Dale F. Rudd

Dale F. Rudd (1935–2018) was an American Chemical Engineer and Donald C. Slichter Professor Emeritus of Engineering Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is known for his influential work in process engineering, in particular for introducing computer aided process synthesis design strategies for large scale chemical industries. He co-wrote the first textbook in process engineering, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1978.

Early life

Rudd was born in 1935 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and received his BS in 1956 and his Ph.D. in 1959 in Chemical Engineering under Neal Amundson from the University of Minnesota. He was an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before joining the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1961.

Professor at Wisconsin

At the University of Wisconsin he developed the field of process synthesis in computerized process design. Process synthesis is used to design processes that can be used in commercial chemical plants. The significance is it uses computer algorithms to determine the chemical processes, reducing the costly need to test chemicals in full-scale production. Rudd's strategies have been used in areas such as waste treatment, chemical production and food processing. University of California Provost C. Judson King called Rudd's work “truly pioneering and important”.

Honors

Rudd's awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970, an Outstanding Educator in America in 1975, election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1978 and election to the founding class of the Washington State Academy of Sciences in 2008.