OU Engineering

Norman, Okla.— Two University of Oklahoma professors—Paul L. DeAngelis and Jeffrey Harwell—have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, a high professional distinction awarded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. DeAngelis, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the OU Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, is the co-founder of four spin-out companies and holds a total of 92 patents in 20 countries.   In 2000, Hyalose was formed to commercialize unique recombinant technologies.   Two sister companies, Choncept and Heparinex, are based on DeAngelis’s inventions to offer related recombinant technologies for biopolymers, which are important to healthcare, cosmetics and biomedical research. Most recently, Caisson Biotech was form...

Bruce Stover, Petroleum Engineering ‘71: Reflections on the Life and Influence of “Dr. John” I never had the privilege of being a student of John Campbell … or Dr. John as we all endearingly called him.    I was a student at OU from 1967-71, a period of great unrest and agitation sparked by the ongoing war in Viet Nam and it’s spillover to college campuses all across the country.    Being an engineer in those times was not a popular field of study for much of the campus population in those days.    In fact, I had started college with a declared intent to major in architecture.    I grew up around the oil and gas business.    My dad was a petroleum engineer from OU, but he didn’t encourage me to follow in his footsteps.    In fact, he told me in the summer of 1967 that he thought there was no future in the profession, so I abandoned the thought of being a PE and followed another interest in architecture. I first met Dr. John thr...

A 17-year member of the CoE Board of Visitors as well as a 1995 inductee into the Distinguished Graduates Society, the highest honor the college bestows on its graduates, there is no doubt that John Campbell has left a lasting legacy. John M. Campbell, Sr.  91, of Norman, Okla., passed away Aug. 24. Campbell was born in Virden, Ill. and graduated from Burlington High School in Iowa in 1940. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering at Iowa State University in 1943. Shortly after graduation he was assigned to the Manhattan Project by his employer, DuPont, and was part of a group that developed the atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which ended the war with Japan. While on the project he met and married Gwen Thompson. That began a wonderful 61-year marriage that ended with her death in 2006. In 1946 he came to the University of Oklahoma as a graduate student and instructor in chemical engineering. In 1951 he received a Ph.D. in chemical e...

OU College of Engineering Hosts International WaTER Conference and Prize Editor’s Note: For more information, interviews or photos, contact Lori Johnson at (405) 840-4222. Norman, Okla. — The WaTER (Water Technologies for Emerging Regions) Center at the University of Oklahoma is bringing together researchers and advocates from around the world to focus on the life-sustaining resource – clean water. The center reports more children die each year due to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene than AIDS and malaria combined. This is not due to water scarcity, but rather poverty, inequality and government failures that result in poor or dangerous water quality. The WaTER Center will address both technical and non-technical water and sanitation issues at the 2013 International WaTER Conference, scheduled for Sept. 23 through 25 at the National Center for Employee Development Conference Center and Hotel in Norman, Okla. The two-and-one-half-d...

NORMAN– The gold standard in engineering is to create efficiency, but for 47 University of Oklahoma incoming freshmen students, the goal is total complexity. Engineering students taking the OU College of Engineering’s AT&T Summer Bridge Program are challenged to take a simple task, like turning a page, and make it complicated while still completing the task. The teams' off-the-wall contraptions are famously inspired by the designs of Rube Goldberg. “It may seem backwards, asking engineering students to take something as simple as hammering a nail and make it as complicated as possible, but by thinking through the grandiose process, these students are learning the basic skills of engineering mechanics such as the value of experimentation, teamwork and design reliability,” said Lisa Morales, program director. The AT&T Summer Bridge Program is a four-week, on-campus residential program that prepares students for life as an engineering student. In addition to early exposure t...

NORMAN, Okla. – University of Oklahoma chemical engineering professor Dimitrios Papavassiliou has been selected to serve as a National Science Foundation program director for the Fluid Dynamics Program. Papavassiliou will help establish the organization’s research policy in fluid dynamics as well as be involved in NSF initiatives that affect research directions in engineering and sciences more broadly.  “Being selected as an NSF program director is a reflection of national recognition and an indication of trust by the scientific community to lead research at a national level,” said Thomas Landers, OU College of Engineering dean . “It’s important to select a person who is well-respected in their field since their decisions can affect the direction of federal funding for research as well as the career path of young faculty and students for several years.” As an NSF program director, Papavassiliou will manage the NSF research portfolio in fluid...

Caroline Cochran DeWitte received a Regents’ Alumni Award during a May 10 ceremony on the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus. DeWitte is the visionary who founded the OU Club of Boston. As president, serving from 2009 to 2012, she began by securing regular Sooner watch party locations for area alumni, which proved popular from the beginning and has grown to the largest in the Northeast, attracting attendees from bordering states. Throughout her tenure as president of the club, DeWitte also organized networking events and socials to foster friendships and networking among alumni. She created the club’s website and social media connections, including   Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The club currently has more than 250 Facebook members and 100 Twitter followers. She now serves as club treasurer and fundraising chair, managing club funds and continuing to guide other club officers on the board. During her time as a student at OU, DeWitte cofounded Engineers...