Advisory Board

Jennifer Garfield is from Boone, Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1991, where she was involved in Marching Band, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Kappa sorority.  In the Chemical Engineering department, she was also a teaching and research assistant for Professor Murhammer. Jennifer has been with ExxonMobil Chemical Company for more than 27 years, starting as a process engineer at the Baytown, Texas manufacturing facility. She has held varying positions in steam cracking and aromatics processes, which included a 3-year assignment in Singapore to support the construction and startup of a $2B chemical complex. Jennifer also spent several years in quality management systems / ISO9001, business process management, and driving/implementing IT projects to support the business and customers. She is currently the lead product integrity advisor, providing global expertise on Product data Lifecycle Management (PLM) processes, and associated digital enablement.

Jennifer and her husband, Rich, live in Houston, Texas and have a son and daughter. She has served on the University of Iowa CBE Advisory Board since 2014 and feels that hearing from students keeps her connected to the concerns and motivations of the younger generation. Through her service on the advisory board, Jennifer has enjoyed re-building her ties to the University of Iowa and the College of Engineering and reflecting on how U of I provided her with a strong foundation. She believes that a degree in chemical engineering provides a wide variety of career options and can lead to a successful, enriching career.

Aaron Morrow (BS Chemical Engineering, Iowa '04 and MBA, Iowa '15) began his career with Johnson Manufacturing Company in Princeton, Iowa as Production Manager.  After eight years he advanced to Technical Sales Manager and returned to Iowa for his MBA. He is currently the General Manager of Johnson Manufacturing and is the President of the Board for NARSA: The International Heat Transfer Trade Association. 

Aaron and his wife Lisa live in Davenport with their two daughters.  He is an avid runner, a season ticket holder for Hawkeye Wrestling, serves on the board for Acacia Fraternity at Iowa and has served on the University of Iowa CBE Advisory Board since 2016. Aaron feels it is rewarding to see the department, college, and university that helped him become successful in his career path continuing to inspire, motivate, challenge, and improve the students of today.

Mark Arlinghaus is a Senior Principal Engineer at General Mills, Inc. where he designs food processing systems. His roles include equipment design, analytical method development, process control, intellectual property management, and regulatory affairs. Mark is a prolific inventor working in diverse fields including coffee roasting, robotics, machine vision, packaging equipment, fats and oils production, grain processing, and analytical chemistry. He has 9 United States patents and many employer-recognized trade secrets. He received the General Mills Inventor of the Year award and was an invited speaker at PITTCON 2019. Mark received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1996.  In addition to his service on the advisory board, Mark is former chair of the Upper Midwest Section of AIChE.

Although he did not attend the University of Iowa, he has been deeply impressed by the spirit of comradery and welcoming atmosphere of the CBE department. Through his service on the CBE advisory board, Mark hopes to provide perspective on the aspects of the curriculum that are most valuable for practicing engineers.

Jim Davoux graduated from the University of Iowa with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1998 and began his career as a refinery engineer with Marathon Oil.  He then moved into the pharmaceutical industry where he has worked for Abbott Laboratories and now AbbVie for 19 years.  He has held varying positions in manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients, project engineering, utilities, and EHS.  He is currently the director of global energy management and environmental sustainability for AbbVie.

Jim and his wife Barb live in Green Oaks, Illinois and have two daughters. He has served on the University of Iowa CBE Advisory Board since 2017. He is excited to directly give back to the Chemical Engineering department; the opportunity to be on the advisory board is a tangible way to pay it back and pay it forward. 

Erica Diehl is a licensed engineer and has worked at Hall and Hall Engineers, Inc. in Hiawatha since 2016.  She previously spent ten years at HR Green, Inc.  She graduated from The University of Iowa in 2004 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering, and went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University.  Erica has spent her career designing water and wastewater distribution and collection systems, and treatment plant improvements for eastern Iowa communities.  She sees projects from the preliminary report phase through design and construction.  Erica's ongoing service to the department include presenting at a undergraduate seminar and serving on the advisory board since 2019.

Erica and her husband, Ben, live in Robins, Iowa and have four children. Through her service on the CBE advisory board, she enjoys being able to stay in touch with the students and help the program provide students with the tools they need to be successful after graduation.  Erica believes that it cannot be stressed enough the diversity of opportunities available to chemical engineers. The tools learned through the curriculum can be applied to various industries and processes; Chemical engineers can apply their skills to anything they are truly passionate about.

Karen Burt
Iowa State University

Karen Burt has served as a Lecturer in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University since 2015. Her teaching focus is dedicated to the undergraduate Chemical Engineering curriculum, including the senior level unit operations laboratory. Karen has led two offerings of an annual summer study abroad program to the University of Oviedo in Oviedo, Spain, and she is a member of both departmental and college curriculum committees. Karen earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 2009 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2015. She believes Chemical engineering directly applies to a wide variety of roles and industries, and it equips students with the technical, problem-solving, and soft skills to be successful in almost any field.

Karen is a third generation Hawkeye and is proud to carry on the legacy of quality education in her home state. She is glad there is a way to help ensure the positive experience she had at Iowa is available to future generations of Hawkeyes. Karen hopes to bring an alternative academic perspective to the board as a faculty member at a neighboring institution.

John L. Kessler graduated from The University of Iowa in 1981 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, and worked a wide range of engineering, operations, research & development, and business roles within DuPont for 35 years (including Pioneer Seeds as final assignment). John also earned a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Carolina in 1985 and a Masters in Business Administration Degree from the University of Delaware in 1998. John is a lifelong member of AICHE and was a registered professional engineer in Iowa and several other states. John’s primary role at DuPont was as a Global Engineering Manager at Headquarters and at other global locations, where he was in charge of providing and developing the engineering resources that created and sustained competitive supply chains for DuPont all over the world, including working and living experience in Asia for 9 years. John earned two DuPont Engineering Excellence Awards over his career and retired from DuPont in 2016.

He and his wife now live in Coralville, Iowa. They have two daughters who graduated from University of Iowa medical programs and have 5 grandchildren. John teaches a UI CBE short course on High Level Capital Project Management Overview, provides feedback on the CBE senior design class presentations, mentors CBE students, and is a local experienced engineering resource for the department.

William (Bill) Liechty is the University Collaboration Scientist in External Technology, Core R&D at the Dow Chemical Company. In this role, Bill provides strategic oversight of Dow’s university project portfolio.

He is responsible for ensuring a robust pipeline of innovation projects with leading universities by identifying promising technologies, scouting new partners, and by selecting, shaping, and executing collaborative projects to deliver value to Dow. Bill joined Dow in 2013 and was responsible for process development in the novel Designed Particle Morphology (DPM) platform technology in the METHOCEL™ cellulose ether product line. Bill led the process to deepen understanding of relationships between process, particle properties, and product application performance for new cellulose ether products with novel size and shape combinations, including METHOCEL™ DC2 and WELLENCE™ SmartFry.

He also collaborated closely with cross-functional business teams to drive a new portfolio of innovation and asset flexibility opportunities in the DPM platform. Bill has co-authored over 14 internal research publications, 10 peer-reviewed journal articles, and presented at numerous domestic and international conferences. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and has recently been recognized as a recipient of the “35 Under 35” AIChE Award. Bill received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013, earned an M.Phil in Chemical Engineering as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge Univeristy in 2008, and received a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 2007.

Alex is a partner at the law firm of Carlson Caspers in Minneapolis, where she practices intellectual property law with an emphasis on patent and trade secret litigation and licensing. She draws on her engineering background to represent clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and agricultural industries.

Alex earned her B.S.E. in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa College of Engineering in 2006 and her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2009. 

Alex has extensive experience defending generic pharmaceutical companies in Hatch-Waxman ANDA litigation, as well as significant experience representing companies in various types of patent, trademark, and trade secret disputes.  In addition to her litigation practice, Alex also drafts and negotiates IP-related agreements, including patent licensing and research collaboration agreements.

Tom Marriott earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Iowa 1968. He then worked in the process chemical industry, primarily in manufacturing, for 36 years. This includes about 15 years as a senior Safety, Operations and Engineering manager for international division of a fortune 500 industrial gas and chemicals company. Tom retired in 2004 and has been serving on the U of I CBE Advisory Board for several years. He earned a Distinguished Alumni Award at U of I for establishing a Mentoring Program in CBE, and he routinely gives presentations in Process Safety classes and Professional Seminars in CBE.

Tom is eager to contribute his industrial experience through his service on the advisory board and believes that his U of I education in chemistry and chemical engineering unit operations provided a great base for him to have a successful and rewarding career in chemicals manufacturing.

Stacy Ross
Bayer Animal Health

Stacy Ross (BS Chemical Engineering Iowa '08 and PhD Pharmaceutics Iowa '13) began her career at Pfizer Animal Health / Zoetis in Kalamazoo, MI  She was a Senior Scientist in the Formulation group and then Principal Scientist. After about 4 years, she moved to Bayer Animal Health in the Kansas City area to lead the Formulation group in the US. In the past 2.5 years she managed formulation and pilot plant areas, then took on the Manager, Pharmaceutical Development role that included formulation, pilot plant, and analytical (GMP included).  This past August she took on a new role as Manager, Pharmaceutical Development-Drug Discovery and Product Innovation Interface.  In this function she helps early Discovery teams consider properties of molecules that may lend toward less complex formulations and assesses feasibility of innovation ideas. 

This role is remote from home office and Stacy and her family have moved back to the Iowa City area to be by family. She and her husband Nathan have three kids at home (son 6 and twin daughters 3), 3 dogs, and lots of wildlife on their acreage.  Stacy has served on the University of Iowa CBE Advisory Board since 2019.

Tim received his BS (1986) and PhD (1992) from the University of Iowa’s chemical and biochemical engineering department and is currently retired.  He worked for Monsanto and Emerald (former B.F. Goodrich Chemical Company) in various process engineering roles and then went on to lead a variety of businesses ranging in size from $100 million to $1 billion.  In addition to the Advisory Board, Tim has acted as an industry expert during Senior Project Design presentations and has served as a judge for several department and engineering college poster presentations.

Through his advisory board service, Tim is eager to share industry knowledge and experience with students to help them prepare for their career.  He also brings an "industry point of view" to the department. Tim believes earning a chemical and biochemical degree at the University of Iowa provides an excellent launch pad for a successful career.  The size of the department allows students to gain a personalized education experience while enjoying the benefits of being part of a large university.