Royce C. Engstrom Interview, August 29, 2017

In the first of a two-part interview, Royce Engstrom discusses his early years in Omaha, Nebraska; graduate school in Wisconsin; and 28 years working at the University of South Dakota, including as a department chair and administrator. He talks about his early interest in science and his college education and work in analytical chemistry, as well as his pursuit of a Ph.D. and his involvement with EPSCOR. Engstrom reminisces about meeting his now wife, Mary, who worked as a K-12 teacher in South Dakota. Finally, he recalls the first stage of his career at the University of Montana, which started with his appointment as provost, and begins to share his vision for the Global Leadership Initiative.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/umhistory_interviews/1035/thumbnail.jp

Royce C. Engstrom Interview, March 8, 2018

Royce Engstrom discusses his work as provost and president of the University of Montana (UM). He highlights UM 2020, which was the strategic plan for the University of Montana, his vision for the Global Leadership Initiative (GLI), and the expansion of research activity. Engstrom highlights academic programs created during his tenure at UM including climate change studies, data analytics, and systems ecology, and also the expansion of fundraising. Engstrom talks about Missoula College, including the importance of two-year education and the location of the new College building. Engstrom recalls the sexual assault problems at UM and his interest in addressing these with transparency and proactive solutions. He also reflects on the declining enrollment, budget cuts and layoffs during his tenure, and shares his reaction to being asked to resign. Finally, he shares his perspective on his leadership style and his legacy at UM.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/umhistory_interviews/1036/thumbnail.jp

Structured monitoring of gas exchange in fermenters for control

Information from measurements made by on-line sensors are, directly or indirectly, critical to strategies for improved monitoring and control of industrial fermentations. Over the past 20 years, a large body of research has, with little success, attempted to expand the library of on-line measurements routinely used in industrial fermentation. Partly as a result, research efforts have increasingly been targeted at the development of models incorporating on-line data, that describe the dme-profiles of unmeasurable variables of importance to fermentation monitoring. Due to the complexity of most of these models, industrial applications have largely been limited to the simplest of empirical models, based around "derived variables" (that derive directly from one or more on-line measurements), most of them associated with gas exchange, examples being the carbon dioxide evolution rate (CER) and respiratory quotient (RQ). Improvements in the conditioning, analysis and application of gas exchange data would, therefore, be of considerable benefit in improved monitoring, modelling and control of fermentation. This project examines opportunities for such improvements. It was shown that the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) data contain a significant component of uncorrelated Gaussian noise arising from their calculation as a small difference between two large numbers. A chi-square filter was used to frt a linear model to a reduced data set containing only the most recent OTR data, in order to remove this noise. The benefits of applying such a filter were illustrated by the improvement in the quality of OTR data, and related derived variables (the mass transfer coefficient, KLO2a, and the respiratory quotient, RQ), during a Streptomyces clavuligerus fermentation. Theoretical work supported the view that carbon dioxide transfer can be treated as a purely liquid-film limited physical process, as for oxygen. Concerning the error involved in the (widely-used) assumption that the dissolved CO2 partial pressure is equal to the CO2 partial pressure in the exit gas, practical factors were shown to limit the maximum error possible. This error varies with KLO2a, and the aeration rate, being 20-30% in small fermentors, and less in large fermentors. The theoretical results were supported with experimental data from Escherichia coli fermentations. For fermentations run above pH 6.5, the high effective solubility of dissolved carbon dioxide can cause changes in the pH and CER to make unsteady-state terms in the CO2 mass balance important. An effect is to cause the "measured respiratory quotient" as apparent from gas analyses (called here the transfer quotient, or TQ) to differ from the real underlying respiratory quotient (RQ). A model to predict such effects agreed well with experimental results from fermentations of E. coli and S. clavuligerus. The control of pH by on-off additions of acid or base introduces regular fluctuations into the TQ that are not present in the underlying RQ. During exponential growth, the TQ is smaller than the RQ. The RQ can be estimated on-line from the TQ using the model developed. It was shown, both from theory and during an E. coli fermentation, that a simple ratio controller could control the partial pressure of dissolved CO2 to an approximately constant value

Coupling of Transport and Chemical Processes in Catalytic Combustion

Catalytic combustors have demonstrated the ability to operate efficiently over a much wider range of fuel air ratios than are imposed by the flammability limits of conventional combustors. Extensive commercial use however needs the following: (1) the design of a catalyst with low ignition temperature and high temperature stability, (2) reducing fatigue due to thermal stresses during transient operation, and (3) the development of mathematical models that can be used as design optimization tools to isolate promising operating ranges for the numerous operating parameters. The current program of research involves the development of a two dimensional transient catalytic combustion model and the development of a new catalyst with low temperature light-off and high temperature stablity characteristics

Risk Assessment Matrices for Workplace Hazards: Design for Usability

In occupational safety and health (OSH), the process of assessing risks of identified hazards considers both the (i) foreseeable events and exposures that can cause harm and (ii) the likelihood or probability of occurrence. To account for both, a table format known as a risk assessment matrix uses rows and columns for ordered categories of the foreseeable severity of harm and likelihood/ probability of that occurrence. The cells within the table indicate level of risk. Each category has a text description separate from the matrix as well as a word or phrase heading each row and column. Ideally, these header terms will help the risk assessment team distinguish among the categories. A previous project provided recommended sets of header terms for common matrices based on findings from a survey of undergraduate OSH students. This paper provides background on risk assessment matrices, discusses usability issues, and presents findings from a survey of people with OSH-related experience. The aim of the survey was to confirm or improve the prior recommended sets of terms. The prior recommendations for severity, likelihood, and extent of exposure were confirmed with minor modifications. Improvements in the probability terms were recommended

Simulation of tandem and Re-Entrant manufacturing lines

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 52).Modeling manufacturing systems is a necessary tool in the process of finding a way to analyze and improve design. Increasingly complex systems are now being modeled, and two such systems are the focus of this report. The Tandem and Re-Entrant systems allow for multiple part types to be sent through a single line of processing machines. The parts have different priorities which determine the order in which they are produced. The Re-Entrant system is unique because it produces a single part that is processed through the same machine line multiple times. As the part travels through the processing line, it loops back to the beginning at the end of every run as a higher priority part. These simulations were tested for their validity by running with different input parameters to see how the system reacted. These programs can be used in the future with more complex systems and the knowledge gained from the results of these simulations can be applied to improving these systems and maximizing their efficiency.by Christina C. Royce.S.B