major software product, POLYRED, that conveniently transfers these research advances into the hands of practicing engineers. POLYRED enables polymer property prediction, fitting of model parameters from plant data, and rapid process design and troubleshooting. In addition to this impact on polymerization process design, Harmon’s impact extends into other areas of application of engineering principles to industrial processes. In the area of process control and state estimation, Harmon has again had significant impact. He has provided fundamental insights in the following general
areas: adaptive and optimal control of chemical reactors, control and state estimation of polymer reactors, and state estimation and control of delay and distributed parameter and moving-boundary value systems. The breadth of his research publications is striking. Moreover, he has authored, coauthored, and edited five control books including a leading undergraduate process control textbook and also a graduate textbook. Through his insightful problem selection and active consulting with industry, Harmon has developed and helped to maintain the high credibility that process control research currently enjoys with industrial practitioners. All of us who continue research in this tradition enjoy the benefits of Harmon’s positive and pioneering influence in this field. Naturally, Harmon has received numerous other prestigious awards and named professorships during his career including election into the National Academy of Engineering in 1991, the 1999 Hilldale Award, recognizing major achievements in teaching, research, and service in the Physical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, the 1969 Donald P. Eckman Award and 1989 AACC Education Award from the American Automatic Control Council, the 1982 Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Vilas Research Professorship, the most prestigious named professorship at the University of Wisconsin. In 2000, Harmon received the Richard E. Bellman Award, which is the lifetime achievement award of the American Automatic Control Council. Harmon has also received two honorary doctorates, one from the University of Minnesota (2001) and one from the University of Waterloo (2003). Harmon has strongly influenced the next generation of researchers with his professional integrity and high standards. As one of the assistant professors in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin aptly remarked, “Perhaps Harmon’s best quality is his ability to perform at the highest level yet remain one of the most modest and honorable gentlemen you will ever meet.” We invite you now to enjoy the research papers of many of Harmon’s friends and colleagues. We all would like to recognize Harmon for his friendship, encouragement, advice, constructive criticism, and collegial support during his wonderful career. James B. Rawlings* University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Babatunde A. Ogunnaike University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 IE0580001
