Birthday and Well Wishes

Professor Lightfoot, You were my advisor when I earned my Master's degree in Chemical Engineering at UW Madison in 1984. You instilled a love of learning in me that has stayed with me, and I am currently pursuing my Master's degree in Environmental Engineering over thirty years later! You have been an inspiration to me, and I wish you the best on your 90th birthday. Thanks for everything, and On Wisconsin! Brad Kauffman / MSChE '84
Brad Kauffman
Student
1984

Hello Ed, I was so excited to get the announcement for this party and to realize that you are turning 90! Wow, time flies! I was a graduate student of yours, back in 1973-74. In addition to taking courses, and working with you on a R&D ultrafiltration project, you taught me how to cross country ski on your farm, a skill that I continue to use today (my wife and I just introduced my daughter and her boyfriend to skiing and snow camping in the California Sierras, over New Year's weekend! Unfortunately, I will be unable to make the trip back for your celebration, but I can assure you that I have a good excuse! After working in industry (ALZA Corporation) for 30 years, and spending an additional 12 years with my own little consulting business, doing pharmaceutical engineering consulting, I got a phone call from some of my contacts at Stanford University. I have been complaining to them for a number of years that they were sending Chem Es out into industry, with little to no practical experience or knowledge, in the things that a Process Engineer typically does, at least for the Pharmaceutical industry. They don't design distillation columns or heat exchangers any more - they do experiments to identify important process variables, procure equipment, do trouble shooting, control charting, environmental assessments, risk analyses, etc. As things worked out, a lecturer position opened up and they said, "here's your opportunity"!! So Spring Quarter, which starts March 29, I'm teaching a Plant Design and Process Engineering class, to about 35 Stanford Chem E seniors! The first day of your symposium coincides with my 4th class, on Project Management!! Were it not for this class, I would definitely be there at your Symposium and Party. Congratulations on a fabulous career and for making a difference with so many students, including myself! John Dohner, MS 1974
John Dohner
graduate student (MS)
1974

Dear Prof. Lightfoot, / / Happy Birthday to you! Wish you good health and joyful life!
Shing-Yi Suen
1994

Wolmar Stoffel
Student in several Ch E courses
1957

Congratulations to Professor Lightfoot on his long and spectacular career at UW. BSL's "Transport Phenomena", which certainly changed the study of chemical engineering, was introduced during the time of my studies at the university. Dr. Lightfoot was our main man for bioengineering at that time; who in our class of '57 does not remember his contribution to the Miller beer-making process from our class trip to that Milwaukee brewery? Happy 90th birthday!
Tom Kitze
student
BSChe '57, MSChe '59

Dear Ed, I was delighted to see that you will be properly feted next month for all you have done on behalf of quantitative biology - and of course also for your huge impact across the full breadth of chemical engineering. I'm sorry I won't be able to attend and cheer you on in person, but Jane and I will be there in spirit, and we wish you more productive and satisfying years ahead.
Happy Birthday! Bill Schowalter
William Schowalter
friend and colleague
1951

Professor Lightfoot, Sincere best wishes on the celebration in your honor. You have contributed significantly to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW-Madison and to the profession, which is well recognized throughout the world. I'm sorry that I will not be able to attend and express, personally, my appreciation for all that you have done over your career. Don Baldovin
Don Baldovin
Student
1957

Although it was over 45 years ago, I still remember and appreciate your encouragement and insights while guiding my research efforts. Your energy and enthusiasm was well known and contagious. I recall when I was a TA and we were signing up students for classes, we discovered you were scheduled to teach two different classes at the same time. The comment by a faculty member was that if anyone could do it , Ed could. Your advice on doing research served me well in the many areas I worked outside of research. You told me when you have a new idea pursue it for awhile before doing a background literature search. The literature will only convince you not to do it and you might miss what could be a unique advancement. I congratulate you on reaching this milestone and receiving well deserved recognition. I regret that I can't attend but I continue to treasure the time I spent with you. I wish you much health and happiness and am confident you will still be generating new ideas for many years. Warm regards, Allen Kozinski PhD 1971
Allen Kozinski
Doctoral Student/Graduate
1971

Dear Prof. Lightfoot, Congratulations on your 90th birthday! I wish I were able to be in Madison to celebrate with you. It would be great to see all of your academic descendants gathered together. Unfortunately, family commitments will keep me in NC that day. Best wishes, Mary Beth Miranda (Wall)
Mary Beth Miranda (nee Wall)
advisee
1993

Dear Ed, You taught the first Chemical Engineering course I took back in 1953. Many things I've forgotten over the years, but I remember very clearly your kind personality and the clarity of your teaching. You told us anecdotes about a concentration project at Pfizer (I believe)....I think it was about vitamin B12---of course that may only because at age 83 I recently been having monthly B12 injections! Best regards for a wonderful celebration. Don Wiest
Donald G. Wiest
student
1956

Ed, Best wishes from Georgia Tech! I still think BS&L is the BEST! Joe Schork
F. Joseph Schork
PhD 1981

Happy Birthday, Ed. I wish I could be there, but I hope the symposium talks (especially your remarks) are videotaped and posted on the internet. Very warmest wishes, Ken Solen
Ken Solen
Former PhD student
1974

Happy birthday, Ed! I won't be able to attend the symposium celebrating your long career and many contributions to the field of chemical engineering, but my thoughts will be with you. Thank you so much for your guidance and enthusiasm during my time as a graduate student. Best wishes, Tracy Perkins
Tracy Perkins
PhD student
1997

Ed, Sorry I will not be able to attend this very special occasion. I have wonderful memories of you and your classes when I was in grad school. Best wishes always, Bob Davidson
Bob Davidson
Took his classes and had discussions with him
1978

Dear Ed, Happy Birthday, and congratulations on your remarkable career! While my Chemical Engineering career has not been nearly as notable as yours, it has nonetheless been exciting, stimulating and rewarding. My thanks to the University of Wisconsin, and in particular I thank you for your careful and thoughtful guidance some fifty plus years ago. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the symposium, but I send Best Wishes to you and everyone at the celebration! Bob Rettig
Robert L Rettig
Major Professor
1964

Our very best wishes and greetings to the gentle and hospitable professor Ed. We will never forget the generous help and support you and Mrs. Lightfoot gave us in Madison. Morten Manner, Oslo, Norway
Morten Manner,
graduate student 1962-66
PhD 1966

Dear Professor Lightfoot, It was a great honor to have studied under you. Wish you a very happy belated Happy Birthday. I doubt you remember me. I am Rita, Amar"s sister. Please give my regards and fond remembrance to Professor Bird and Professor Hill. I regret I could not meet with you when you visited my place in India. UT is a small world and if chance permits it will be my honor to meet you again. Regards Rita
Rita
Professor
1983

Dear Ed, Happy 90th birthday! I am sorry not to be able to attend the celebration of your birthday today and tomorrow. The symposium sounds very interesting. I haven't seen you for a while and want to give you an update of what I have been doing. For over a year now, I have been helping start a new School of Biomedical Engineering at OU and have the position of Interim Academic Director. This will start a new undergraduate department. I led the development of the undergraduate curriculum. We have had a graduate program in biomedical engineering for 15 years now. This new department will start out with 8 endowed positions and will be in a new building that will start being built soon, with a completion date of 2018. Over $30 million has been given by two donors to get this department started. I now have a joint appointment (50-50) with biomedical engineering and chemical engineering here. I am continuing to be active in research. I have a 3-year grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology to study a new way to treat melanoma by combining photothermal therapy and immunostimulation. Recently, I received a 1-year grant from the OU Cancer Center in Oklahoma City to study a new type of enzyme prodrug and immunostimulation therapy to treat ovarian cancer. I have recent patents on both the photothermal therapy technology and the enzyme prodrug technology. I also will soon be receiving a $100,000 estate gift for my cancer research given by a friend of my parents whose wife died of breast cancer in the 1970's. I am also continuing with my involvement in book writing. Your textbooks have been an inspiration to me in this effort. The second edition of my textbook (as first author with three coauthors) Bioseparations Science and Engineering was published in 2015 by Oxford University Press. The first edition was adopted by over 60 universities for teaching, including Princeton University, Cornell University, Imperial College London, and Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. I am currently working on a section on bioseparations in a 100-page addition to Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook on bioprocessing that I was asked to write with my coauthors. Bioseparations will cover about 1/3 of this addition. I keep physically fit by running 5K twice a week, including running in 5K races. At my age (will be 72 on April 8), I am usually #1 in my age group in these races; however, the number running in these races in my age group is not many now. So far, no medical issues have arisen for me, which I feel very lucky about. I feel very fortunate to have worked with you. You have had a great impact on my professional career, which I am very thankful for. Best wishes, Roger Harrison
Roger Harrison
Ed was my M.S. advisor.
1975 (Ph.D.)

Professor Lightfoot- Congratulations on your birthday. You had a significant effect on my 1954 to 1959 studies in Chem Engineering at Madison. I enjoyed your class in Biochemical Engineering in 1958. But- more importantly was the encouragement and interest in me you provided. I will never forget your help and then had a successful career in plastics. Got an MBA- founded "Little Tikes" toy company- bought and ran Premier Plastics- and am now giving back ( thru SCORE ). Again congratulations! Jack Hill Bsche 1959
Jack Hill
student in his classes
1959