Jennie Patrick

Jennie Patrick (born 1949) is an American chemical engineer and educator. As a high school student, she participated in the integration of Alabama's public schools. She went on to pioneer work on supercritical fluid extraction. Her educational work has focused on the mentoring of African American and female students.

Childhood Jennie Patrick was born on January 1, 1949, to James and Elizabeth Patrick of Gadsden, Alabama, which she later described as "quite rural, very slow, just a typical southern town".

Patrick describes herself as a very curious child. In an interview with Jeanette E. Brown, she explained: " just wanted to understand why things were, and how things operated. Living in a rural setting allowed me to be very close to nature. The wonders of nature seemed to have fueled my desire even more so, to understand why things happened in a certain way." and was very imaginative. There she majored in a short-lived program in chemical engineering. Though the Tuskegee Institute was a traditionally Black school, the head of the chemical engineering department was a white southern man, who was opposed to Patrick majoring in chemical engineering, and was 'nasty' with her.

Work After graduation, Patrick joined the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, where she worked as a research engineer for three and a half years. She helped develop a program in supercritical fluid extraction technology, a high pressure separation and purification technology,

During this time, Patrick also served as an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1982–1985) From 1993-1997 she was active both in research and in helping minority students interested in science and engineering.

She was awarded the Presidential Citation from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education in 1987, and made it into the World's Who's Who of Women in 1989.

She was presented with the William W. Grimes Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2000, and the Black Achievers in Chemical Engineering Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2008.

Personal life During her career, Patrick found it very difficult to balance her work and her personal life and family, explaining: "I've always valued my family more than anything else, so if something had to be put on a back burner momentarily, it was my career or the work situation." One of the reasons Patrick moved back to Birmingham, Alabama, was to take care of her elderly parents.

Patrick married a physician and former practicing chemical engineer, whom she describes as her "very best friend" and "just a wonderful human being". Since her retirement, she enjoys gardening, her 'quiet time' to commune with nature.

To young scientists, she advises: "You need to know who you are, you need to be comfortable with yourself, you need to love yourself, and you need to respect yourself. Then everything else becomes secondary. Achieve the highest goals possible but don't allow achievements alone to define who you are. Make the decision early. Don't let material things or world recognition be your driving force."