Fall 2018 CHEE Class Notes

Devendra "Deven" Patel

Class of 1965, BS in Chemical Engineering
devenpatel39@hotmail.com or devenpatel39@yahoo.com

This photo was taken at my graduation in 1965. After completing my BS degree, I completed an MBA at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

I retired in 2014, and during my career I held the following positions:

• Project Manager/Project Engineering Manager
• Manager Process Engineering/Senior Process Engineer
• Engineering Quality Manger for Zero Error Tolerance
• Corporate Staff Engineer

Areas of specialization:

• Worked for chemical manufacturing companies and engineering contractor corporations for diversified experience.
• Multiple years of chemical engineering experience working on grassroots plants, from design to startup, in petro-chemicals, refineries, seawater purification and liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
• Assigned to chemical plant design projects with demanding schedules and tight budgets; achieved successful project completions on time and under budget.
• Worked as senior-level process engineer on several multi billion dollar LNG projects. I was selected as a specialist to review whether the LNG plant design’s prevention measures could cope with operational hazards and personnel safety, and to minimize capital losses in case of plant accidents.
• Participated in developing project schedule, prioritizing critical activities, milestone setting, and rigorous follow-up of schedule and budget. Also prepared legal contract documents for new contract work.
• Strong background in computerized process control and process instrumentation.

Carl Nichols

Class of 1973, BS in Chemical Engineering
considerjesus@gmail.com

After 27 years of continuous service in the mining industry, I retired in 2006. During my career, I worked for three years at 3M in Minnesota, and three years in the carbon black division at J.M. Huber in Borger, Texas.

I’m still raising three teenage boys. I advise chemical engineering seniors in hydrometallurgical mineral processing projects in the mining industry at Montana State University. I give them exposure to actual projects under development. The mining projects are global in location, marketing and value.

Deanna (King) Owens

Class of 2005, BS in Chemical Engineering
dking@micron.com

Greetings, fellow UA CHEE alumni! I am currently the photolithography engineering manager of the technology development department at Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho.

In addition to working on next-generation memory solutions, I am wife to Jay Owens, mama to two little active boys, and enjoying amazing outdoor adventures in the Pacific Northwest.

I have been with Micron for 13 years, and more recently have had the pleasure of being named the technology development campus recruiter for the UA. I recently attended a UA STEM career fair with colleague Jivaan Kishore Jhothiraman (PhD, CHEE class of 2016). We sought out the tremendous engineering talent within the UA engineering department.

It is nice to see that the warm and supportive CHEE department has not changed much in 13 years, and it was a pleasure to see a lot of familiar faces and reminisce about my amazing college experience.

Bear down, AZ!

Jeannie Wilkening

Class of 2016, BS in Chemical Engineering
jeanniewilkening@gmail.com

Jeannie Wilkening recently received her Master of Philosophy in earth sciences from Cambridge University. Her research focused on the climate implications of carbon, sulfur and iron cycling in marshes.

Jeannie was named a Churchill Scholar in 2016 for her outstanding academic performance and research capability. Only 15 students receive the honor annually.

Fellow Churchill Scholar Travis Sawyer, a UA optical sciences and engineering graduate who is pictured with Jeannie, completed his Master of Philosophy in physics.