Challenges of implementing: A joint industrial-academic research project - As part of a nontraditional industrial Ph.D. dissertation

The distance-education doctorate in engineering seem ridiculous enough by itself, but the fact that the prospective student intends to maintain full-time employment as a senior process engineer with a chemical manufacturing company. The real key to making the unlikely dissertation project a reality is to negotiate a scenario where all parties involved the student, the universities, and the company have something to gain from a successful collaboration. The universities benefits greatly from the improved intellectual diversity stemming from adding industrial experience to academic research groups. The research project is originally conceived as a conceptual process-development project for the production of an industrial chemical from renewable, bio-based feed stocks. The experience serve as a model for other manufacturing companies looking to bring an academic perspective to a research project, and for universities looking to bring an industry focus to chemical engineering education.