PULLMAN, Wash.–R. Mahalingam, professor of chemical engineering at Washington State University, was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to study, teach and consult in Malaysia for the 1997-98 academic year. He will be affiliated with the University of Malaya’s Institute of Advanced Studies in Kuala Lumpur.
The William J. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board is Presidentially appointed and has promoted mutual understanding between people of the United States and other countries through educational and cultural exchanges since the early 1960s.
Mahalingam, who has distinguished himself as a researcher and teacher in environmental remediation and other pollution problems connected with chemical processing and energy conversion industries, will share his expertise with professionals and academics involved in the booming crude oil, natural gas, and petrochemical industries of Southeast Asia.
“We will focus on both remediation and prevention strategies in selected processing complexes to address both downstream cleanup and upstream minimization of pollution problems,” says Mahalingam. “In both cases, we will consider integrated multimedia approaches to handle air, water, solid and hazardous wastes.”
Mahalingam, who also holds professor appointments in Civil and Environmental Engineering and in Environmental Science, has contributed to the engineering and sciences colleges’ pollution prevention curriculum, and received the outstanding researcher award from WSU College of Engineering and Architecture in 1984. He is current chair of the 4,000-member Environmental Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was elected a Fellow of AICHE in 1991.
Before coming to WSU in 1969, he earned a bachelor’s degree at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, a master’s degree from Purdue, and a doctorate at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. He also had full-time industry experience at Monsanto, Century Rayon and Scientific Design corporations. More recently, he held visiting appointments at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, at the U.S. Department of Energy Laboratories Battelle PNW Lab, and consultancy assignments with several corporations.
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Editors: Photo is available. Dr. Mahalingam can be reached at 509/335-4332, or email mahalingam@wsu.edu.
