[Che-student-staff-list] Professor KC Chao

[Varma, Arvind]

Dear All,

Below is the page about Dr. Chao from our School’s history book, sent to me by our friend, former distinguished faculty colleague and book co-author, Nicholas Peppas – fyi.

Arvind


[cid:1992CA46-5765-45F3-A909-C2964909ECCC][cid:4675EF4F-609D-4DA4-AE6D-2FA7B3B8025F]


Kwang-Chu Chao

(1925-2013)



K.C. Chao (BS ‗48 National Chekiang University, Taiwan; M.S. ‘52 and Ph.D. ‗56 both University of Wisconsin), was a contemporary and former laboratory partner of Greenkorn, where they both worked with Olaf A. Hougen. Known for the widely used and cited Chao-Seader correlation (this contribution was designated a Citation Classic in 1981), Chao brought to Purdue not only important industrial experience from his years with Taiwan Alkali Company (1948-1951, 1952-54) and Chevron Research (1957-63) but also academic understanding developed during his years at Illinois Institute of Technology (1963-64) and Oklahoma State University (1964-68). After several changes of scenery, K.C. found a home at Purdue and stayed here for the next 25 years. A meticulous and methodical investigator he developed an outstanding thermodynamics research group. Chao started with research in the area of measurement and estimation of thermodynamic properties of fluids. Notable among his accomplishments were a series of descriptions of molecular fluids, including the Chain-of-Rotators equation of state. On the experimental side, Professor Chao and his co-workers developed and exploited a unique experimental apparatus for measuring high temperature and high pressure phase equilibrium which found particularly fruitful applications in the study of the VLE properties of coal-derived liquids.

K.C. coauthored the book Thermodynamics of Fluids with Bob Greenkorn published in 1975 by M. Dekker, Inc. One of his graduate students, Herbert M. Sebastian (M.S. '77, Ph.D. '80), has the record of the most papers published from his M.S. and Ph.D. work, 32 in all. A fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Chao is listed in numerous biographical references, was named Honorary Professor of both the Beijing Institute of Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology and Zhejiang University, and appointed Harry Creighton Peffer Distinguished Professor in 1989 [This professorship honors the founding head of the School.] He was granted emeritus status in December 1993 and he received the 1994 Donald L. Katz Award of the Gas Processors Association in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in gas processing research and excellence in engineering education. A thermodynamics symposium was held in his honor on September 15, 1995, with a banquet attended by friends, colleagues and former students. Chao advised 17 and co-advised 12 MS and advised nine and co-advised 18 PhD students. He worked closely with Bob Greenkorn in thermodynamics research and they co-advised many of these former students. Many of his former students and post-docs became academics (see Appendix B). KC is a great gentleman and has a dry wit that he effectively couples with his accent. He was usually very calm in faculty meetings and rarely spoke. However, when he had something to say, everyone listened because there was usually significant wisdom included in the message.

From: Che-faculty-list [mailto:che-faculty-list-bounces at ecn.purdue.edu] On Behalf Of Varma, Arvind
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 8:21 AM
To: 'chme at ecn.purdue.edu<mailto:'chme at ecn.purdue.edu>'
Cc: Sondgerath, William J; Jamieson, Leah H.
Subject: [Che-faculty-list] FW: Sincere condolences
Dear All,
 I am very sorry to transmit this sad news about our distinguished emeritus colleague, Dr. K.C. Chao.
 Arvind
From: Varma, Arvind
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 8:09 AM
To: Howard Chao; Bernard Chao
Cc: Reklaitis, Gintaras V; Joseph F. Pekny; Varma, Arvind
Subject: Sincere condolences
 Dear Howard and Bernard,
 I am very sorry to receive this sad news.  On behalf of our School, please accept our sincere condolences and pass them to your mother and family as well.  We have lost a gentleman, scholar and a leader of the field, whose accomplishments will always remain fresh in our minds and continue to guide us in the future.  I will inquire and return to you with the name and contact info of a suitable individual to speak about his academic achievements during his services.
Sincerely,
Arvind
Arvind Varma
R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor
Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering
Purdue University

Tel: 765-494-4075; Fax: 765-494-0805; Email: avarma at purdue.edu<mailto:avarma at purdue.edu>
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/People/ptProfile?id=11068
From: Howard Chao [mailto:howchao at gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 2:51 AM
To: Joseph F. Pekny
Cc: Reklaitis, Gintaras V; Varma, Arvind; Bernard Chao
Subject: Re: Dads pubs
Dear All:
I am sad to report that my father passed away this afternoon.  Fortunately he did not suffer too much, and he was fairly active until the day of his stroke a week ago.
Our family is considering holding services for him in the second week of Nov, in the Bay Area.  Do you have a recommendation for someone that was close to him professionally who might speak briefly about his academic achievements?  Thanks so much.
regards
Howard

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