John A. Sofranko and Carol S. Lee: The Importance of Educational Diversity

John and Carol both enjoyed careers in the chemical industry and learned the importance of a broad education, particularly in the process of innovation.

Carol worked for Mobil for 23 years in a number of divisions. Her last position was the Customer Service Manager of the Chemical Products Division. She started her career in agricultural chemicals research and moved through jobs in catalysis and oil additives research.

John worked for 23 years at ARCO, ARCO Chemical Co. and Lyondell Chemical Company. John also started his career in catalysis research, and advanced to many non-technical management positions including strategic planning, general business management, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing. John's last position in industry was as Chief Technical Officer for Lyondell Chemical Company.

Their love for science and innovation drove their education and career paths. Carol obtained a PhD in chemistry from Cornell University in 1978 and John obtained a PhD in chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1979. Both Carol and John did research in industrial catalysis, and indeed, this is how they met. They were both doing research in the same area; the direct conversion natural gas to transportable liquids. Carol and John collectively, but from different companies, authored or co-authored over 70 US patents in the areas of process and product development.

After their careers in industry, John became the Executive Director of AIChE in 2001 and Carol started a new career as a high school chemistry teacher. One of the most important AIChE events that John and Carol started was high school chemical engineering night at the Central Jersey AIChE Section meeting. Each year at the May local section meeting, graduating Princeton University seniors are asked to present posters of their senior research project at the section meeting. Carol invites the local high school chemistry students; they are told to ask questions, and had to write a brief report for class for extra credit. It has been interesting to hear the comments from the high school students such as, "wow, I didn't know that chemical engineers did this kind of work!" and "maybe I should consider chemical engineering when I go to college". Every year, this simple invitation to the local section meeting yielded a few new chemical engineers.

One might ask why two chemists have such an interest in promoting the profession of chemical engineering? Throughout their careers, John and Carol saw the incredible value in the interaction of chemist and engineers. They understood that the process of innovation requires a mutual understanding and respect of the two professions. Carol came from a family of engineers. Both her father and uncle were MIT mechanical engineering professors and members of the NAE. John was very lucky to have had many chemical engineers as mentors in his career, but none more important than John (Jack) C. Jubin, Jr. Jack taught John the basics of chemical engineering and co-authored a number of process patents with John. Carol and John did not learn about the field of chemical engineering in high school. Had they known more about chemical engineering in high school, they may have become chemical engineers rather than chemists.

Carol and John plan to continue volunteering their time to promote the understanding of science and engineering. In addition, they have named AIChE as a beneficiary of their estate plan and hope that these resources will be used in the future to promote their vision of the importance of multidisciplinary education.