Class Notes: CBE

Peter Wright graduated in 1975, and earned his M.B.A. from Cornell in 1976. He started with IBM for three years before joining the Gartner Group, a market research firm that specialized in strategic technology research in 1980. In 1985, the company spun off a brokerage firm, Soundview Financial, of which he became CEO and ran until 1990. SInce then, he has been running an investment management company. He is father to three boys and two girls, the oldest of who has just graduated from Cornell University's Operations Research and Engineering major. His middle child has just completed his freshman year in Cornell Engineering's Computer Science Program. 

"My chemical engineering experience was enhanced by the warmth and guidance of the professors, particularly Ray Thorpe, who gave his heart and soul to guide students through the turbulent experiences that Chemical Engineers can engender. 
Chemical Engineering was a quintessence experience that shaped my ability to think and compete in various analytical environments. I often use my educational experiences as an equity stock manager. Principles of calculus and chemical engineering still apply. In particular, I always think about the second law of thermodynamics when thinking about the evolution of technology markets and product cycles."

Robert Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT. He has written over 1,200 articles and has 815 patents, issued or pending His many awards include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, Albany Medical Center Prize, the Wolf Prize for Chemistry, the Priestley Medal, and the Millenium Technology Prize.

"I remember studying in the Olin Hall library many times with all my friends, studying mechanisms of blood damage with Bob Finn (for my bachelor's thesis), being a TA for George Scheele's Heat and Mass Transfer course, as well as taking Peter Harriott's Unit Operations course, which taught me not only about research but technical writing. These experiences shaped my entire career. 
My experience in chemical engineering was very versatile, and I learned a lot. The professors were great teachers." 

Sewell David Weaver entered Cornell's Ph.D. program after receiving an M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh and spending four years as a research engineer with DuPont. His DuPont work, at that time, involved pilot plant synthesis of monomers, equipment evaluation studies of polymer isolation techniques, related scale up, and safety issues in support of a project to build a commercial facility for the product ion of synthetic elastomeric materials. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1969, Weaver returned to DuPont, and was assigned to a research and development program in the general area of fluorocarbon monomer synthesis and commercialization of new fluoroelastomeric compounds. His research in that area led to several U.S. and international process patents in his name. In the subsequent years, his responsibilities expanded in scope to include new plant design, safe handling techniques, profitability analysis, and training of new engineers, in addition to consultation assignments in Europe and Japan. He retired in 2004 as a DuPont Research Fellow.

"I was assigned as a graduate research assistant to Dr. Robert York in his Plant Design and Economic course, a position I held for about three years. Dr. York was a dedicated instructor and, not only was he totally prepared for his formal lectures, but he also spent quality time with both his students and graduate assistants. We agreed that I would do my thesis and research under his guidance, which helped to continue my path towards a lucrative career in chemical engineering. 
My Olin Hall experience was tailored for my professional assignments, and this training had a significant impact on my career and professional development. I believe that my chemical engineering training was completely versatile, and that while I chose research and development, I could have taken any available career path."

Michael Gibson was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a father and several other relatives who were engineers, some from Cornell. Following his Cornell graduation and several oilfield summer jobs, Gibson worked in process design at Exxon's Baytown refinery, returned to Rice University to pursue a Ph.D., and served as an Army Corps of Engineers officer at the NASA Johnson Space Center, highlighted by the Apollo 13 rescue. Following his discharge and Rice graduation, Gibson worked for nine years with Exxon Research on synthetic fuels development from coal, oil shale, heavy oil, and tar sands. When this work was halted for economic reasons, Gibson and his partner started their own contract research and manufacturing business, which they operated for 20 years until its sale. He now works for the buyer and other clients as an independent consultant. 

"Among my many positive experiences with faculty in Olin Hall, my one-on-one conversations with Prof. Raymond Thorpe stand out in my memory. His unselfish dedication to his students led him to keep his office open many extra hours for students with questions about his subject matter and for broader advice about career and life choices. He was an outstanding teacher and mentor. 
Throughout my career, the training I received at Cornell has been highly valuable. I have used and benefited from materials from every chemical engineering and science course I took at Cornell. The hands-on work ethic, inspired by my Olin Hall experiences, was especially valuable when my partner and I started our own business." 

Roger West obtained his Chemical Engineering degree in the five year engineering program in 1961 (class of 1960) and followed with a Cornell Ph.D. in 1965. His entire career was spent at Exxon Chemical Research & Development, where he worked in synthetic rubber technology. He worked with four other engineers and chemists to commercialize a novel method to produce a polymer with varying composition along its length in a tubular reactor. Their work was recognized by the American Chemical Society, which named them Heroes of Chemistry in 1998. 

"There were numerous valuable experiences in Olin Hall. I audited Prof. Rodriguez's Polymer Science course to fill a gap in my training which was fortuitous since when I began my career I was assigned to the Exxon area concerned with synthetic rubber R&D, culminating in the award mentioned above.
The broad range of education received at Olin Hall equipped me various aspects of research and new product and process commercialization, including equipment and design."