UW Reception To Honor Morrow's Election to NAE

Oct. 12, 2001-- The University of Wyoming Office of Research and College of Engineering will host a reception Friday, Oct. 19, to recognize chemical engineering Professor Norman R. Morrow's election to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The reception will be held at UW's American Heritage Center from 5 p.m. 7 p.m.

Membership in the NAE, the highest professional distinction accorded U.S. engineers, honors those who have made "important contributions to engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the literature of engineering theory and practice" and those who have demonstrated "unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology." Morrow was cited earlier this year for his contributions to the understanding of petroleum production, specifically for his work with interfacial phenomena governing wettability, connate water saturation, and spontaneous imbibition.

"Professor Morrow has had a very productive and distinguished career," says Gus Plumb, dean of UW's College of Engineering. "When you look at the number of invited lectures that he delivers each year in literally every petroleum producing country and for every major petroleum company, it's clear that he is held in extremely high esteem around the world by both academicians and practitioners."

Morrow is the third UW faculty member to achieve membership in the national academies. Leon Borgman, professor emeritus of geology and statistics, was named to the engineering academy in 1999, and acclaimed anthropologist George Frison was selected for National Academy of Sciences membership in 1997.

Morrow joined the UW faculty in 1992 with a joint appointment as a professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and as a distinguished scientist at the Western Research Institute. Previously, he served 16 years as head of petrophysics and surface chemistry at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center at New Mexico Tech. At UW, he has developed new graduate courses in advanced petrophysics, surface chemistry and wettability, oil recovery mechanisms, and oil field chemistry. He and geology professor Ron Steel have developed interdisciplinary courses in geology and petroleum engineering.

In January 2000, Morrow was named J.E. Warren Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment. During that year he served as a distinguished lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and received a senior visiting fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom. This year, the university's International Board of Advisers honored Morrow with the first Faculty Award for Excellence in Internationalization and he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Research.

Posted on Friday, October 12, 2001