Ron Unnerstall was the 2019 Brenton S. Halsey Distinguished Visiting Professor and is a teaching faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Univ. of Virginia. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from Purdue Univ. and MS in management from Stanford Univ. He has received the Purdue Univ. Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award, and the Purdue Distinguished Alumnus award from the School of Engineering. Before joining UVA, Unnerstall spent more than 34 years in the oil and gas industry, predominately within refining and marketing in Chicago, London, and Shanghai. He has considerable experience in the direct operation and leadership of oil refineries. He has firsthand experience operating in a high-hazard industry and has built a reputation for strong safety leadership founded on operational excellence, learning, and continuous improvement. At UVA, he has developed an undergraduate process safety course, serves as the chair for the Chemical Engineering Laboratory Safety Committee, and has led efforts to improve department safety culture.