Eric W. Anderson

 

Chemical Engineering Department

ewanders@engr.uconn.edu

University of Connecticut

 http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~ewanders/

191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222

Phone: 860-486-2490

Storrs, CT  06269-3222

Fax: 860-486-2959

 

Summary:     A versatile senior-level chemical engineer with a record of accomplishment

in both higher education and technology development.

 

Key Accomplishments include:

 

·        Supervision and mentoring of young engineers

·        Transfer of technology between research, engineering, and manufacturing

·        International training and project execution

·        Inventive Solutions to technical problems

·        Simulation of complex and non-standard chemical processes

 

Current Position

University of Connecticut Chemical Engineering Department

Instructor in Residence

 

 

 

2005 –

Present

Direct Undergraduate Labs in Chemical Engineering

  • Supervise two senior-level Unit Operations Labs
  • Responsible for construction and maintenance of experiments
  • Teach technical topics:  separations, reaction, fluid mechanics
  • Coach communications, both writing and speaking
  • Leading effort to scale up lab for more than double enrolment in 2006

 

Teach Process Design

  • Co-teaching senior design course
  • Teaching flowsheeting and process simulation with ASPEN Plus
  • Responsible for capstone design project

 

 

Consulting

Practice

I have been involved in independent consulting since 1985.  I have three major focus areas:

 

Training:  Development of training materials, Delivery of training (In-house, on-site, and international), Train-the-trainer coaching, Individual tutoring and mentoring.

 

 

Process Simulation with ASPEN Plus:  Construction of physical property models, unit or plant simulations, reconciliation of models with real-world performance

 

 

Process Analysis and Plant Troubleshooting:  Root Cause Analysis, Kepner-Tregoe and Six Sigma Problem-solving, USIT Structured Invention system

 


 

Academic Experience

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  

Lecturer in Chemical Engineering

 

 

 

1992 – 1996

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer 1995

Supervised two required undergraduate laboratories, the Project Laboratory and the Unit Operations Laboratory.

·        Managed team of 7 faculty, 2 full-time assistants, 4 TAs for a combined enrollment of ~120 students/yr. 

·        Secured industrial sponsorship for 15-20 new projects annually. 

·        Converted existing UO lab to perpetually novel experiments. 

·        Both lab courses were designed to require experimental work, data analysis, project management, and technical communications. 

·        Directed the Chemical Engineering Department writing program. 

·        Member of the Safety and ABET Committees. 

·        Freshman advisor.

 

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice – Station Director

Supervised graduate students doing off-site Masters research projects. Practice School projects require group experimental work in a non-academic environment, along with data analysis and reporting.

US Army Soldier Systems Center, Natick, MA.

Projects on chemical protective equipment development, electrochemical heating units, food product and process development, and portable shelters.

 

Assistant, then Director of Albany Station at General Electric Co.

 

1984 - 1986

Directed stations in large industrial sites at Waterford and Selkirk, NY. 

·        Projects included work in the sites’ large-scale monomer production, polymerization, solids handling, specialty chemicals production, packaging, and environmental units. 

·        Projects focused on process economics, quality improvement, and minimization of environmental impact.

 


 

Industrial

Cabot Corporation - Lead Process Engineer

Experience

 

 

2001 –

2004

Internal consultant for a variety of process design, scale-up, and plant operations issues. 

·        Provided engineering support for Fumed Metal Oxides business in North America, Europe, and Asia.

·        Led operations improvement team that avoided $5MM capital cost.

·        Process design and problem solving for product development group.

·        Founding member of USIT structured invention team.

 

 

Aspen Technology, Inc.  - Sr. Staff Technical Solutions Consultant

 

 

1996 – 2001

Second-level technical support specialist.

·        Consultant to clients on thermodynamics and separations issues. 

·        Principal instructor and course developer for six separate courses on thermodynamics, separations, and electrolytes. 

·        Instructor for introductory modeling courses.  Developer of many custom courses to meet needs of individual clients. 

·        Formulated second-level support program allowing experienced engineers to mentor new engineers.  Revised new engineer training program.  Created internal technical communications course.

·        Contributed to documentation and user interface development.

 

 

 

Badger Engineers, Inc. - Process Engineer

1981 – 1984

Process design, simulation, preparation of equipment specifications, PFD and P&IDs, bid review and pre-commission inspections for a variety of petroleum, petrochemical, utilities, and synfuels projects.

 

 

Foster Wheeler Energy Co. - Process Design Engineer

1980 – 1981

Preparation of equipment specifications and P&IDs for a major refinery expansion project.  Worked with Delayed Coker, LPG cleanup, Alkylation unit, and flare system.

 

Education

 

1986-

1992

University of California

Work in process development and thermodynamic modeling of liquid-liquid extraction processes for production of industrial salts with John M. Prausnitz and Scott Lynn.  Passed doctoral qualifiers.

·        Winner of Outstanding TA award for help with senior design course.

 

1984

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

MS in Chemical Engineering Practice

Project work at Bethlehem Steel, Bethlehem PA and General Electric, NY

·        Invited to join Practice School staff on completion of Master’s Degree

1979

SB in Chemical Engineering

Thesis:  Health Effects of Coal and Wood Pyrolysis Liquids


Addendum 1

 

Project Management Accomplishments

 

Project

Management Experience

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice

As a student, led team of four engineers doing lab/plant project at Bethlehem Steel.

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice

On the staff at GE station, formulated and supervised more than 50 technical projects.  Managed Station finances and staff of 2 full-time employees.

MIT

Directed undergraduate labs in chemical engineering.  Organized seven faculty members, two full-time assistants, three teaching assistants and up to 60 students doing up to 21 projects at a time.  Supervised installation or revision of dozens of experiments.

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice

Directed Practice School Station at US Army Research Labs at Natick.  Supervised eight technical projects. 

Aspen Technology

Organized second-level support process for Aspen Engineering Suite products.

Cabot

Led team to improve acid recovery operations at Barry, Wales site.  Avoided over 5 million dollars in proposed capital through operations improvements and better coordination with across-the-fence partner.

 

 

 

Knowledge Transfer Accomplishments

 

Employer

Teaching Experience

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice at GE

Taught project management, practical engineering & technical communications on a just-in-time basis to Chemical Engineering grad students in an industrial setting.

UC Berkeley

TA for Prausnitz’ Molecular Thermodynamics course.  Rewrote solutions manual.  TA for Process Design (winner of Outstanding Instructor award).

MIT

Directed undergraduate labs in chemical engineering.  Taught experimental techniques, technical communications, statistics, and safety.

MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice at Natick

Taught project management, practical engineering, & technical communications on a just-in-time basis to Chemical Engineering grad students at a Military research laboratory

Aspen Technology

Taught a variety of process modeling courses both internally and for a range of clients, including Cabot, Eli Lilly, BASF, Union Carbide, Procter & Gamble.  Created custom courses for clients.  Developed and taught internal courses in technical presentations.

Cabot Corporation

Helped make the USIT structured invention system a standard tool for Cabot R&D teams.

 

Addendum 2

 

 

Sample Project Experience

 

Employer

Client

Processes

Responsibilities

Foster-Wheeler

Chevron Pascagoula, MS

 

LPG separations, Delayed Coker, Alkylation Plant

PFDs, P&IDs, equipment specs, bid reviews

Badger Engineers

US DOE

SRC II (solvent refined coal)

Physical properties, Process Simulation, PFDs

 

Exxon Canada

EB/Styrene

Process and Equipment design

 

NL Industries

Poly-a-olefins

Property modeling, process simulation, distillation design

 

Badger internal

 

Styrene

Detailed reactor modeling of styrene dehydrogenation

MIT

Bethlehem Steel

Treatment of Blast-furnace wastewater

Lab work, process development

 

GE Plastics Selkirk NY

PPO manufacturing

Troubleshooting separation processes, QC test development, Wastewater biotreatment

 

GE Plastics Waterford NY

 

Silicone manufacturing

HCl/water separation, batch reactions, HAZOP studies

 

Nestle

---

Cereals-cooking extruder

Pilot plant experiments

 

UC Berkeley

LBL

Extractive crystallization for salt purification

Experimental, theoretical, and computational work

 

MIT

Air Products

Pressure Swing Absorption

Pilot-scale experiments

 

Millipore

Electrodialysis

Supervised experiments

 

US Army

Food product development

Pilot production, evaluation

 

 

US Army

Chemical Protective Gear

Modeling and experimental evaluation of agent transport and absorption


 

Employer

Client

Processes

Responsibilities

AspenTech

Allied-Signal

Nylon production

Modeling reactive distillation with kinetic and diffusive limitations

 

Bayer

Molybdenum production

Hydrometallurgy properties and reactions

 

Los Alamos National Lab

Tritium recovery process

Physical property and absorption process modeling

 

Aspentech internal

Customer Training

Developed or rebuilt courses on Distillation, Electrolytes, and Physical Property Modeling

 

Cabot Global Engineering

Fumed Metal Oxides Business

Alternative Feedstocks Project

Process modeling, experimental design, and full-scale testing for manufacture of silica from novel feedstocks

 

 

Fumed Alumina

Pilot scale tests of new sublimer design; P&I review, HAZOP for 3x scale-up at new location

 

 

China Silica Expansion

Process design for grassroots plant

 

 

Barry Acid Area Reliability

Led team to change operating policies and procedures – avoided over 5 million dollars in capital

 

Carbon Black Business

Feedstock Heaters troubleshooting

Led effort to understand erratic performance of inline heater coils

 

Tantalum Business

Fresh water/ wastewater reduction

Participated in interdisciplinary team to rationalize water use in these metal extraction processes

 

 

Professional Society Memberships: 

 

Member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) national and Boston Section (Ichthyologists).

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Chem Eng, Design, and Experimental Studies divisions.