AIChE Elects New Fellows

Fellow candidates are nominated by their peers, and must have significant chemical engineering practice (generally 25 years) and have been a member of AIChE for at least 10 years, with at least three years as a senior member. Here are some of the recently elected Fellows. More information is available at www.aiche.org/community/fellows.

Charles A. Clerecuzio, P.E., has 30 years of experience in the biotech, pharmaceutical, chemical, biofuels, food, and oil and gas industries. He has expertise in process design, project management, engineering, construction, startup, and commissioning and validation of process equipment and process industry facilities. He serves on industrial advisory boards at the Univ. of Akron, Rutgers Univ., and Rowan Univ., and is also an adjunct professor at Rutgers and Rowan. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Pharmaceutical Industry Professional (CPIP).

Steve D. Emerson, P.E., is President of Emerson Technical Analysis (Corpus Christi, TX, and Las Vegas, NV), where he specializes in risk management of hazardous materials. He previously cofounded a steel company after serving in executive positions with Kerr-McGee, Stauffer, and Keystone Steel. He has chaired AIChE's Process Safety Management Mentoring (PSM2) Symposia and the Process Plant Safety Symposium, and serves on the Technical Advisory Committee at Texas A&M Univ.'s Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. He earned his PhD at the Univ. of Arizona, where he was also an engineering faculty member.

Zenaida Otero Gephardt, P.E., is an associate professor of chemical engineering at Rowan Univ., where she has served as director and associate dean of engineering. She was a visiting professor at Chile's Universidad de La Serena and Universidad del Norte-Coquimbo, and was a research engineer at DuPont. She chairs AIChE's Societal Impact Operating Council and is a past chair of the Delaware Valley Section. She earned MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering at the Univ. of Delaware. She is the 2013 recipient of the Advancement of Women Award from the Delaware YWCA.

Randy S. Lewis is a professor and the chair of chemical engineering at Brigham Young Univ. (BYU), and a former faculty member at Oklahoma State Univ. He chairs AIChE's Education and Accreditation Committee and is a past chair of the Career and Education Operating Council and the Student Chapters Committee. His research interests include biomaterials development, engineering education, the use of renewable resources to produce chemicals, and the integration of engineering and sociology in product development for the developing world. He earned his BS and PhD in chemical engineering at BYU and MIT, respectively.

Peter N. Pintauro is the H. Eugene McBrayer Professor of Chemical Engineering at Vanderbilt Univ., where he served as department chair from 2008 to 2013. He was the past chair of chemical engineering at Case Western Reserve Univ. His research is in the areas of electrochemical engineering, membrane science, and organic electrochemical synthesis. His recent efforts focus on fabricating new ion exchange membranes and new electrode architectures for hydrogen/air and direct methanol fuel cells. He is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and a past president of the North American Membrane Society.

Freeman E. Self, Jr., is a process engineer and process safety specialist at Bechtel Corp. (Houston, TX), where he is a Bechtel Distinguished Engineer. He served on AIChE's Board of Directors (2011-2013), and is a past chair of the Career and Education Operating Council. He is treasurer of AIChE's Fuels and Petrochemicals Div. and a longtime leader of the South Texas Section, where he helped launch initiatives for member employment and for young professionals. He also serves on AIChE's Webinar Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. He earned BChE, MSChE, and MBA degrees from Georgia Tech, Rice Univ., and the Univ. of Houston, respectively.