CBE Advisory Board

Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

Ruben G. Carbonell is the Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State University. He joined NC State in 1984, after ten years in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. Prof. Carbonell is Director of the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science at NC State. He was recently named Chief Technology Officer for the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), the newest National Institute for Innovation in the Manufacturing USA network. He has published over 235 technical papers in the areas of purification of isolation, purification and detection of biopharmaceuticals, transport processes in porous media, and surface and colloid science. Prof. Carbonell has supervised over 75 MS and PhD students, and is an inventor in over 30 patents, several of which have been commercialized. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is also a Fellow of both the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. He has won numerous awards, including the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence at NC State, the highest award given to university faculty. In 2011 he was elected Corresponding Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Bologna Institute, a prestigious scientific society dating back to 1731. Carbonell earned his BS degree in chemical engineering from Manhattan College and the PhD in chemical engineering from Princeton University.

Professor and Chair
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH

Professor Stuart L. Cooper joined the faculty of Ohio State University in January, 2004. Previously he was Provost at North Carolina State University, Chief Academic Officer at Illinois Institute of Technology and Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware. Dr. Cooper has published over 350 papers, and has co-authored five books, most of these the result of the efforts of 60 Ph. D. and 23 M. S. students he has supervised during his career. Dr. Cooper earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. In 1967 he joined the University of Wisconsin as an Assistant Professor and later served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He moved to the University of Delaware in 1993. Dr. Cooper has served previously on several professional society boards including the American Physical Society High Polymer Physics Division, the Society for Biomaterials and the Materials Science and Engineering Division of AIChE. He has received many honors and awards including the Clemson Award for Basic Research of the Society for Biomaterials and the Charles M. A. Stine Award of AIChE. In 1996-97 he served as President of the Society for Biomaterials and in 1997 he received the International Award for Achievement in Biomaterials from the Japanese Society for Biomaterials. Since its inception in 1988, Dr. Cooper has been co-editor of the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition. In 2010 he received the Founders Award from the Society for Biomaterials and in 2011 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In 2014 Dr. Cooper received the Founders Award from AIChE.

CEO and Consulting Forensic Biomedical Engineering Expert
Cummings Scientific, LLC
Tallahassee, FL

Dr. Jeremy Cummings received his BS in Applied Science from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in 1998 and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2001. Upon graduating with his PhD from Chapel Hill he worked in two post-graduate fellowship positions prior to taking a position with Quest Engineering and Failure Analysis. Dr. Cummings currently works for Cummings Scientific, LLC as the CEO and as a consulting forensic biomedical engineering expert. He specializes in the areas of forensic biomechanics, human factors analysis, finite element analysis, multibody analysis, accident reconstruction, and injury causation. He is married and has four children, in his free time he enjoys playing tennis and table tennis. He is also a board member with Curiosity Media, LLC a company he helped found that specializes in online learning and education.

Director of Manufacturing
Snyder’s-Lance, Inc.
Charlotte, NC

Greg Flickinger is currently serving as Vice President of Manufacturing and Corporate Engineering for Snyder’s-Lance Inc. located in Charlotte, NC. Greg has worked for Snyder’s-Lance for over 6 years, focusing on transitioning the culture from a traditional structure to a high performance structure centered upon TEE (Total Employee Engagement). One of the key vehicles driving the change has been the implementation of TPM tools and methodologies. In his previous role as the Director of Manufacturing Greg’s team in the Charlotte Manufacturing site achieved an 11% reduction in total manufacturing cost. The improvement was gained through people and process without significant capital projects. Along with exceptional business performance, the site also drove safety and quality performance to historical levels. The leadership teams in Snyder’s-Lance’s Columbus, GA and Burlington IA manufacturing sites have replicated the engagement framework to drive even more impressive performance results. Most notably, the Columbus, GA site was able to reduce controllable cost by 9% in one year without directed capital. Prior to Snyder’s-Lance, Greg worked for General Mills in Strategic Technology Development focusing upon developing and launching food processing technology aimed at generating competitive advantage. Greg also worked in R&D product development as well as Headquarters Operations. In these roles, Greg had responsibility for the national launch of 11 products from concept to full production. In Greg’s final 3 years with General Mills he served as the Plant Operations Manager at a self-directed work team cereal plant that implemented a number of the systems and technologies that were developed when Greg served in the Strategic Technology Group. During Greg’s time leading the plant, the team reduced their cost per case by 12% becoming the lowest cost producer in the Big G Division. Greg has multiple invention records, 4 patent applications and 3 granted patents for food production processes and technologies. Greg received his Masters and Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc.
Houston, TX

James received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and M.S. & Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign. He has over 17 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. James is currently the Safety, Environmental and Social Performance Regional Manager for the Americas in Shell Trading and Supply. He has held progressive roles in Technology, Operations, and Site Leadership during his career. The last 6 years have been within Shell as Technical Manager, Sr. Process Safety Consultant, and Integrated Service Lead. James worked for DuPont & DOW prior to joining Shell in a breadth of roles including Sr. Research Engineer, Commercial Manager, and Unit Manager. James has an enthusiasm for promoting and progressing engineering education and developing the next generation of engineers. He has served as a mentor and advisor to young engineers throughout his career as well as actively participated in engineering outreach programs in the community.

Director of Strategy and Planning
The Coca-Cola Company
Atlanta, GA

Patrick is Director of Strategy & Planning for The Coca-Cola Company. In this role, Patrick is responsible for directing initiatives to accelerate the profitable growth of Coca-Cola’s juice & still beverage business globally. Patrick has been instrumental in applying advanced analytics to the global juice business through development of the Black Book Program. Black Book, a patented optimization capability, combines consumer sensory research and supply chain optimization to enable the business to optimally meet ideal consumer taste profiles. Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Patrick was a strategy consultant with Revenue Analytics and Accenture where he provided strategic and operational consulting services to Fortune 500 clients in hospitality, oil & gas, manufacturing and consumer goods industries. Patrick’s work included leading engagements in pricing and optimization strategies, supply chain transformation, S&OP, marketing and sales strategy, organization design and operations performance management. Patrick holds a MS in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Rice University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University. Patrick lives in Atlanta with his wife and 2-year old son, with another on the way.

Vice President of Operations
KaMin Performance Minerals
Macon, GA

Mr. Jason Maxwell is Vice President of Operations at KaMin LLC. Maxwell joined KaMin LLC (formerly J.M. Huber Corporation) in 2003, and has served in a variety of roles including Plant and Product Manager. Mr. Maxwell has over 15 years of industry experience and has previously held manufacturing management and engineering positions at Owens Corning Fiberglass, Alcatel and Transitions Optical. He currently serves on the FAMU/FSU Engineering Advisory Board and is the Chair of the Industry and Government Relations Committee. Maxwell serves on other advisory boards including the Georgia Mining Foundation Board and FAMU/FSU College of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Board. Mr. Maxwell earned his M.B.A. from Georgia College and State University in 2009 and his B.S. in chemical engineering from Florida State University in 1999.

Evonik-Degussa
Lafayette, Indiana

Tiffany D Rau, PhD currently leads the Fermentation/Large Molecule Development and Tech Transfer Team at Evonik-Degussa in Lafayette, Indiana. Tiffany has a wealth of global technical and managerial experience and expertise in process development, scale-up/scale-down, commercialization, manufacturing, and facility start-up from companies that include Eli Lilly, Pall Corporation, and GlaxoSmithKline. Tiffany has spent the majority of her career managing international teams and working on projects in the areas of biopharmaceuticals and industrial biotechnology. Tiffany has over 75 invited speaking engagements focused on delivering current and next generation products from R and D to commercialization/post-commercialization. Tiffany is also active in the scientific community and is Program Chair for the Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology meeting (2016, 2018) and has organized numerous sessions at the SIMB National Meetings (Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology) and ECI Cell Culture Engineering meetings. She is also part of the inaugural organizing team for ECI’s Microbial Conference in 2018. Tiffany is involved in academia and was part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Capstone engineering program for many years. She participates in Vanderbilt University’s Capstone program where she was the first industrial participant. She is also on Vanderbilt’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering External Advisory Board. Her students work in the past has focused on designing manufacturing facilities for biotechnology processes for example regenerative medicine, MAbs, and vaccines. AICHE’s National Design Competition Committee is chaired by Tiffany and she is part of the organizing committee for ACS/ESBES first annual Biotechnical Design Competition. Tiffany is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and earned her BSE degree in Chemical and Biomolecular engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Geosyntec, Inc.
Tallahassee, FL

Mr. Kevin Warner, P.E., is Principal Engineer at Geosyntec, Inc, a global environmental services company with an office in Tallahassee, FL. He was previously with LFR Levine-­‐Fricke (precursor to Arcadis), ABB Environmental Services, and Brown Testing Laboratories. He received his MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University in 1998 and he also has a MS degree in Civil Engineering. He has been a licensed professional engineer in the State of Florida for over 20 years. Over the past 26 years, he has evaluated, designed, and implemented well over 500 groundwater and soil remediation systems using various remedial technologies. He provides guidance for implementing operation and maintenance programs that optimize the performance of remedial systems. He also serves as an internal peer reviewer for remedial designs at ARCADIS and frequently conducts peer reviews of other consults remedial designs for major private and government clients. Mr. Warner has served on the External Advisory Board of the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering since 2002.