Chemical Engineering July 2014 - 65

Fractionation Column
Environmental Manager
Reflecting on a milestone
T
his is my fiftieth editorial in
Chemical Engineering. There
have been several surprises,
going all the way back to the
beginning in 2010, when I was
first asked if I would like to author
a monthly editorial. I said
that I would, but only if I could inject
some " personality " and " funny
stuff " into the editorials. My first
editorial debuted in the March
2010 issue of CE.
Since then, I've covered many topics
in this column including some
that are very technical, as well as
management and personnel subjects,
and other less technical topics.
The topic that I have addressed
most often is safety. I described
some of my " near misses " going back
to the 1970s, when too many safety
programs focused solely on personal
protective equipment. Back then,
there were too many near misses
and also too many " non misses. "
Hopefully, some of these editorials
encouraged readers to expect the
unexpected. My most popular editorial
was clearly Crow's Nest (Chem.
Eng., February 2011, p. 25) where
I described falling off of a column
ladder and where many friends and
readers seemed to enjoy reading
about the resultant extreme physical
discomfort.
Along the way, I have received
some email comments regarding
the " funny stuff. " Some readers
objected and stated that they
read " the magazine for the technical
content, not the jokes. " Two
unfunny editorials also garnered
negative responses. When I complained
about the plastic refuse of
bottled water and contended that
some of that water originates from
municipal supplies, some vendors
objected. When I compared and contrasted
pilot plant researchers and
computer-simulation researchers,
some of the latter felt slighted.
The email comment that I have
received most often about this column,
however, is a very positive
one - " it's the first thing that I
read. " This could be indicative that
some readers might indeed be looking
for the " funny stuff. " These editorials
are " easy reads " compared
to many of the things that we have
on our desks.
People who know me well, know
that I do not mind embarrassing
myself, occasionally. Regarding the
personal stories that I tell, I assure
you that all are totally true. Yes,
Robert Kohler and I were on the
verge of being shot by young Hungarian
soldiers after our taxi driver
purposely chose not to stop at an inspection
booth at the Austria-Hungary
border (Who says ChE careers
aren't adventurous?, Chem. Eng.,
October 2012, p. 55).
After my own personal experiences,
my next source of editorial
ideas has been AIChE meetings. I
must say that I am surprised that I
Mike Resetarits is the technical director
at Fractionation Research, Inc. (FRI;
Stillwater, Okla.; www.fri.org), a distillation
research consortium. Each month,
Mike shares his first-hand experience
with CE readers
am not ever recognized in hallways
at those meetings. Maybe I should
wear my hard hat more often.
When I look back, the opportunity
to write these editorials has
been my number two career highlight.
The fact that so many of you
are reading them is number one,
truly. I would be remiss if I did not
mention that Joella Redden, FRI's
technical associate, has performed
research work for many of them.
Dorothy Lozowski edits my drafts
with extreme patience. I thank
them - and you!
■
Mike Resetarits
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Chemical Engineering July 2014

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