Meet Some of AIChE’s New Fellows

14/33   in the series AIChE Recently Elected Fellows

Candidates for AIChE Fellow are nominated by their peers and must have significant chemical engineering experience (generally 25 years), have demonstrated significant service to the profession, and have been a member of AIChE for at least 10 years.

Here are some of the most recently elected Fellows. More Fellows will be introduced in future issues of CEP and here on ChEnected.



Monty Alger

Monty Alger is a professor of chemical engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, where he directs the Institute for Natural Gas Research. His more than 30 years of experience in the chemicals and energy industries includes positions as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and as Senior Vice President of Research at Myriant. Previously, at General Electric (GE), he led technology development at the Global Research Center of GE Plastics and was the General Manager of Technology for the Advanced Materials business. He served as AIChE President in 2020.

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Karen A. McDonald

Karen A. McDonald is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis, where she developed the curriculum for the biochemical engineering program. Her research uses plants and plant cells as molecular foundries to develop novel plant viral-based protein expression systems, as well as bioprocess engineering technologies to produce human therapeutic proteins, enzymes for cellulose degradation, and protein-based bioscavengers for medical countermeasures against biothreats. Her group is also working on applications of plant molecular foundries for deep-space exploration and cultured meat production processes.

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Delmar “Trey” Morrison III

Delmar “Trey” Morrison III is Principal Engineer at Exponent, Inc., where he provides technical consulting services to industries including consumer products, industrial equipment, agriculture, food processing, chemical manufacturing, and oil and gas. He assists stakeholders — including owners, manufacturers, and insurers — with incident investigations, fire and explosion investigations, root cause analyses, and evaluation and mitigation of risks. He is active in the product safety and chemical process safety communities through standards organization (e.g., NFPA; UL) and technical committee participation, presentations, and publications. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology.

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Richard P. Palluzi

Richard P. Palluzi, P.E., C.S.P., is President of Richard P. Palluzi LLC, where he is a consultant to the pilot plant and laboratory research community in the areas of safety, design, and research project management. He retired as Distinguished Engineering Associate after almost 40 years at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, where he was involved in the design, construction, and support of pilot plants and labs worldwide. He is the author of two books, 142 articles, and 50 conference presentations. He also teaches in the University of Wisconsin’s Dept. of Engineering Professional Development and provides customized training to the research community.

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Bhima Sastri

Bhima Sastri is Director of Crosscutting R&D and Systems Integration in the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, where he oversees R&D funding for power plants with net zero carbon emissions, energy storage, and supercritical CO2. Previously, in the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, he managed the advanced chemical separations, desalination, and biomanufacturing technology portfolios. He serves on the Governance and Executive Board for AIChE’s RAPID Institute and has chaired many AIChE meetings sessions on energy and advanced manufacturing topics. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Kelly Visconti

Kelly Visconti, P.E., is a chemical engineer and Senior Program Manager at PM2 Strategies. She also assists the U.S. Dept. of Defense’s Manufacturing Technologies Office in the use of advanced manufacturing. Prior to this role, she served in the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office as the government program manager for AIChE’s RAPID Institute. She spent the first decade of her career as an engineer at Linde PLC. She also served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow. She is a Project Management Professional and a licensed Professional Engineer.

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