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Preface to T. W. Fraser Russell Festschrift
T. W. Fraser Russell, the Allan P. Colburn Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware, is one of those rare individuals who has excelled in all three of the traditional functions of a university professor: teaching, research, and service. Fraser’s research, initially on two-phase flow and multiphase reactors and subsequently on solar cell technology, has always focused on practical applications, leading to honors such as the AIChE Award in Chemical Engineering Practice and the Du Pont Engineering Excellence Award. The research was driven by his pre-Ph.D. industrial experience, his thirty years as a weekly consultant to Du Pont’s Engineering Department as well as other consulting relationships, and his leadership of Delaware’s Institute for Energy Conversion as Director and Chief Engineer. Fraser’s stature as an educator, developed through his textbooks, journal articles, and personal classroom example, was recognized most recently with the ASEE Award for Lifetime Achievement in Chemical Engineering Pedagogical Scholarship. His service, in addition to the Directorship of the Institute for Energy Conversion, has included terms as Chair of Delaware’s Department of Chemical Engineering, acting Dean of Engineering, and Vice-Provost for Research. Fraser was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1990. Fraser was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1956 and 1958, respectively, the latter * E-mail:
[email protected] (M.M.D.);
[email protected] (M.A.B.).
while working for the Research Council of Canada on fluid mechanics problems associated with the production of oil from the Alberta tar sands. He then worked for three years as a design engineer for Union Carbide Canada before undertaking Ph.D. studies at the University of Delaware, which he completed in 1964. Fraser was asked to teach the senior capstone design course during the final year of his Ph.D. program and was subsequently invited to join the faculty, the only time this has happened in Delaware chemical engineering history. He was promoted through the ranks quickly, becoming Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1970 and the Allan P. Colburn Professor in 1981. Fraser’s overriding goal as a faculty member has always been to maintain a balance between the art and science of engineering, both in the classroom and in research. This approach is reflected in his textbooks, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis (1972, with M. M. Denn), Structure of the Chemical Process Industries (1978, with J. Wei and M. W. Swartzlander), and Mass and Heat Transfer: Analysis of Mass Contactors and Heat Exchangers (2008, with A. S. Robinson and N. J. Wagner), as well as in several book chapters and in his many technical articles. Fraser’s teaching style and his dedication to mentoring graduate students interested in careers in education are both legendary. Perhaps the accomplishment most typical of his interest in engineering education was his initiation of a Teaching Fellow program, initially funded by Du Pont, in which senior Ph.D. students are given the opportunity to teach an undergraduate course under the close supervision of a faculty mentor who provides continuous feedback and support. Fraser personally
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worked with ten Teaching Fellows at Delaware. He recently endowed two Teaching Fellowships, one at Delaware and one at Alberta, in memory of his late wife, Shirley. We are both privileged to have been friends and colleagues of Fraser for many years. His no-nonsense style of problem
solving, whether in education, research, or academic management, has been a model for us and for the many friends and colleagues who have contributed to this special issue in his honor. We join all of the authors in expressing our appreciation for Fraser’s profound impact on us and on our profession.
Morton M. Denn Benjamin LeVich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics and Department of Chemical Engineering, City College of New York, CUNY, New York, New York 10031
Mark A. Barteau Department of Chemical Engineering, UniVersity of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 IE900636U
