WSU - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Staff Systems Engineer / Siemens
- Staff Systems Engineer in the Ultrasound Division at Siemens Healthineers
Angel Brown is currently a Staff Systems Engineer in the Ultrasound Division at Siemens Healthineers. In her current position, she develops medical devices to enable medical professionals to diagnose their patients. Currently, she is an active participant in product development from concept through commercialization. Brown works cross-functionally, from design engineers, product managers, project managers, regulatory and quality, service, and verification and test teams in order to define products and ship products to customers.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor at the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department / Montana State University
Dr. Brent Peyton is a full Professor on the faculty of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, and the NSF Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. His research focus is on extremophilic bioprocessing, in situ biocatalyzed heavy metal biotransformations, and growth of algae for biodiesel production in natural and engineered biological systems.
Before returning to MSU in 2005, Dr. Peyton was a tenured faculty member at Washington State University for 8 years. Prior to WSU, he was in the Bioprocessing/Bioremediation Research Group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for 5 years.
He has authored and co-authored over 95 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and holds four patents in environmental biotechnology.
Job Titles:
- Interim Technical Manager, Process Engineering Superintendent
- Process Engineering Superintendent
Carol Bird-Terrell is currently a Process Engineering Superintendent and the interim Technical Manager for the bp Cherry Point Refinery, a world-class operating refinery located in the Pacific Northwest. Before joining bp Carol worked for Georgia-Pacific (GP) Corporation at their pulp and tissue mill then located in Bellingham, WA before its closure in 2007. Prior to GP Carol worked as a marine biologist before going back to school to pursue chemical engineering.
While at Georgia-Pacific Carol worked as a process engineer in the pulp mill, lignin and alcohol plants. She gained experience in many areas including wastewater treatment, pulping, and fermentation and distillation of alcohol before becoming the commissioning engineer for a large-scale lignin ultrafiltration system. After closure of the pulp mill and chemical plants Carol moved to the tissue mill as the Quality Manager for bath tissue and paper towel products and then advanced to Machine Room Assistant Superintendent.
Carol has been at the bp Cherry Point Refinery for over 14 years. Her experience spans many areas including Process Engineering, Process Safety, Operations and Commercial. During Carol's time at the refinery she was fortunate to have served a term as a United Way Campaign Manager in her local community and she led the bp Women's Network for several years in support of bp's Diversity and Inclusion ambition.
Carol was born on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and lived in several locations throughout the province before moving to Washington State.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Advisory Board
- CEO of PetroChoice
Celeste Beeks Mastin is currently the CEO of PetroChoice, a market leader in the distribution of lubricants and fuel. Before joining PetroChoice she served as CEO of Distribution International, the North American market leader in the distribution and fabrication of mechanical insulation. Prior to that, she served as CEO of MMI Products, Inc., a $750 million building materials company with 79 locations and 2,500 employees.
Before these assignments, Mastin spent 17 years in the chemical industry and presently serves on the board of Metabolix (NASD: MBLX), a bioscience company focused on developing clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy. She was the vice president of Color and Glass Performance Materials at Ferro Corporation, with profit/loss responsibility for a $400 million global business, as well as vice president of Growth and Development there. Mastin started her career in sales at Shell Chemical, where she served five years in sales positions of increasing responsibility. Her sales experience expanded at Bostik, Inc. where she held European, and later global sales management positions. This global experience led to a role as general manager of Nitta Findley, Co., a joint venture company formed by Bostik and Nitta Gelatin in Osaka, Japan with her career at Bostik culminating in the role of vice president / general manager of Nonwovens, a $200 million global adhesives business.
Mastin grew up on a ranch in Washington state and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and a minor in mathematics from Washington State University. She later earned her MBA from the University of Houston.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Maintenance Manager / Phillips 66
Chris Pease currently serves as manager of routine maintenance and turnarounds for Phillips 66 oil refinery in Ferndale, Washington. He is responsible for the availability and mechanical integrity of all site assets including fixed process equipment, rotating equipment, instrumentation, electrical, process controls, a deep water marine terminal, rail and truck loading, and general facilities. His contributions at Ferndale include improving preventive maintenance programs and implementing solutions that have improved equipment reliability.
Mr. Pease began his professional career in the chemical industry with BFGoodrich (now Emerald Performance Materials) in Kalama, Washington which produces flavors, fragrances, preservatives, plasticizers, and other intermediates derived from toluene oxidation. In his 13 years at Kalama, Mr. Pease held roles in operations supervision, process control engineering, project engineering, instrument and electrical maintenance, and ultimately as operations manager. His contributions at Kalama included migration of all process controls over to the site's first distributed control system (DCS) and subsequent optimization resulting in improved yields and capacity.
He and wife, Faith, have two children and currently reside in Lynden, Washington.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Plant Manager / Agrium US, Inc. ( Retired
Chris Sonnichsen began his career with Unocal Corporation at their research center. Later he transferred to Unocal's fertilizer division, and he spent most of his career working in fertilizer manufacturing with Unocal and then Agrium Corporation. He was plant manager at ammonia, urea and nitric acid plants in Kenai, Alaska; Carseland, Alberta; and Kennewick, Washington prior to his retirement in 2013.
Besides supporting WSU over the years, Chris has been involved with the United Way, Boys and Girls Clubs and local food banks. His hobbies include golf, snow skiing, hiking and traveling.
Chris feels that his education and experiences at WSU contributed to a lifetime of success and happiness and is honored to give back to WSU by serving on the Advisory Board. He and his wife, another WSU chemical engineering graduate, live in Richland. Their older son graduated from the University of Oregon in economics. Their younger son is currently at WSU, studying international business and managerial operations and is a third generation COUG!
Job Titles:
- Senior Scientist
- Director, External Manufacturing ( Retired ) Dow Inc.
- Member of the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering
In the year between graduating with his bachelor's degree and returning to graduate school, McDonald worked for UNC at the N-reactor on the Hanford site. He was there for the final shutdown of the famous reactor.
McDonald joined Dow Chemical in Research and Development, after finishing his master's degree at Washington State University. His early career included working in several rotational assignments in Central Research and Business R&D groups in Midland, MI, Freeport, TX and Pittsburg, CA. During his time in R&D he worked on several new products for the Agricultural Sciences division and developed an expertise in water treatment chemistry.
In 2001, McDonald moved to Indianapolis, IN to join the Six Sigma expertise group and worked on a variety of Purchasing and Supply Chain projects focused on improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of these work processes. While working on these projects, he developed a new business work process for optimizing the selection of external vs internal manufacturing, which became the External Manufacturing expertise center. The expertise center expanded to cover all of the Dow businesses and McDonald relocated to Midland MI in 2008 with the expansion.
McDonald has been a member of the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering advisory board for over 20 years. While in the Midwest, beginning in 2005, McDonald proudly supported WSU by traveling to over 30 ESPN GameDay Shows waving the Cougar flag.
McDonald retired from Dow in July 2014 with over 26 years of service. He now resides in the Methow Valley enjoying hiking, biking and other recreational activities.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Operating Officer of Proliant Health
Dr. Christopher Detzel is the Chief Operating Officer of Proliant Health and Biologicals, a leading manufacturer of medical proteins. Proliant uses large scale protein fractionation technology to develop, manufacture, and market functional medical proteins for the global nutrition and diagnostic industries. Dr. Detzel initially joined Proliant Health and Biologicals as a scientist and has served in a variety of roles from basic and clinical research, process development, technical sales support, and executive management.
Dr. Detzel earned his undergraduate chemical engineering degree from Washington State University in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from WSU in 2009. Dr. Detzel was also a member of the NIH Protein Biotechnology Program at WSU which provided initial experience in protein and tissue engineering that has continued to be a focus throughout this career. He has broad experience in bioreactor and process design, tissue engineering, and protein fractionation.
The Voiland school of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, and WSU in general, provided a fantastic education, many opportunities for personal development and the foundation for a successful career. Dr. Detzel is thrilled for the opportunity to serve the department though the advisory board to help ensure future COUGS have similar prospects. GO COUGS!
Job Titles:
- Principal, Voiland Enterprises, LLC / Executive Consultant, Shell Oil Company
Job Titles:
- Director of Business / Linde PLC ( Retired
- Director of Business Development / Linde PLC ( Retired
Job Titles:
- Engineering Manager, Production & Operations - Bp Gulf of Mexico
Job Titles:
- Bioprocess Engineer / CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Job Titles:
- Engineer
- Engineer, BR & T Propulsion Program Support
Kathryn Ewing is a WSU Distinguished Regents Scholar who graduated summa cum laude with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering in 2006. She began her career with The Boeing Company in Material and Process Technology (M&PT) Paints and Coatings as an intern and subsequently as an engineer, where she received a patent for a lightning strike protection process improvement. In late 2007, she transferred into Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) Fluids and Lubrication Technology Group. After seven years in BR&T Fluids and Lubrication Technology, Kathryn transferred to BR&T Propulsion Program Support. In this role, she specializes in corrosion prevention and supports multi-model propulsion designs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Manager of Quality Assurance and Reliability in the Product Performance Group at Abbott Vascular
- Senior Quality Assurance Manager / Abbott Vascular
Lindsey (Egeland) Bell is currently a Senior Manager of Quality Assurance and Reliability in the Product Performance Group at Abbott Vascular. Abbott Vascular develops and manufactures devices used to evaluate and treat coronary and peripheral vascular disease. Abbott Vascular is in the Medical Device Division of Abbott Laboratories, a global healthcare company that strives to create breakthrough products-in diagnostics, medical devices, nutrition and branded generic pharmaceuticals-that help individuals, families and communities of people lead healthier lives of unlimited possibilities.
In her current position, Bell manages a team of analysts that evaluate product experience reports from global customers and submit regulatory reports for device deficiencies and adverse events to more than 55 regulatory governments and notified bodies around the world. Bell has used her skills in numerous positions within Abbott Vascular as a Quality Engineer in both manufacturing and research and development and in managing quality engineering and quality assurance teams that support various functions within Abbott Vascular including extrusion, coronary & peripheral guidewires, accessories used during the percutaneous angioplasty procedures, electron-beam sterilization, microbiology, regulatory compliance and quality systems.
In addition, Bell is a global leader for Women Leaders of Abbott, an internal organization that proactively connects women and offers dynamic programs and initiatives to enhance leadership experiences and career development for women at Abbott to maximize their potential and realize greater achievement throughout their careers. She is a volunteer with the Abbott STEM program and an active member in the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA).
Bell graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering from Washington State University in 2004 and was a four-year letter winner on the WSU women's basketball team, earning All-Academic Pac-10 First Team honors. She also holds a Master of Engineering degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego.
Job Titles:
- V.P. of US Biologics Technical Development ( Retired
- V.P. of US Biologics Technical Development / Genentech
Marjorie Winkler graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo in 1975 with a BS in chemistry. She went on to study Bioinorganic Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, and was awarded her PhD in 1980. After completing a postdoctoral assignment as an NIH Fellow at MIT and Stanford, she joined the biotechnology company, Genentech in 1982 as a research protein chemist. In 1989, Dr. Winkler joined the Process Development department as a Senior Scientist, and held positions of increasing responsibility in both Process Development and Manufacturing for the next 24 years. In 2010 Dr. Winkler was named the Vice President of US Biologics Technical Development, where she was responsible for all aspects of cell culture and purification development, formulation development device development and assay development for pharmaceutically active proteins discovered by the Genentech Research and Early Development group from discovery through to worldwide licensure and commercial production. Dr. Winkler retired from Genentech in 2013.
Dr. Winkler received the Outstanding Alumni Award, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo in 2005, and the Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award, University at Buffalo in 2009. She is a member of the University at Buffalo Dean's Advisory Committee, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo, and is a member of the Gift Stewardship Committee, University at Buffalo Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Biomaterials Technology Leader / WL Gore & Associates
Paul Drumheller is a graduate of WSU Chemical Engineering (BSChE 1987); his was the first class to use the (then new) Electrical/Mechanical Engineering Building. Dr. Drumheller obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, with an emphasis in biointerfacial phenomena. Dr. Drumheller has held positions in R&D, management, and intellectual property for established and start-up companies; currently he is Biomaterials Technology Leader at WL Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, Arizona. He is the inventor of 24 patents in the fields of tissue engineering and interventional therapies. Dr. Drumheller's previous advisory service includes the Flagstaff City Council Arts & Science Commission, the Arizona Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development, Cynexus Corporation, and Corneal Science Corporation. Dr. Drumheller's hobbies include mountain biking, backpacking, and photographing the forests and canyons of northern Arizona and southern Utah.
Job Titles:
- V.P. Manufacturing & Engineering ( Retired ) Genentech
- Vice President Manufacturing & Engineering / Genentech
Job Titles:
- Senior Technical Consultant
- Senior Technical Consultant for the Bp Cherry Point Refinery
Rick Johnson is currently a senior technical consultant for the bp Cherry Point Refinery, a world-class operating refinery located in the Pacific Northwest. Before joining bp Rick worked for Anvil Corporation and worked from their Bellingham, WA offices as a Process Design Engineer.
While at Anvil Corporation he worked on a number of crude oil refinery expansion, optimization, and troubleshooting projects giving him a foundation in the design of processes and equipment for distillation, reaction, heat transfer, desalting and over pressure protection.
Rick has been working for bp for 22 years. During this time he has become a trusted and respected technical expert in the production of high quality coke products and the removal and recovery of sulfur from liquid transportation fuels. He has worked in the US and UK and has been a process engineer, operations engineer, engineering team lead, and the lead process engineer on a new build hydrogen production unit. Rick is passionate about developing the engineering talent required to provide the world with clean, reliable and affordable energy. In his current role he is closely involved in the recruitment, training and mentoring of early career engineers, alongside project and asset support work to improve the safety, reliability and environmental performance of bp's refining operations in Washington.
Rick was born and raised in the Tri Cities where he lived until going to Pullman for the senior year of his Chemical Engineering degree and then moving to Whatcom County to work with Anvil and then bp. He and his wife, Denise, have four children, the last of which will be attending WSU in the fall of 2023, and currently reside in Lynden, Washington.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Senior Research Engineer
- Senior Research Engineer / Team Lead, Analysis Group
Ms. Jones is a project manager for biomass related analysis tasks and the analysis group team lead. Her research interests include process modeling and economics for chemical and fuels development. She has prepared techno-economic (TEA) studies and basic engineering packages for various processes including power, hydrogen, Fischer-Tropsch fuels, gasoline and diesel, methanol, mixed alcohols, synthetic natural gas, polyols and organic acids from biomass, coal, and natural gas. The TEA scales have ranged from bench-scale systems to large commercial ventures for both private and government clients. The technical tools used include ASPENPlus, CHEMCAD, ASPEN Economic Analyzer and Excel. Ms. Jones is also a guest lecturer at Washington State University (Tri-Cities) for Biorefinery TEA related topics.
Job Titles:
- Market Sector Manager / Clean Fossil Energy