Holiday Wishes From All of Us at CHEE

Dear alumni and friends,

To say 2020 has been a challenging year may be the understatement of a century. Nevertheless, what has stood out most for me is the resilience of the CHEE family. Together, we have adapted and grown in ways we never could have imagined.

I am immensely grateful for your support and proud to lead this department, especially when I see how well we have all navigated the COVID-19 landscape.

CHEE’s profile -- with its strong synergy of chemical and environmental engineering in education and research -- is growing nationally. We have so many things for which to be grateful and so much to be excited about, such as a new one-year Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and upcoming accreditation of the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering.

Friends Celebrate Tom Peterson: Alumnus of the Year

A highlight of 2020 was honoring our own Tom Peterson as the College of Engineering’s Alumnus of the Year during the university’s virtual Homecoming. Several dozen faculty members and alumni attended the department’s gathering for the former CHEE professor and college dean. Generations of the CHEE family shared stories about Tom and found ways to personalize the reminiscing in the online setting.
 
With his space suit hanging nearby, astronaut Don Pettit, 1983 doctoral alumnus, shouted out congratulations. Karla Romero and Dan Seif, MS students in the late 1990s, joked about how they secured the then-professor’s permission to present at an international electrochemical conference before telling him the conference was in Honolulu, home of vacation destination Waikiki Beach. On a more serious note, Mike Schabel, who earned his PhD in 1999, spoke of how well the former dean modeled the values of teambuilding and diversity.
 
All of the stories made one thing crystal clear: Tom’s life and esteemed career have been first and foremost about lifting people up. The celebration video features even more memories. At your convenience, you can also still view all the college’s virtual Homecoming happenings.

Students Advocate for Remote Learning Adjustments

CHEE students stepped up in a powerful way to address the challenge of fulfilling a quality engineering education in a remote learning environment.

Seniors Jessica Unwin and Abby Severance were concerned about students struggling with online learning, and they noticed how their classmates weren’t really talking about their problems. So the pair developed an in-depth survey to assess the areas of greatest academic, physical, mental and emotional stress -- and get some help coming up with practical solutions. More than 120 students, a third of the department’s undergraduates, responded with honesty and insight.

The two seniors presented their findings at a faculty meeting, which resulted in class adaptations. For example, faculty members are now collaborating with one another to schedule course projects and exams so students aren’t overloaded at any given time. Now students and faculty are working on even more adjustments for the spring semester.