Professor Mark Thies was elected Fellow in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and was honored at the organization’s annual meeting in November. Dr. Thies is a Dow Chemical Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Election as Fellow recognizes “service to the profession” and “significant professional accomplishment.” Contribution in one of these areas must be outstanding, and some contribution in both areas is necessary. The institute has more than 45,000 members and lists 877 Fellows on its website. That puts Fellows in the top 2 percent of the organization. “This honor reaffirms the high esteem with which your colleagues and peers view your distinctive professional achievements and accomplishments,” according to an award statement the institute sent to Thies.
Thies has been on the Clemson faculty since 1985. He is the author of more than 80 refereed journal publications, three patents, and three book chapters, and has directed more than $12 million in externally funded research. Douglas Hirt, chairman of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, said Thies’s election was a well-deserved honor. “Election as Fellow is outside recognition that recipients are highly accomplished and are among the world’s top chemical engineers,” Hirt said.
Thies’ research interests include thermodynamics, phase behavior, and separations, with an emphasis on the application of supercritical fluids to the fractionation and molecular characterization of poorly defined, oligomeric systems. Current systems of interest include lignin and liquid crystalline PAH oligomers for energy and materials applications.
(excerpts from article written by Paul Alongi, College of Engineering and Science)