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James Wei James Wei received his Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952, his M.S. and Sc.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1954 and 1955 (with a minor in Fine Arts from Harvard), and a degree in Advanced Management from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1969. He began his career as a Research Chemical Engineer for Mobil Oil Research in 1955 and advanced to Manager of Long-Range Analysis by 1969. He held Visiting Associate Professor positions at Princeton University (1962-1963) and California Institute of Technology (1965) and was a Sherman M. Fairchild Distinguished Scholar in 1977. From 1971 to 1977, he was the Allan P. Colburn Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Delaware. He joined MIT as the Warren K. Lewis Professor in 1977 and served as Department Head of Chemical Engineering until 1988. Since 1991, he is the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, and Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical Engineering, at Princeton University. James Wei has published prolifically on research in chemical kinetics, catalysis, reaction engineering, and cancer chemotherapy, and he has coauthored seven books. He is credited with several seminal contributions including the following: The structure and analysis of complex reaction systems (with C. D. Prater) in Adv. Catal. (1962); Catalysis for motor vehicle emissions in Adv. Catal. (1975); Dynamics of drug transport in solid tumors (with R. Jain) in J. Bioeng. (1977); A mathematical theory of enhanced para-xylene selectivity in molecular sieve catalysts in J. Catal. (1982). Professor Wei has been editor of several books and journals including the following: Chem. Technol., member of the Executive Board (1971-1979); Consulting Editor for McGraw-Hill Book Series of Chemical Engineering (1964-1992); Editorin-Chief of Adv. Chem. Eng. (1982-present). He has served on the Advisory Boards of many institutions and is currently a trustee of Smith College and the American University of Beirut. James Wei has participated in many governmental panels including the following: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Task Force on Research Planning in Environmental Health Sciences (1969-1970); National Academy of Sciences Committee on Motor Vehicle Emissions (1972-1974); Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board (1976-1979); Presidential Private Sector 10.1021/ie0105977 CCC: $20.00 © 2001 American Chemical Society Published on Web 08/23/2001
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Survey Task Force on Department of Energy (1982-1983); National Research Council Committees on Chemical Engineering Frontiers (1984-87) and Critical Technologies (1991-1992). He has been honored with many awards for his work including the following: Award in Petroleum Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (1966); Professional Progress Award (1970), William H. Walker Award (1980), and the Founders Award (1990) from American Institute of Chemical Engineers (1970); Electios to the National Academy of Engineering (1978), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1982), and Academia Sinica (1982). He was designated as one of 30 “Eminent Chemical Engineers” at the AIChE Diamond Jubilee Meeting, 1983. Dean Wei also holds several honorary professorships. This 70th birthday special issue celebrates his contributions to Chemical Engineering research, education, and practice.
Sankaran Sundaresan Department of Chemical Engineering Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08544 IE0105977
