Bio - Professor and Director: B.Sc. in Forestry and Forest Biology from Mississippi State University in 1980; M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Wood Science and Technology (polymer chemistry emphasis) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1983 and 1986 respectively; Became an Assistant Professor in the Forest Products Laboratory at University of California in 1986; Joined the USDA-Forest Service, Southern Research Station as a Research Physical Scientist in 1988; Promoted to Project Leader/Research Scientist in 1996; Joined the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries at Tennessee Forest Products Center in 2001. His research interests include structure and properties of wood/polymer interfaces, raw material assessment and process monitoring using spectroscopy, and cure analysis of thermosetting polymers.

Bio - Dr. Agnihotri joined the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee in August 2005. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and his M.S. degree from New Mexico Tech in 2001. Both degrees are in environmental engineering with a focus on Air Pollution Engineering. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the (Indian) Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India in 1997. Working as a Production Engineer for the Indian Oil Corporation Limited from 1997-1999 he helped commission and operate the Sulfur Recovery and Amine Regeneration Units of a new refinery. His current research interests are focused on the development and application of air pollution control technologies including activated carbon injection and non-thermal plasma for VOC control. He also specializes in the characterization of nanomaterials for energy storage, and their fate and transport in the environment.

Bio - Ms. Kristen Baksa has been teaching chemistry at Farragut High School for 6 years and administering the Farragut High School Science Academy research program for 3 years. She has a BS in Medical Technology from Michigan State and a Masters of Public Health in Occupational/Environmental Safety and Health from UT. She worked as an industrial hygienist for 17 years prior to getting her teaching license.

Ms. Jill Hudson is the head of the Technology Engineering Education program at Farragut High School. Courses currently offered at Farragut include: Innovations and Inventions, Engineering Processes, Technological Systems, and Problems and Solutions in Technology. The state program framework will be changing next year to include more specific integration of STEM programs as well as college-level dual enrollment/credit courses. Ms. Hudson is currently collaborating with PSTCC on a dual enrollment plan. Ms. Hudson has been a teacher for 25 years, including 13 years in Knox County. She received a B.S. in Industrial Arts Education from UT-Knoxville, and a Masters in Vocational/Technical Education from MTSU. She is currently in the process of renovating and reorganizing shop areas of the FHS Career and Technical building in order to better accommodate an engineering/research lab, and a materials and processes lab.

Bio - Dr. Costas Tsouris is senior research engineer in the Nuclear Science and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).  He holds a Diploma of Engineering in chemical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-Greece, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Syracuse University.  Since 1992, he has been working on separations in the Chemical Technology, Nuclear Science and Technology, and Environmental Sciences Divisions at ORNL.  He currently holds a Joint Faculty appointment with Georgia Institute of Technology.

Bio - Mr. Pearson graduated from the University of Illinois in 1978 with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering. While working at ORNL, IT Corp. and the University of Tennessee (UT), he continued his education in Chemical Engineering and received his Master’s degree in 1984 with a minor in Environmental Engineering. His graduate thesis is a “Mathematical Model for the Removal of Sulfur Dioxide in a Pilot Scale Spray Dryer”.

In 1983, Tom assisted in the development of Alstom’s Spray Dryer Absorber (SDA) technology at the University of Tennessee pilot plant in conjunction with his Master’s Thesis. Over the past 21 years he has been responsible for SDA process development and the design of over 2700 MW of SDAs including the world’s largest SDA vessels. He is currently managing the global application and improvement of Alstom’s SDA, SCR and Mercury Capture technologies.

Bio - Dr. Robert T. Jubin is currently the segment lead for Waste Materials and Processing within the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) Coupled-End-to-End Demonstration at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  He is responsible for the recovery, conversion, and packaging of the key radionuclide products streams from the demonstration, and is responsible to provide these feed materials to a number of other DOE facilities to support waste form development activities. 

He has authored a number of reports and papers in the area of solvent extraction and holds two patents for improvements to centrifugal contactors.  Bob received his BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Akron, an MS in engineering management from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in chemical engineering from the UT.  Bob retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve, with the rank of Colonel, in 2007.

Johnson Controls, Inc. will be installing the new boiler system through an Energy Saving Performance Contract that will reduce the fossil fuel consumption at ORNL by more than 80 percent and cut carbon emissions by 730,000 tons. The $89 million project will enable ORNL to exceed energy efficiency goals for federal facilities set through DOE’s Transformational Energy Action Management initiative.

Bio - Mr. Greg Palko is a Certified Energy Manager, Certified Facilities Manager and Project Management Professional. He has more than 25 years experience with facility operations and management at the Department of Energy's East Tennessee Technology Park and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, TN. He is currently the Energy Efficiency Program Manager in ORNL's Facilities Management Division. In this position he is implementing process improvements and energy efficiency projects to achieve cost savings and stream line facility operations. Mr. Palko has a B.S. in Engineering Science & Mechanics from Tennessee Technological University and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee. He is ABD for a Ph.D. in Engineering Management from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Area high school chemistry students and their teachers are especially welcome to this meeting, which will provide an opportunity for high school students with interests in chemistry and engineering to learn more about opportunities in chemical engineering.
Hope to see you there.

Bio - Marty Velas is the director of brewing operations for the Copper Cellar Corporation of Tennessee. As brewmaster he is responsible for producing hand-crafted lagers and ales at the Smoky Mountain Breweries in Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Farragut, TN. Awards include gold medals at the Great American Beer festival national and at the World Beer Cup international competitions.

Marty began brewing in 1978 after a trip to Czechoslovakia exposed him to world-class beer. In 1986, working as an aerospace engineer in his native California, he traded for a career in professional brewing when he signed on with the first microbrewery in Southern California, Alpine Brewing Co. In 1989, he was sent by Alpine to Southern Bavaria to complete a journeyman-ship at the Hofbräuhaus Traunstein.

As Alpine’s brewmaster, Marty drew upon years of experience and experimentation. He developed an affinity for recipe formulation and product development and introduced such styles as Bock, Wheat, Red Ale and Marzen to Southern California.

Combining his engineering background with his brewing experience, Marty began consulting in 1991 with several equipment manufacturers to design breweries and implement improvements in the factory while training and fine-tuning in the field.

In 1993, while instructing brewing science courses at UCLA, Marty was tapped to design an intensive, hands-on, brewer-training program. In conjunction with Bohemian Breweries of Redondo Beach, California, he developed the American Craft Brewers’ Academy and directed until 1996.

He has trained over 200 successful brewers in the industry and has held brewmaster positions at Manhattan Beach Brewing Co., Redondo Beach Brewing Co. Huntington Beach Beer Co. Brewski’s in Hermosa Beach, Fredricksburg Brewing Co. in Texas, Echigo Landsbrauerei in Niigata, Japan and Turul Brewing Co. in Szalapa, Hungary.

As a sought after industry consultant and educator he has traveled the world to share his expertise in recipe formulation, product development, training, brewery design and installation. Marty was instrumental in establishing the first craft brewery in Japan in 1994 introducing such brewing styles as: Bock, Stout, Pale Ale, Red Ale and Bavarian Style Weizen Beer.

Professional affiliations include active memberships in the Brewers’ Association, MBAA (Master Brewers’ Association of the Americas) and the ASBC (American Society of Brewing Chemists).