Meet Mentor Chestermiller — Chemical Engineering Profile
Meet a Mentor is a fun series to help you get to know your wonderful Mentors better.
Constructive questions and comments are welcome!
Today we meet: @Chestermiller
Table of Contents
Give us a brief history of Chestermiller
- Born January 1942 in Brooklyn, NY.
- Samuel J. Tilden High School, graduated June 1959 (Captain, Math Team).
- Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, BChE, June 1963 (Freshman Math Award).
- University of Michigan, MChE, 1964.
- University of Michigan, PhD ChE, 1967 (Advisor: Joe D. Goddard).
- Married 1965; four children and ten grandchildren.
- E. I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., 1967–2002 (retired 2002).
- Collaboration in biomechanics with V. C. Mow, Columbia University, 2003–2004.
- Consulting, 2003–2008.
- Animal advocate and sports fan; supports humane organizations and has done volunteer work.
- Favorite teams: Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Eagles, and the University of Michigan — Go Blue!
Have you always lived in Delaware?
- Brooklyn, NY — 1942–1963.
- Silver Spring, MD — summer 1963.
- Ann Arbor, MI — 1963–1967.
- Wilmington, DE — 1967–present.
What do you find interesting about Delaware?
- Family living nearby.
- Nice, variable climate year-round.
- Cultural and sports opportunities in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore.
Why did you choose chemical engineering as your field of study?
It was mostly lucky circumstances. I was primarily interested in math in high school and engineering was a distant second choice. During my senior year I applied to colleges for both math and engineering. After taking the entrance exam to Cooper Union (very competitive) and being accepted, I decided to go with engineering. I have never regretted this choice — the science side of engineering has been fascinating and enjoyable, and I probably would have hated being a professional mathematician.
What were some of your biggest challenges in school and how did you overcome them?
I don’t remember any major challenges with science and math courses (although I hated high school chemistry and had to cram at the end to get the highest grade on the final).
Humanities and English courses were always a weak area for me. In high school I memorized a book of master plots and a composition (I guessed the topic of the composition) to pass the English final and otherwise did the minimum necessary. Later, my writing skills improved during my professional career as I gained experience communicating with regulators on environmental issues.
Tell us about your career in engineering
During my career at DuPont I specialized in developing mathematical models for physical systems to improve processes and products and to protect company interests on environmental issues. Colleagues called me “the guy who could model anything.”
Modeling projects
- 1D and 2D models of atmospheric chemistry and transport related to fluorocarbons/ozone and global warming.
- Modeling flow, transport, and chemistry in porous subsurface geological formations for deepwell disposal of hazardous wastes; poroelastic modeling to evaluate potential for triggering seismicity in injection operations.
- Structural mechanics modeling of radial tires in support of nylon and Kevlar tire cord sales.
- Modeling cyclohexane oxidation to produce adipic acid for nylon manufacture.
- Modeling the ammonia synthesis loop.
- Nylon and Dacron process modeling, including polymerization reactors and transfer lines.
- Modeling man-made fiber spinning operations: melt spinning (Nylon, Dacron), dry spinning (Lycra), and wet spinning (Kevlar).
- Modeling unsteady-state melt spinning of paint brush bristles.
One of the things I enjoyed most about my career was personal interaction with colleagues (inside and outside the company) and interactions with regulators.
What music do you play and what instrument?
I took piano lessons from age 8 to 16 and even played piano two summers as a member of the house band at two Catskill Mountains resort hotels. I stopped lessons at 16 because it was taking too much time and interfering with high school studies.
Between ages 16 and 55 I hardly played, but I took it up again after a friend loaned an instructional video on blues piano. I had always liked the blues and found I could learn it fairly easily — everything I learned as a teenager came back. Since then I’ve played blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and pop, and I take blues/jazz lessons to improve my musicianship. I’m also in a ballroom dance band, which is lots of fun.
Movies: Cousin Vinnie; Little Shop of Horrors; The Right Stuff; All the President’s Men; Manhunter; School of Rock; JFK; GoodFellas; A Few Good Men; Jaws.
Musicians: B. B. King; Muddy Waters; Professor Longhair; Elmore James; Dr. John; Otis Spann; Oscar Peterson; Katie Webster; John Lee Hooker; Johnny Johnson; Beach Boys; Stevie Ray Vaughan; Susan Tedeschi; Daryl Davis; Little Richard; Chuck Berry.
If you could have lunch with a living person, who would it be and why?
B. B. King. I think his music is great, he’s one of the original blues greats still alive, and he led an interesting life with personal contact with many other blues legends.
How did you happen upon Physics Forums and why is it important to you?
I had seen many interesting TV shows on relativity and decided to learn it on my own during retirement. I was looking for a place to get questions answered. Browsing the site, I saw other forums where I could help people struggling with physics, chemistry, and engineering concepts. I wanted to give something back to my profession — now I’m addicted to it.
Thanks for participating, Chestermiller!
I have a BS in Information Sciences from UW-Milwaukee. I’ve helped manage Physics Forums for over 22 years. I enjoy learning and discussing new scientific developments. STEM communication and policy are big interests as well. Currently a Sr. SEO Specialist at Shopify and writer at importsem.com
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the responders to my Bio for their kind comments. You're all wonderful.Oh, sure… go ruin the mood with sincerity… :rolleyes:
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the responders to my Bio for their kind comments. You're all wonderful.
Chet
Hi Danger,
Chester and I will both be 72 in December, but he will be 73 in January, just so you know you are a "young whippersnapper":D
Well maybe just a youngster, online dictionaries are great to confirm a meaning, I should have looked first:oops:I see no reason why; it's an appropriate term for me. (Well, not so much the "young" bit, but compared to you two… well… it's rare to belong to a club of which the the sole membership requirement is the need to scrape the dinosaur crap off the the stone tablet to read your birth certificate… :p)
Wow, you're old! oo)
Sorry, but I really don't have many opportunities to say that. Most people older than me are dead. :D
I might PM you (if I can figure out how in this new format) sometime in the future, because I would really love to pick your brain regarding both polymerization reactions and fibre spinning to see if I could actually build something that I partially invented 40 years ago but didn't have the resources to carry on with. Since I have both ADD and a total lack of ambition, it might be quite a ways down the line.Hi Danger,
Chester and I will both be 72 in December, but he will be 73 in January, just so you know you are a "young whippersnapper":D
Well maybe just a youngster, online dictionaries are great to confirm a meaning, I should have looked first:oops:
OK. How do we do a blues duet over our iPhones, iPads, or computers?
Chet
No idea haha I'm not even slightly tech savvy, but that would be an absolutely awesome thing to try and do!Latency is the monster under the rug. You need to find a communication system/channel with as low latency as possible. If you happen to be located at opposite sides of the planet, then there's over 60 ms of delay due to the speed of light alone (ignoring other causes of latency). That could be enough to cause frustration when trying to synchronize a common rhythm. [Edit: Then again, Delaware to Massachusetts(?) isn't so bad light wise. Just make sure to use some sort of Skype/VoIP version with small buffers.]
[And I'd avoid wireless systems (even avoid WiFi if you have an alternative). There are some tradeoffs in these systems between latency and throughput. And in this case, low latency is more important than connection speed measured in bits/sec].
[Another edit: Oh, and my goodness I almost forgot about the monsters in the walls and ceiling: Echos and echo cancellation algorithms. Wear headphones to listen to each other (to eliminate echos via brute force). If your Skype/VoIP program gives you the option to disable echo cancellation, disable the feature. While echo cancellation algorithms can eliminate echos, they also have a tendency to mute or partially mute one or both of the parties; not good if you are trying to both play and listen at the same time. (And a special bonus, disabling echo cancellation might even provide a small latency reduction.)]
Good stuff, Chet! (We are Cooper Union brothers!)
Very interesting career – this especially caught my eye:
Did you foresee the seismic activity in Oklahoma due to fracking, or did you study it after it started happening?Hi lisab. After thinking about your question for a couple of days, I had the some thoughts.
In my judgement (for whatever that's worth), fracking was probably not the cause of the seismic activity in OK. The reason I feel that way is that fracing is a very localized disturbance around a well, and the pressure buildup used to frack does not last very long.
On the other hand, secondary oil recovery operations are widespread in OK. In secondary oil recovery operations, water is injected into an array of wells at high pressure in order to drive the oil toward a production well. The elevated pressures persist over long periods of time, and cover a large geographical area. This is a much more likely cause of the seismic activity. Currently, to my knowledge, there are no regulatory limitations on the magnitude of the injection pressures that can be used.
Chet
No idea haha I'm not even slightly tech savvyMe neither, but I have a sneaking suspicion that something incorporating MIDI ports and Skype might be in the offing…
OK. How do we do a blues duet over our iPhones, iPads, or computers?
ChetNo idea haha I'm not even slightly tech savvy, but that would be an absolutely awesome thing to try and do!
OK. How do we do a blues duet over our iPhones, iPads, or computers?Uncomfortably?
Hey… I'm a comedian, not a musician… gimmee a break… jeez….
Indeed, I play guitar.OK. How do we do a blues duet over our iPhones, iPads, or computers?
Chet
Do you play an instrument? I thought at one time I saw an avatar with a guitar.Indeed, I play guitar.
I love your taste in music! Each musician you listed just so happens to be a personal favorite of mine as well haha.Do you play an instrument? I thought at one time I saw an avatar with a guitar.
Chet
I love your taste in music! Each musician you listed just so happens to be a personal favorite of mine as well haha.
Best mentor on PF! It is especially great for me being a chemical engineering major to have a mentor that is also a chemE. We are definitely not in the majority on this forum, or anywhere for that matter :(
Help!!! I'm a 21-year-old trapped in a 73 year old body.:DD
And I'm a 10-year-old trapped in a 90-year-old body, even though I'm chronologically 58. I have yet to figure out how that works.
Wow, you're old! oo)
Sorry, but I really don't have many opportunities to say that.
Help!!! I'm a 21-year-old trapped in a 73 year old body.
Chet
Very interesting career – this especially caught my eye:
Did you foresee the seismic activity in Oklahoma due to fracking, or did you study it after it started happening?I'm not familiar with the seismic events in Oklahoma that you refer to.
Federal regulations specifically forbid hazardous waste injection at pressures high enough to cause fracturing. They also prohibit injection at pressures high enough to activate preexisting faults and fractures (that formed over geological times).
Chet
Wow, you're old! oo)
Sorry, but I really don't have many opportunities to say that. Most people older than me are dead. :D
I might PM you (if I can figure out how in this new format) sometime in the future, because I would really love to pick your brain regarding both polymerization reactions and fibre spinning to see if I could actually build something that I partially invented 40 years ago but didn't have the resources to carry on with. Since I have both ADD and a total lack of ambition, it might be quite a ways down the line.
Great bio chester!
Very interesting career – this especially caught my eye:
Poroelastic modeling to evaluate potential for triggering seismicity in deepwell injection operations.Did you foresee the seismic activity in Oklahoma due to fracking, or did you study it after it started happening?
Great stuff, Chet! Glad to have you as a Mentor. :-)
Suppose not then o.o
I needed to interview someone and I would hope that I could just use this.That would be a wrong assumption :)
Honestly I'm really happy that you posted this because I needed to interview someone and I would hope that I could just use this. Thank you
Great to read!