Page 2 - CEMS News Winter 2021

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD
Unforgettable!
The past year was unlike any other, and we look forward to a brighter year ahead.
C. Daniel Frisbie
I think my colleagues and our students would agree that the year 2020 was absolutely unforgettable. For many of us, and perhaps
for many of you, it was also frustrating, exhausting, and unfortunately sometimes tragic and frightening. The challenges we faced in CEMS due to the global pandemic were (and continue to be) numerous and multifaceted. They included a rapid pivot to working at home, online instruction for most graduate
and undergraduate classes, the redesign
and execution of safe in-person laboratory courses for our undergraduates, the shutdown and carefully planned restart of our research laboratories under new COVID protocols, and a difficult combination of salary cuts and early retirements in the face of projected budget shortfalls. Perhaps most challenging was maintaining positive energy and an esprit de corps among our students, postdocs, staff, and
faculty, while we were working at home in relatively isolated conditions.
But that was not all, of course. The George Floyd murder in Minneapolis,
which heightened the focus on systemic racism in our country, propelled us to confront our own culpability in excluding people of color from our educational
and professional community. The issues underlying inclusivity of all people are varied and complex. Within CEMS, they are usually less about overt discriminatory behavior and more about insufficient access and affirmation, low morale, and mental stress due to a host of environmental factors. It became patently evident this year that there is much we need to learn about fostering diversity and inclusivity, while holding ourselves accountable for making and executing a plan of action.
Though the challenges of 2020 are still very much with us as we begin the new year, I am pleased to say that as a community we have fared well. We succeeded in delivering our online courses to over 400 chemical engineering and materials science undergraduates and over 80 first and second year graduate students
this past Spring and Fall. Our meticulously planned in-person instructional labs
for undergraduates were also a success and an important testament to our belief that hands-on experiences are an essential part of engineering education that could not be tabled in the face of the pandemic. After a brief halt, our research operations continued safely without major outbreaks of COVID infection traceable to activities in Amundson Hall. One of our faculty, Paul Dauenhauer (PhD ChE
WINTER 2021
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE HEAD
C. Daniel Frisbie
Courtney Billing Gayle Gabrielski Mary Kosowski
CEMS News is published semi- annually by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science for alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of the department.
EDITORS
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
College of Science & Engineering University of Minnesota
151 Amundson Hall
421 Washington Avenue SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0132 USA
Phone: 612-625-1313
Fax: 612-626-7246
Email: cemsdept@umn.edu cemsalum@umn.edu cemsnext100@umn.edu
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