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Marquis Scholar Dan Connolly ’02 (Meadville, Pa) is enhancing his education as a chemical engineering major for the second summer through an internship with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Last summer, Donnelly worked with emulsions manufacturing at Air Products Polymers Group. in Piedmont, S.C. He learned about the company from Javad Tavakoli, associate professor and head of chemical engineering, then applied for an internship through Lafayette’s Gateway Program, which pairs up students with a professional career adviser and provides access to alumni who give practical advice about careers in their fields.
“Based upon my great experience last summer, in which I was able to really find out if chemical engineering was for me, I was offered a second internship for this current summer,” says Connolly. “The plant experience last summer allowed me to get a hands-on experience that you don’t get in an office or classroom. I was able to start to apply what I learned in the classroom.”
This summer, Connolly is gaining experience at the Air Products and Chemicals corporate office in Allentown, Pa. as a process engineering summer intern in the Chemicals Product Support Team (Chem PST). He is doing work on an Operability Hazard Review (OPHR) for an emulsions plant in Los Angeles. Plants carry out an OPHR every five years, seeking ways to improve safety.
“With a hazard review comes many action items that are designated for the plant, as well as research and development, and my group, Chem PST, to carry out,” Connolly explains. “My role this summer is to finish the OPHR action items for the City of Industry plant in Los Angeles. With this opportunity, I have already been able to apply some of the skills that I have learned in the classroom.”
Connolly started work on May 21 and will finish on Aug. 17. “I have enjoyed the experience so far, although the corporate environment is extremely different from working every day inside an emulsion plant,” he says. “With my experience this summer, I am hoping to begin involvement with the research and development department in the emulsions group to perhaps develop a senior thesis project.”
In an earlier project, Connolly won second place for his paper on the use of sunlight to disinfect contaminated water at the annual conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Dallas, Tex. As an EXCEL Scholar, he worked with Javad Tavakoli, associate professor of chemical engineering, to develop an inexpensive and simple way for people in undeveloped regions to disinfect water by using sunlight. A prototype unit, named Solar Biocide, was tested in Peru after successful experiments at Lafayette.
“I have a real interest in environmental science, and when I approached Professor Tavakoli as a freshman, I was surprised that as an undergraduate I could be part of such serious research,” Connolly said. “We are working together on something that could really change people’s lives.”
Connolly was invited to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most respected undergraduate honors organization in the United States, as a junior this spring. He also has received the Eugene P. Chase Phi Beta Kappa Prize, given to sophomores who have demonstrated scholarship as first-year students.
A National Leader in Undergraduate Research. Daniel Connolly ’02 won second place for his presentation of research with James Ferri, assistant professor of chemical engineering, at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual meeting.