Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry

Daniela S Mainardi is an Associate Professor and Program Chair of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana Tech University, currently holding the Thomas C. & Nelda M. Jeffery Professorship in Chemical Engineering. Mainardi has extensive experience in a large variety of multi-scale molecular simulation tools and has conducted research on different and complementary nano- and bio-technology-related topics with applications to transport and catalysis. Mainardi has received the NSF-CAREER award in 2005 on Modified-Methanol Dehydrogenase Enzymatic Catalysts For Fuel Cell Devices. Mainardi is a senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the current AIChE Transport and Energy Processes Division Chair.

Molecular modeling of nano and bio-systems.
Hydrogen storage materials for on-board hydrogen storage.
Biocatalysts for methane and methanol oxidation.

Rick Fontenot has received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1974. He has 35 years of experience in the Petrochemical, Refining, and Polyolefins industries. Rick Fontenot was a Vice President for Lyondell Chemical Company in various capacities from 1996 until his retirement in 2008. During his career with Lyondell and predecessor companies, he has worked in Process Engineering, Production Management, R&D Management, Project Engineering, Process Optimization, and Technology Licensing. Rick was named a Louisiana Tech Distinguished Alumnus in Chemical Engineering in 2011.

History of feedslates for the industry.
The emergence of low-cost hydrocarbon sources and the impact on the industry.
The Shale Boom and its effect on global competitive economics.

Elizabete F Lucas is Chemical Engineer and obtained her D.Sc. degree in Polymer Science and Technology from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1994. She is Associate Professor at UFRJ since 1994 and has been accumulating a great experience in Polymer Science Applied to Petroleum Production for about 25 years. She is the director of the Laboratory of Macromolecules Applied to Petroleum Production (LMCP), has published 107 scientific papers, presented more than 250 talk/poster at conferences and written 3 books, 1 polymer dictionary, 1 vocabulary of oil chemistry and refining (in 4 languages), 1 book translation and 3 chapters of books. Since she has a strong interaction with petroleum industry, about 90 research reports and 36 technical reports have been prepared. The main studies involve polymer synthesis/characterization/properties, physical-chemistry of polymer solution, rheology of polymers and methods to evaluate the performance of polymers applied to different operations in oil production, from drilling to oil and water treatment. In such field, she has directed 30 master dissertations and 14 doctor thesis, and has 7 master dissertations and 11 doctor thesis under direction.

Polymer synthesis/characterization/properties.
Physical-chemistry of polymer solution.
Rheology of polymers and methods to evaluate the performance of polymers applied to different operations in oil production.

Professor Kalliat T Valsaraj received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1980 and his Ph.D in Chemistry (with Chemical Engineering as Minor) from Vanderbilt University in 1983. He is a Professor in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering and served as the Department Chair from 2005 to 2011. He holds the titles of Charles and Hilda Roddey Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering and Ike East Professorship in Chemical Engineering. Currently he serves as an Associate Vice Chancellor within the Office of Research and Economic Development at LSU. His research area is in environmental chemical engineering. He has broad research experience in waste water treatment, atmospheric chemistry and, modeling the fate and transport of contaminants in all three environmental media (air, water and soil/sediment). His present research is concerned with the transformations of pollutants on atmospheric aerosols (fog, rain, ice and snow), mercury sequestration in sediments and, high pressure / low temperature phase equilibrium studies of relevance to the sub-sea oil/gas spills. He has provided consulting and expert opinions to various industries, State and Federal agencies. He is the author of 1 textbook (with three editions), 175 peer-reviewed journal articles, 27 book chapters and 2 U.S. patents. His research has been supported by the NSF, EPA, DOE, DOD, USGS and private industries. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He recently received the Charles E Coates memorial award from the Baton Rouge sections of AIChE and ACS. He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Research Master award, the highest research award, from LSU.

Chemistry of aqueous surfaces in the atmospheric context.
Fog processing of organic compounds in the near- surface atmosphere.
Mercury sequestration in contaminated sediments.
Aerosol transport of oil and dispersant components from a deep sea oil spill.
Photochemical reactors for waste treatment.

J.C. Jones holds the ‘blue ribbon’ degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Leeds, from which he also obtained a BSc and a PhD. He worked in Australia for over seventeen years, latterly at the University of New South Wales. He has over 700 publications including fifteen books. He also has extensive broadcasting experience having, for example, recently spoken on Marketplace about the Keystone pipeline. The trip to San Antonio will be his twelfth visit to the USA.

Combustion fundamentals
Fire protection engineering
Oil and gas supply and demand
Hydrocarbon process safety