Recent OSU grads win international design competition

Thursday, September 3, 2009

(Stillwater, OK  September 3, 2009) - Recent Oklahoma State University graduates Aleisha McCabe, Grant McCool and Derek Sumner recently won first place at the SNC-Lavalin International Design Competition hosted at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering in Montreal, Canada.

The OSU team’s design for a chemical facility that would produce methanol from coal was selected as the winner from entries submitted by national chemical engineering societies around the world.

The team had been selected to represent the U.S. in the international competition by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers after placing first  in the organization’s National Student Design Competition in 2008. The rules of the competition prohibit the contestants from discussing the design challenge with anyone, including their professors, so the winning design is a true reflection of the students’ technical abilities, knowledge, and creativity.

The AIChE competition is open to all 160 chemical engineering departments in the country. In the 14 years of the design competition, OSU students have placed first five times. No other university has won the competition more than twice.    

“This tradition of excellence is a product of a rigorous engineering curriculum, motivated students, and knowledgeable, dedicated faculty, including Drs. Jan Wagner and Rob Whiteley,” said Khaled Gasem, head of the School of Chemical Engineering at OSU. “It is the intersection of quality and dedication.”

McCabe is now an applications engineer for Zeeco in Tulsa; McCool is a plant engineer for Linde BOC Process Plants in Tulsa; and Sumner is a production engineer for ConocoPhillips in Sweeney, Tex.