Chemical Engineering Consultant Specializing in Chemical Reactor Simulation

Expertise

• Chemical reactor design and optimization.
• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).
• Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD).
• Plasma deposition and processing.
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling.
• Process optimization via statistical Design of Experiments (DOE).
• Plant and laboratory health, safety, and environmental issues.
• Intellectual Property (IP) issues (registered USPTO Patent Agent).
• Superconductivity and electrochemical processing.
• General specialty chemical plant operations, optimization and troubleshooting.
• Membrane separations and processing.
• Optical fiber production.

Experience

Private Consultant 2003 - Present

• Engineering consultant specializing in chemical reactor simulation and design, process optimization and process scale-up.
• Process commercialization and intellectual property matters.

Alcatel Cable France / R and D Center, Conflans, France, Plasma Research and Development Engineer 2001 - 2002

• Plasma deposition process improvement program (PVD deposition process for optical fiber preform production, similar to spray coating operations.)
• Developed coupled CFD, electromagnetic, and particle injection process models using Fluent, CFD-ACE and other proprietary codes.
• Coordinated process validation data gathering and spectroscopic measurements.
• Initiated and managed other process design and improvement projects.

Alcatel Optical Fiber Division/Preform Manufacturing and Engineering, Claremont, N.C., CVD Process Engineer 1999 - 2001

• Design, development, optimization, implementation, and modeling of CVD and plasma PVD reactor processes for fiber optic preform production.
• Optimized CVD process fluid dynamics and heat transfer conditions to increase throughput.
• Performed design calculations and optimizations to assist in increasing capacity by 40% using Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Design of Experiments (DOE) techniques.
• Investigated process safety and environmental issues (NOX) including effluent measurements, participated in senior strategy meetings, and made recommendations.
• Lead and coordinated process technical troubleshooting teams. Implemented and troubleshot processes at other international production plants.

Oklahoma State University/Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc., Stillwater, Oklahoma, Graduate Student - Research and Teaching Assistant 1997 - 1998

• Designed a vapor deposition reactor for optical materials synthesis for Eagle-Picher as a thesis project.
• Modeled reactor fluid dynamics and kinetics by FLUENT CFD.

Sachem, Inc., Austin, Texas, Research Chemist 1993 - 1996

• Researched, developed and optimized processes for the synthesis of high purity chemicals.
• Invented multiple processes using electrolytic, electrodialytic, and electro membrane reactors.
• Employed membrane technologies including ion exchange, RO, and bipolar membranes.
• Improved efficiency and productivity, reduced costs and waste streams by process simplification.
• Conducted bench and pilot studies to optimize processes using Design of Experiments (DOE).
• Authored and co-authored four U.S. and four foreign patents.
• Lead and coordinated the Company Wellness Program.

Education

M.S., Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

B.S., Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas

Certified E.I.T. and candidate for PE licensing.

Legal Training

• Tulane Law School, New Orleans, Louisiana, 08/04 %u2013 09/05 (interrupted by hurricane Katrina)- Completed 1 year
• Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 09/05 - 12/05 -Patent Law
• Registered USPTO Patent Agent (Registration No. 59278)