Richard Felder Nominated as Inductee into the American Society of Engineering Education’s Hall of Fame

At the American Society of Engineering Education’s 130th Gala this month, Emeritus Prof. Richard Felder was announced as an Inductee into the Society’s Hall of Fame. Felder is the Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at NC State and has been a member of the faculty since 1969. 

Prior to joining the NC State faculty, Rich received the B.Ch.E. degree from City College of New York in 1962 and the Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1966. He has also worked for the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (Harwell, England) and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Felder has won numerous awards for his various publications and presentations as well as awards for his contributions to engineering education. These recognitions span four decades. He is perhaps best known for the seminal textbook, Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, that he co-authored originally with Prof. Ronald Rousseau. Since the text’s publication in 1978, it has been used as the introductory chemical engineering textbook by roughly 90% of American universities and a number of universities elsewhere.  The fourth edition of the textbook was published in 2015 by Rich and Ron, along with coauthor Prof. Lisa Bullard, CBE Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Felder had a phenomenal impact on the department and our commitment to excellence in teaching and pedagogy.  As a result of his legacy, we have nine current faculty inducted into the NC State Academy of Teaching and multiple faculty performing research in engineering education and pedagogy. Testimonies on Prof. Felder’s impact from his peers include: 

“Rich has been my teaching mentor since my very first semester at NCSU when we taught CHE 205 together. His impact on my career as a collaborator, co-author, and friend has been life-changing.  He constantly inspires me to stretch beyond who I thought I could be as an educator.” – Prof. Lisa Bullard

“He had a way of bringing the subject to life in a manner that made me want to be an engineer, not just a Chemical Engineer, but an engineer.  A person trained to think critically and creatively to solve the world’s toughest problems through an elegant combination of theory, estimation, and correlation.” – Admiral Daryl L. Caudle, Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command

Felder will be inducted into the ASEE Hall of Fame during the Society’s June 2024 meeting in Portland, Oregon. 

Congratulations, Professor Richard Felder, and very well deserved!

For more information about Prof. Felder, visit his Legacy Website here.