{"id":1391,"date":"2009-10-22T16:23:55","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T21:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:32:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:32:07","slug":"chemical-engineering-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/chemical-engineering-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical Engineering Students Win First Place in National Design Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
\nTrio to accept award Nov. 7 in Nashville
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOXFORD, Miss. – Teamwork and time have turned a trio of University of
\nMississippi chemical engineering majors into prize-winning
\ntroubleshooters in a national student competition.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"cheme-first-place.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\nUM chemical engineering students Michael McClure (left), Chris Turbeville and Joey Parkerson recently won the Team Division of the 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineering National Design competition.<\/b> Courtesy photo.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


Joey Parkerson of French Camp, Christopher Turbeville of Southaven and
\nMichael McClure of Vicksburg – all seniors last spring – took first
\nplace in the Team Division of the 2009 American Institute of Chemical
\nEngineers National Design Contest. The UM group beat competitors from
\n34 other universities, including five-time champion Oklahoma State
\nUniversity and two-time champions Michigan State University,
\nNortheastern University and Washington University.<\/p>\n

\nOther previous winners include Mississippi State University, the University
\nof Toledo, Columbia University and the University of Utah.\n<\/p>\n

\n“This is a great achievement for us, the chemical engineering
\ndepartment, the School of Engineering and the University of Mississippi
\nas a whole,” said Parkerson, a hypergolic propulsion systems engineer
\nfor NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “It is especially rewarding for us to
\nhave won first place the very first year that we competed.”\n<\/p>\n

\nAll entrants worked on the same problem: Design the
\nhighest-yielding, lowest-cost process for converting corn into butanol,
\na biofuel that may be used in an internal combustion engine. Butanol
\ngenerally is more environmentally friendly and yields more energy than
\nethanol.\n<\/p>\n

\nTeams had one month to research and complete their proposals by the May 31 deadline.\n<\/p>\n

\n“The three of us started planning our strategy before we even knew what
\nthe problem was,” said McClure, a business development manager at
\nDesiccare in Jackson. “No one can do a project like this without making
\na lot of assumptions going in. Actually winning depends upon how good
\nyour assumptions are and how well you present the whole design.”\n<\/p>\n

\nFrom problem presentation to solution proposal submission, the UM team
\nlabored long hours, all while maintaining class schedules and
\nextracurricular activities.\n<\/p>\n

\n“We found this to be a very challenging experience,” said Turbeville, a
\nprocess engineer at ExxonMobil in Beaumont, Texas. “In addition to all
\nthe preliminary and subsequent research, we must have redesigned the
\ndraft at least 10 times in the 30 days we worked on it.”\n<\/p>\n

\n“Still, because we’re such good friends, it really wasn’t like working at all.”\n<\/p>\n

\nFollowing the trio’s entry in the national competition, they submitted
\nthe same proposal in the AIChE Mid-South Regional Design Competition.
\nPossibly a predictor of the national victory that came this fall, UM
\ntriumphed over both Mississippi State University and Christian Brothers
\nUniversity.\n<\/p>\n

\n“That was the first time we won the regional competition since I’ve
\nbeen here,” Parkerson said. “Our chemical engineering program maybe
\nsmaller than our competitors, but by winning first place we’re proving
\nwe’re just as good or better.”\n<\/p>\n

\n“These students put an enormous amount of time into this,” said Peter
\nSukanek, professor of chemical engineering and faculty adviser for the
\ncampus AIChE chapter. “They spent literally many hours every day, night
\nand weekend during the 30 day-period finding the data needed and making
\ntheir calculations and evaluations. Their final product is excellent
\nand is a testament to the ability of these three individuals.”\n<\/p>\n

\nParkerson, who is completing his final courses this semester,
\nsaid he is looking forward to reuniting with Turbeville and McClure
\nNov. 7 at the annual AIChE Student Convention in Nashville to make
\ntheir presentation and accept their $600 prize.\n<\/p>\n

\nThough the prize money is nice, the three agree that gaining
\nrecognition for themselves and the chemical engineering department is
\nthe true reward.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Our win wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the great
\ninstruction that we received from the faculty in our department,”
\nMcClure said. “This honor is as much theirs as it is ours.”\n<\/p>\n

\nAs the green movement gains momentum and the auto industry continues
\nits shift to biofuels, a processing plant such as the proposed one may
\nsomeday be built.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Right now it’s just not profitable, but who knows what the future
\nholds?” Parkerson said. “If some company does undertake such a project,
\nmaybe our design could possibly be a springboard for their own research
\nand construction endeavors,” Parkerson said. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 For each year’s
\nstudent competition, engineers from a designated company design and
\njudge a problem that typifies a real chemical engineering design
\nsituation. AIChE is the world’s leading organization for chemical
\nengineering professionals, with nearly 40,000 members in 93 countries.\n<\/p>\n

\n“The competition is open to every one of the 190 departments of
\nchemical engineering in the United States,” said Richard Long, chair of
\nthe AIChE design subcommittee. “The problem’s solution requires a wide
\nrange of skills in calculation and evaluation of both technical data
\nand economic factors.”\n<\/p>\n

\nFor more information about the UM Department of Chemical Engineering, visit http:\/\/olemiss.edu\/depts\/<\/wbr>chemical?eng\/<\/a> or call 662-915-7023. For more information about the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, visit http:\/\/aiche.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trio to accept award Nov. 7 in Nashville OXFORD, Miss. – Teamwork and time have turned a trio of University of Mississippi chemical engineering majors into prize-winning troubleshooters in a national student competition. UM chemical engineering students Michael McClure (left), Chris Turbeville and Joey Parkerson recently won the Team Division of the 2009 American InstituteRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[765,1297],"tags":[780,779],"yoast_head":"\nChemical Engineering Students Win First Place in National Design Competition - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/chemical-engineering-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chemical Engineering Students Win First Place in National Design Competition - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trio to accept award Nov. 7 in Nashville OXFORD, Miss. – Teamwork and time have turned a trio of University of Mississippi chemical engineering majors into prize-winning troubleshooters in a national student competition. 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