Dr. Syamal Poddar Receives Award for Distinguished Services to the AIChE

Dr. Syamal Poddar with the AIChE Distinguished Services award plaque.

Dr. Syamal Poddar with the AIChE Distinguished Services award plaque.

SAN ANTONIO: The Ameri-can Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Fuels and Petrochemicals division (F&PD) each year recognizes an individual’s outstanding services to the division.

For 2013, the distinguished service award winner was Dr. Syamal K. Poddar, an active member of over 35 years and a Fellow of the AIChE institute.

The distinguished service award was presented during the F&PD Awards Dinner at the past Spring National Meeting in San Antonio.

Dr. Syamal Poddar is the Founder President of the consulting company, Poddar & Associates, consulting nationally and internationally.

His 35+ year industrial career includes working for two major companies, Exxon Research & Engineering and Bechtel Corporation, with diversified management and global professional & leadership responsibilities. In addition to his industrial career, he maintained his teaching interest as an adjunct faculty, for several years in the past.

As a part of his consulting activities, Dr. Poddar has given several technical, project & business development and leadership courses nationally and internationally.

With Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University, India, Dr. Poddar earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to authoring 44 technical papers and 2 U.S. patents, he has made numerous technical and business presentations at national and international conferences and organized & chaired many such conferences and received several national and international awards and recognitions.

The award was presented to Dr. Poddar by Tim Olsen Chair, AIChE F&PD. “A veteran volunteer, Syamal led social and professional organizations with tangible membership growth with value added activities,” explained Mr. Olsen. “Syamal has held practically all leadership roles for F&PD.”

Dr. Poddar is a frequent contributor to Gulf Publishing’s Hydrocarbon Processing (HP) magazine and is a member of the Advisory Board of International Refining and Petrochemicals Conference (IRPC), which took place recently in New Delhi.