The Value of an Industrial Internship on a Graduate Student Education

Authors

  • Arvind Varma School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
  • Gregory Honda School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
  • Jorge Pazmino Engineering and Process Science, The Dow Chemical Company, 2301 North Brazosport Blvd., Freeport, TX 77541, USA
  • Daniel Hickman Engineering and Process Science, The Dow Chemical Company, 1776 Building, Midland, MI 48674, USA

Abstract

A chemical engineering PhD student from Purdue University completed an internship at The Dow Chemical Company, evaluating the effect of scale on the hydrodynamics of a trickle bed reactor. A unique aspect of this work was that it arose from an ongoing collaboration, so that the project was within the scope of the graduate student’s thesis. This enabled successful completion of the work. Additionally, the contacts made were of benefit to all parties.

Author Biographies

Arvind Varma, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Arvind Varma is R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor and Jay & Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head, School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. Author of more than 290 archival journal articles and three books, his research interests are in chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and new energy sources. He has received a number of recognitions for his research and teaching, including AIChE’s R.H. Wilhelm and Warren K. Lewis Awards, and serves as the founding editor (1996-present) of the Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering.

Gregory Honda, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

 

 Greg Honda is a chemical engineering PhD candidate in Dr. Arvind Varma’s research group at Purdue Universtiy. He received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut with honors in 2010. His research interests are in reaction engineering, including micro-reactors and trickle bed reactors.

Jorge Pazmino, Engineering and Process Science, The Dow Chemical Company, 2301 North Brazosport Blvd., Freeport, TX 77541, USA

 

 Jorge Pazmiño is an Associate Engineer at the Reaction Engineering group in Core R&D at the Dow Chemical Company. Jorge obtained his PhD from Purdue University in 2011 in the area of heterogeneous catalysis. During his time at Dow, he has supported several businesses with reactor and kinetic modeling, process validation from lab scale experiments, scaling up new technologies for oil extraction and tool optimization for predicting catalyst deactivation. His interests are aligned with deriving kinetic models from experimental data, catalyst screening and characterization.

Daniel Hickman, Engineering and Process Science, The Dow Chemical Company, 1776 Building, Midland, MI 48674, USA

Dan Hickman is a Fellow in the Reaction Engineering group in Core R&D at The Dow Chemical Company. Dan has been a subject matter expert and technical leader in reaction engineering and process development for numerous reaction systems across a variety of Dow businesses and technologies. In addition to holding 11 patents, Dan’s contributions at Dow include designing reactors for three commercial processes, two currently in operation and a third under construction.

Downloads

Published

2015-11-04

Issue

Vol. 49 No. 4 (2015): Fall 2015

Section

Manuscripts