American Institute of Chemical Engineers - Northern California Section

The Chemical Engineering Excellence Award program has been instituted to recognize outstanding Northern California chemical engineering professionals and projects. The awards are offered in a number of categories. Selection is by committee vote and only nominations meeting minimum criteria are considered.

The awards, consisting of personalized plaques are presented during the luncheon at the NorCal AIChE April 12, 2007 One Day Symposium, which is held at the H's Lordship Restaurant in Berkeley.

Congratulations to the Recipients of the 2006/2007 NorCal AIChE Awards For Chemical Engineering Excellence.

- Dr. Habib Amin, Chemical Engineering Excellence Awards Chair

PROJECT AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

Research Project of the Year: Slaying One of the World Biggest Killers, Malaria

In late 2004 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $43 million to efforts by Dr. Jay Keasling's Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology to genetically re-engineer bacteria to grow a synthetic malaria drug. Malaria is one of the world's largest killers; still taking more than 1 million lives annually.

The grant was significant not only because of its high profile donors but also because of its size. It is recognition of the work being led by Dr. Jay Keasling of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Malaria continues to be a global health problem which threatens 300-500 million people and kills more than one million people annually. The chloroquine-based drugs that were used widely in the past have lost effectiveness because the Plasmodium parasite which causes malaria has become resistant to them.

A substance, called Artemisinin (sesquiterpene lactone endoperoxide) extracted from six foot Wormwood trees (Artemisia annua L) in Asia is highly effective against the Plasmodium parasite, now resistant to traditional anti-malarial drugs.

However, there are three problems with current production methods for artemisinin. They are:

Artemisinin is too expensive for people in the Developing World to afford. The World Health Organization negotiated price for artemisinin combination therapies is approximately $2.40 per dose, too expensive for people in the Developing World who need the drug the most.
Artemisinin is extracted from Artemisia annua, the plant that produces it, using gasoline or diesel fuel. The extraction process is environmentally unfriendly.
While there is a method for chemical synthesis of artemisinin, it is too low yielding and therefore too expensive for use in producing artemisinin.

Using state-of-the-art technology, Dr. Keasling's group has engineered a cost-effective synthetic biological method for producing a precursor to artemisinin. Not only will this technology be useful for production of nti-malarial drugs, it will also be useful for environmentally friendly production of other drugs (e.g., the anti-cancer drug Taxol), specialty chemicals, flavor and fragrances, and fuels.

Dr. Jay D. Keasling is currently engaged in three positions. They are:

The Hubbard Howe, Jr. Professor of Biochemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley
Division Director, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Director, Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology

Dr. Keasling received a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from University of Nebraska and an M.S. and a PH.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Michigan. He also completed a one-year post doctorate at Stanford University. He joined the University of California Chemical Engineering Department in 1992. His honors include Scientist of the Year, Discovery Magazine, 2006; Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2000; AIChE Award for Chemical Engineering Excellence in Academic Teaching, Northern California Section of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers, 1999; Chevron Young Faculty Fellowship, Chevron, 1995 and CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 1995. His work has been widely chronicled in the press, including New York Times, Time Magazine and Discovery Magazine.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

Professional Achievement: Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer, OSIsoft, Inc., San Leandro, CA

Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy began his career as an advanced control specialist for Shell Development. In 1973, he joined Taylor Instruments and installed many different systems on refining, chemical, pharmaceutical, food and semiconductor plants. In 1980, along with one other partner, Dr. Kennedy started Oil Systems as an advanced control company. In 1983, Oil Systems built the first PI (Plant Information) System. In 1992, Oil Systems (later OSI Software, then OSIsoft) began construction of a new version that utilized client/server architecture based on Microsoft OLE Technology.

Dr. Kennedy is the President, CEO and majority owner of OSIsoft. It was under his visionary leadership that the company has grown from a small software startup in 1980 to a highly profitable $100+ million per year global corporation. He continues to focus on not only growing the company but also benefiting others in his industry with the knowledge he has gained.

In his time as CEO of OSIsoft (www.osisoft.com), Dr. Kennedy has been recognized numerous times for his efforts in the field, including the Pioneer Award from the TAPPI Process Control, Electrical and Information Division, as well as the Visionary Award from Start Magazine.

The products the company has developed under Dr. Kennedy's leadership also consistently receive industry accolades, including the "Cool Vendor" award from Gartner and Frost & Sullivan's Innovative Product Award. Other leading industry associations also recognize his accomplishments in the use of information technology to solve real world problems.

Dr. Patrick Kennedy created OSIsoft 26 years ago with a vision of serving customers to help them be as successful as possible. That is the simple, guiding principle and remains the most important focus for the company. While almost every other data historian company has merged, been acquired or quietly faded away, OSIsoft has remained independent and committed to the idea that giving people access to data can help them make better decisions.

The biggest contribution to the field is OSIsoft's PI System data historian software, which has been used for the past 25 years by more than 11,000 of the world's leading process manufacturing, life sciences and utility companies. The PI System allows users to monitor, in real time, the operational health of manufacturing plants and its processes. It also gives managers and workers direct access to vast volumes of data, while accommodating more users, more data storage, and more overall data throughput.

Dr. Kennedy attended the University of Kansas where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. A registered professional engineer in control systems engineering, he holds a patent on a catalytic reformer control system. He co-authored the book "Planning, Scheduling and Control Integration in the Process Industries," C. Edward Bodington, ed. (McGraw-Hill Co., 1995), and is the author of numerous papers.

Academic Teaching: Professor David E. Block, University of California, Davis

Professor Block is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California at Davis. Since joining the Chemical Engineering faculty in 1996, his research has been focused on technology for wine fermentations and biopharmaceutical fermentation optimization based on historical process data and artificial intelligence. More recently, his work has included applications to biofuel production including the study of increased alcohol tolerance in microorganisms and of bio-based fuels.

Dr. Block teaches Biotech Facility Design and Regulatory Compliance in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Wine Technology and Winery Systems and Advances in the Science of Winemaking in the Department of Viticulture and Enology.

Prior to joining U.C. Davis, Professor Block worked in the Biopharmaceuticals Department at Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, New Jersey, from 1991-1996. At Roche, Professor Block was in charge of a fermentation process development group and also a team leader for control systems in new manufacturing facilities. In the latter capacity, he helped to design, build, validate and maintain multiple new facilities.

Dr. Block holds a B.S.E. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota, respectively. He has organized and chaired several sessions on bioprocess optimization and control at AIChE national meetings and at American Chemical Society (ACS). He currently serves as the secretary of the Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division of AIChE and as an Alternate Councilor for the BIOT Division of the ACS. In addition, he serves on the scientific advisory board of AgraQuest, Inc., the editorial board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and the executive committee of the UC Discovery Biotechnology Program. David frequently reviews papers for the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, Biotechnology Progress, Biotechnology and Bioengineering and the Journal of Biotechnology.

Professor Block's emphasis in teaching in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science has been in the area of biochemical engineering and biotechnology. He established the course entitled "Biotechnology Facility Design and Regulatory Compliance" which was taught to chemical/biochemical engineering seniors for the first time in the Spring Quarter of 1997. This course became a required course for all biochemical engineers in 1999. This course has been extremely well received by the students taking the course, and David has received very high ratings for his teaching in the last seven years. Student comments from course evaluations of this course have been uniformly positive, with many students commenting that Professor Block was among the best instructors that they had experienced in their academic careers. David recently published a paper in Chemical Engineering Education discussing this course in detail as a way of improving and updating the traditional undergraduate curriculum in biochemical engineering.

For his role as instructor, David was awarded the Chemical Engineering Professor of the Year Award by the U.C. Davis AIChE Student Chapter. This award is given annually to one professor in the department in recognition of outstanding dedication and service to students.

In summary, as recognized by senior faculty at U.C. Davis, Professor David Block has exhibited exemplary performance in chemical engineering instruction. His innovation, especially in the area of biochemical engineering education, and his dedication to undergraduate education has been recognized by his students, the biotechnology industry, and his faculty colleagues. Professor Block is considered to be a key asset to the academic teaching at UC Davis.