Edward L. Cussler, currently Distinguished Institute Professor at the University of Minnesota,  received his B.E. with honors from Yale University in 1961, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1963 and 1965, respectively, working with E. N. Lightfoot.  After thirteen years teaching at Carnegie-Mellon University, Cussler joined the University of Minnesota in 1980.  He has written over 240 articles and five books, including Diffusion, Bioseparations, and more recently, Chemical Product Design.  Cussler has received the Colburn and Lewis Awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), for whom he served as Director, Vice President, and President.  He has received the Separations Science Award from the American Chemical Society, the Merryfield Design Award from the American Society of Engineering Education, and honorary doctorate degrees from the Universities of Lund and Nancy.  Cussler is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

 

 

 

Ed Cussler, University of Minnesota

 

       The chemical industry is no longer dominated by commodities.  The booming industry of the 1940’s and 50’s consolidated in the 1960’s, when economies of scale became dominant.  The industry’s transition from a growth to a commodity business was obscured by the oil shocks of the ’70s and the gains from computer control in the 1980’s.  By the 1990’s, the industry underwent major contraction, with layoffs, early retirements, and downsizing. Pressure in the petrochemical business has been especially strong from the Middle East, where there are large proven reserves of feedstock.  For example,  Pemex and ExxonMobil each have only ten percent of the proven reserves of ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.  In response, General Electric sold its commodity business to Saudi Basic Industries.  Dow and DuPont, which had been the two largest U.S. chemical companies, have completely redirected their products.  As Greg Babe, president and CEO of BayerUSA, points out, “Major chemical plants that cost $1 billion or more are now almost exclusively being built overseas.”

 

       We in academia have been slow to respond to these changes.  We are a service business, adding value to our students.  We ignore the fact that most of our graduates find jobs out of the traditional chemical business.  Distracted by our research, we forget that 85% of our students will have no formal education after the bachelor’s degree.  Our behavior risks being a serious disservice to our profession.

 

       To fulfill our responsibilities to our students, we need to shift the emphasis of what we teach.  We must teach thermodynamics of aqueous solutions as well as of hydrocarbons:  ionic strength will be more important than fugacity.  We must expand our lectures on transport, including batteries at least as much as membranes.  We must teach product design, and reduce the time on process design.  By this altered emphasis, we will add more value to our students and fulfill our responsibility as faculty.