Contact: Phil Hearn
John Curtis Reed
A Mississippi State chemical engineering student from Clinton is among 15 winners of a national honor recognizing both academic achievement and involvement in profession-related student activities.
Senior John Curtis Reed, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Reed, will receive the $1,000 Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer National Scholarship Award in November during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' annual conference in San Francisco.
"I want to work in the area of process controls, either in industry or in graduate school," said Reed, formerly of Raymond. "MSU's chemical engineering program has an extremely attractive direct doctoral program that is very high on the list of possibilities for the future."
A Dean's Scholar and an active member of the campus AIChE chapter, Reed spent the summer in Europe participating in the Bagley College of Engineering's Study Abroad program. He also hiked 150 miles through the Scottish Highlands.
Kirk Schulz, director of MSU's Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, said universities may submit only one nomination in the annual competition. More than 125 institutions offer chemical engineering degrees nationally, he added.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment for John and is a great reflection on MSU's Swalm School of Chemical Engineering," said Schulz. "The competition for these scholarships is very intense."
Irvin A. Jefcoat, the university's Hunter Henry Professor of Chemical Engineering, called Reed's selection a "delightful surprise" and "definitely a good reflection on our chemical engineering program." He cited a copy of the AIChE award letter to Reed, which termed the award as "a reflection of your excellent academic record, your enthusiastic involvement in AIChE activities and your thoughtful chemical engineering career plans."