Former ChE faculty member, Robert Roy White passed away on January 22, 2006. He received a BS from Cooper Union Institute in 1936, an MS from U–M 1938, and his PhD in 1940 from U–M. After several years of working in industry, Dr. White was appointed as an instructor of chemical engineering at Michigan in 1942, rising through the ranks to professor in 1948. He won the prestigious Henry Russell Award (for instructors or assistant professors) in 1946 for “conspicuous service.” At the University, White’s research activities and publications centered on phase equilibria, mass transfer, reaction kinetics, mixing in packed beds, and fractional and azeotropic distillation. He was also a significant contributor to G.G. Brown’s Unit Operations.

In 1958 he was appointed associate dean of both the Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies and of the College of Engineering. He became the first director of the U-M’s new Institute of Science and Technology. After he left U-M in 1960 he continued his distinguished career as a consulting engineer and researcher for major companies, including Champion Paper, Standard Oil Company, Universal Oil Products, Dow Chemical and B.F. Goodrich.