Dr. Neal R. Amundson
Cullen Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
& Professor of Mathematics

Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Ave.
Houston, TX 77204-4004
Office Location: S225
Telephone: (713) 743-4307
Fax: (713) 743-4323
E-mail:

EDUCATION

-B.S. Mathematics, University of Minnesota, (1937)
-M.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota, (1941)
-Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota, (1945)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

› The Aerosol Problem
A major environmental problem facing the city of Houston is the preponderance of chemicals in the aerosol particle population and also those adsorbed on solid particles. The description for modeling the atmosphere is difficult because the computational problems, which this introduces into the models, are extensive. The goal is to develop reasonable models that describe the situation. So far, no one has done this.

› Reaction and Diffusion
The field of reaction and diffusion in chemical engineering is a mature one, however there are still many problems that are not understood. One is the use of the Stefan-Maxwell equations coupled with general reactions to establish a well-posed problem from a scientific point of view. This is an open problem and so far the subject has not been presented adequately.

› Air-Quality Modeling
While there are many models being used presently to describe what happens in the atmosphere under various pollution emission events, most of these are almost vintage and no one thus far has presented what seems to be a bigger and better model. The University of Houston is eminently equipped to do the mathematical computational side. These require the simultaneous solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, a transport equation for each chemical species and the inclusion of hundreds of species programmed for a large parallel computer. The inclusion of the appropriate boundary and initial conditions make this an interesting scientific chemical engineering problem.

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HONORS & ACTIVITIES

—1954-1955 Fulbright Scholar, Cambridge University, England
—1955 Guggenheim Fellow, Cambridge University, England
—1955-1973 Editor, Chemical Engineering Science (Pergamon Press)
—1960 ACS Industrial & Engineering Chemistry award
—1961 AIChE William H. Walker award
—1969 National Academy of Engineering
—1970 ASEE Vincent Bendix award
   Fellow AIChE
—1971 AIChE Warren K. Lewis award
—1973 AIChE Richard H. Wilhelm award
—1975 Guggenheim Fellow; NATO Senior Fellow
—1985 Sc.D. (Honoris Causa), University of Minnesota
   Aaron Farfel award, University of Houston
   AIChE Founders’ award
—1986 Eng.D. (Honoris Causa), University of Notre Dame
—P.V. Danckwerts Memorial Lecture (London)
—1989 Computing & Modelling Association’s Albert Einstein award
—1990 NAE Founders’ award
—1992 American Academy of Arts & Sciences
   National Academy of Sciences
—1993 Medal of Merit, University of Pennsylvania
—1994 Dr. Honoris Causa, University of Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico)
—1996 Neal R. Amundson Award, ISCRE (Brugge, Belgium)
—1997 Sc.D., Northwestern University

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Aris, R.B. and N.R. Amundson, "Reaction of a Continuous Mixture in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed," Trans. Inst. Of Chem. Eng., 71, A, 611-617 (1993).

2. Morell, J.I., D.J. Economou and N.R. Amundson, "Pulsed-Power Volume Heating Chemical Vapor Infiltration," J. Mater. Res., 7, 9, 2447-2457 (1992).

3. Morell, J.I., N.R. Amundson and S.K. Park, "Dynamics of a Single Particle during Char Gasification," Chem. Eng. Sci., 45, 387-401 (1990).

4. Ballal, G., N.R. Amundson and K. Zygourakis, "Pore-Structure Effects in Catalytic Gasification of Coal Chars," AIChE J., 34, 426-434 (1988).

5. Sotirchos, S.V. and N.R. Amundson, "Diffusion and Reaction in a Char Particle and in the Surrounding Gas Phase: A Continuous Model," I&EC Fund., 23, 191-201 (1984).

6. Amundson, N.R., "Reaction, Diffusion, and Elementary Functional Analysis," Diamond Jubilee Historical Review Volume, AIChE Symp. Ser. B235, 79, New York (1983).

7. Rhee, H.K. and N.R. Amundson, "Analysis of Multicomponent Separation by Displacement Development," AIChE J., 28, 423-433 (1982).

8. Editor, International Series on Chemical & Engineering Science (Prentice-Hall, Inc.), 1956-present.

9. Editor, Reviews in Chemical Engineering, 1980-present.

10. Editor, Journal of Preparative Chromatography, 1986-present.

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