Messenger - Vol. 3, No. 1, Page 14
Fall 1993
Stanley I. Sandler receives Francis Alison Award

The $5,000 Alison Award, established by the University's Board of Trustees
in l978 and first presented in l979, recognizes the scholarship,
professional achievements and dedication of the faculty.

     Each fall, a distinguished faculty member at the University of
Delaware is chosen to receive the Francis Alison Award, in recognition of
outstanding academic contributions to the University and to their
profession.
     This year, the news had to be faxed to Heidelberg, Germany, where
Stanley I. Sandler was in the midst of a bicycling vacation, while on his
way to lecture at a NATO Advanced Study Institute in Turkey.
     Sandler, Henry Belin du Pont Professor of Chemical Engineering, is the
15th recipient of the award, presented during New Student  Convocation.
     The $5,000 Alison Award was established by the University's Board of
Trustees in l978 and first presented in l979 to recognize the scholarship,
professional achievements and dedication of the faculty.
     Sandler, who has won major awards in his field, says the Alison Award
is special because "it's nice to be recognized in your own community by the
people who know both the good and bad about you."
     Sandler joined the faculty as an assistant professor in l967. He was
promoted to full professor in l973 and served as chairperson of the
Department of Chemical Engineering for four and a half years starting in
l982. That same year, he was awarded the Henry Belin du Pont professorship.
In l992, he served as interim dean of the College of Engineering.
Currently, he directs the University's Center for Molecular and Engineering
Thermodynamics.
     His research is in the general area of the physical properties and
purification of substances. It has evolved over the years from completely
theoretical to include more applied and experimental research.
     "Some of the research is of immediate use," he said, citing work for
the American petroleum industry on the measurement of the properties of
hydrocarbon-ether mixtures for the new generation of clean gasolines
mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
     He and another colleague in the department-Michael E. Paulaitis,
professor of chemical engineering-are working to develop environmentally
safe replacements for freons, with funding from the DuPont Co.
     With support from the National Science Foundation, yet a third area of
research has Sandler looking at the properties of water pollutants-a joint
project with colleagues at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the
Technical University of Berlin.
     For the U.S. Department of Energy, his research involves the use of
computational chemistry and statistical mechanics to predict the properties
of substances.
     To Sandler, these major research projects are exciting and always
evolving, and he credits some of his accomplishments to "the able
assistance of excellent undergraduate and graduate students and
postdoctoral research assistants. One of the nice things as we continue to
do research is, while we solve some problems, we constantly uncover other
new and exciting ones. Also, we are contributing to the education of bright
young people in the process."
     In the future, Sandler plans to devote a larger fraction of  his
research toward the environment and hazardous chemical waste.
     "I feel an obligation to society to try to reduce further pollution
and to take care of some problems that have already been generated. It is a
very exciting area and one in which students enjoy working," he said.
     In addition to his research, Sandler continues to teach both
undergraduates and graduate students, especially in the area of
thermodynamics. His textbook on the subject is currently used by many
chemical engineering departments in the U.S. and throughout the world, and
it has been translated into Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
     In keeping with his interest in the environment, Sandler and colleague
Kenneth B. Bischoff, Unidel Professor of Biomedical Engineering and
Chemical Engineering, have developed a new chemical engineering course on
"Risks, Safety, Hazards and the Environment."
     Sandler received his bachelor's degree cum laude from the City College
of New York and his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University
of Minnesota.
     Before joining the University, he was a National Science Foundation
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Physics at the
University of Maryland.
     Sandler's wife, Judith, and their three children are all graduates of
the University of Delaware.