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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:299.25pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><img width=600 height=78 id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image001.png@01CBCDFC.C9748360"></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:305.25pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:305.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>Dear Cullen College Faculty and Staff,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:29.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>It is with great sadness that I share with you the passing today of Neal Amundson, Cullen Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Professor of Mathematics. <span style='color:black'>Neal was a member of our college family from 1976 until his retirement in 2007. Many of you had the privilege to work closely with Neal and will understand what his loss means to the college. For those not so fortunate, I offer the following brief narrative of his life’s work:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:33.75pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>Neal was widely regarded as one of the most prominent chemical engineering educators in the country and a pioneer of chemical reaction engineering. Before joining UH in 1976, he led the top-ranked University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering for thirty years. His addition to the University of Houston helped launch our chemical engineering program into the Top 10 nationally during the early 1980s.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:29.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>Neal’s research contributions to the field of chemical reaction engineering were outstanding. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1970 for his pioneering research into the fundamental analysis of chemical processes as well as for his role in engineering education. Specifically, he analyzed and modeled chemical reactors, separation systems, polymerization and coal combustion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:29.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>Throughout the years, Neal’s contributions to engineering education and research were widely recognized by organizations such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Engineering Education and the International Symposia of Chemical Reaction Engineering, an organization that named an award in his honor. The Neal R. Amundson Award is bestowed every three years to recognize a pioneer in the field – the last award was given in 2010 to our own Dan Luss, one of Neal’s Ph.D. graduates from the University of Minnesota.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:29.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>In addition to the NAE, Neal was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a recipient of the NAE Founders’ Award and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Minnesota, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Guadalajara and Northwestern University. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1937 and 1945, respectively; and a Ph.D. in mathematics from UM in 1947.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:2.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>At UH, he was honored with the Farfel Award, the highest university honor, and served as provost for the university from 1987 to 1989. At the University of Minnesota, they named the building that houses the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science “Amundson Hall.” Here in the college, the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering holds an annual lecture named in his honor.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:29.25pt;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:9.0pt'>What Neal has done for chemical engineering and the University of Houston is profound. We will be posting a tribute about his long, prolific career on website in the coming week. Information about his funeral will be forthcoming.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><img width=206 height=59 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image002.jpg@01CBCDFC.C9748360"><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:9.0pt'>Dean Joseph W. Tedesco<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>