PHILADELPHIA – Chemical engineer Stuart W. Churchill of the University of Pennsylvania has been named by the National Academy of Engineering as the recipient of its 2002 Founders Award.

Churchill, the Carl V.S. Patterson Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at Penn, will receive the award and speak at NAE's annual meeting Oct. 6 in Washington.

The Founders Award recognizes an NAE member who has made lifelong contributions to engineering and whose accomplishments have benefited the people of the United States; its list of recipients represents a who's-who of American engineering and technology. Churchill, 82, is being recognized "for outstanding leadership in research, education and professional service, and for continuing contributions in combustion, heat transfer and fluid dynamics for over half a century."

Churchill's contributions to nuclear safety, the safe handling of liquefied natural gas, the space program and national defense have changed the way Americans live. He developed a thermally stabilized burner that results in much quieter and cleaner combustion, greatly reducing the size of heaters and furnaces, and invented a heat-exchanger/catalytic reactor that incinerates cigarette smoke, toxic compounds and microorganisms in homes and workplaces. He has been a pioneer in the use of computers to solve engineering problems and in the development of improved models for representing engineering data under conditions of turbulent flow and convection.

"Thirty years ago I had the privilege of having Stuart as an instructor in a course," said Eduardo D. Glandt, dean of Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science. "It was a highly stimulating experience and had a major influence in my own teaching. Stuart's ‘tree' of descendents is extraordinary not only for the number of his doctoral students but especially for their careers and accomplishments."

A member of the Penn Engineering faculty since 1967, Churchill has authored six books and more than 280 journal publications, including seven research papers published in the first half of 2002.

Churchill earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan in 1942 and went on to work at Shell Oil Company. There he helped design, operate and analyze new processes for the production of aviation gasoline during World War II. At the end of the war, he joined a small start-up company, Frontier Chemical, where he helped create a new process for the manufacture of the important industrial chemicals hydrochloric acid and caustic soda.

Churchill returned to the University of Michigan in 1947, obtaining his Ph.D. and becoming a faculty member. Churchill has also served as a visiting professor at Iowa State University, the University of Utah, Pennsylvania State University and Okayama University.

The National Academy of Engineering is a private, nonprofit institution that provides technology advice under a congressional charter. The NAE also salutes leaders in engineering for their lifetime dedication to their field and their commitment to advancing the society through great achievements. The NAE dedicates more than $1 million annually to recognize these leaders and to bring better understanding of engineering's importance to society.