NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING PRESENTS FOUNDERS AWARD

WASHINGTON - The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has selected the recipient of the 2002 NAE Founders Award, which recognizes an Academy member who has made lifelong contributions to engineering and whose accomplishments have benefited the people of the United States. Stuart W. Churchill, Carl V.S. Patterson Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, will receive the award and speak at the Academy's annual meeting on Sunday, October 6, in Washington, D.C.

Churchill is being recognized "for outstanding leadership in research, education, and professional service, and for continuing contributions in combustion, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics for over half a century." His accomplishments have been far-reaching and have changed the way average Americans live. Churchill conceived and developed a thermally stabilized burner that results in much quieter and cleaner combustion, greatly reducing the size of heaters and furnaces. He also invented a heat-exchanger/catalytic reactor that incinerates cigarette smoke, toxic compounds, and microorganisms in living and working spaces. He has been a pioneer in the use of digital computers to solve engineering problems, and in the development of improved models for representing engineering data during conditions of turbulent flow and convection. In addition, he has contributed to nuclear safety, to the safe handling of liquefied natural gas, to the space program, and to national defense.

Churchill earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan in 1942 and went on to work at Shell Oil Company. There he helped design, operate, and analyze new processes (such as fluidized-bed catalytic cracking) for the production of aviation gasoline during World War II. At the end of the war, he joined a small start-up company, Frontier Chemical, where he helped create a new process for the manufacture of the important industrial chemicals hydrochloric acid and caustic soda.

Churchill returned to the University of Michigan in 1947, obtaining his Ph.D. and becoming a faculty member. In 1967, he accepted the Carl V.S. Patterson Chair at the University of Pennsylvania. Churchill has served as a Visiting Professor at Iowa State University, the University of Utah, Pennsylvania State University, and Okayama University, and on the advisory committees of many others. Although he became Emeritus in 1990, he remains active today at age 82 in teaching, research, and professional society activities.

Churchill has produced over 280 journal publications and 6 books, including The Interpretation and Use of Rate Data - The Rate Process Concept. This book, which defines and generalizes the treatment of rates of change in chemical, biochemical, and mechanical engineering systems, has been an influential publication in the field.

The National Academy of Engineering is a private, nonprofit institution that provides technology advice under a congressional charter. The NAE also salutes leaders in engineering for their lifetime dedication to their field, and their commitment to advancing the society through great achievements. The NAE dedicates more than $1 million annually to recognize these leaders, and to bring better understanding of engineering's importance to society. In addition to the Founders award, the NAE presents the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, the Bernard M. Gordon Prize, and the Arthur M. Bueche award.

For more information about the Founders award, please contact Leila Rao, NAE awards administrator, at (202) 334-1237, or visit the NAE web site at http://www.nae.edu/awards.