Bruce A. Williams
1508 W. Pratt Ave., Apt. 1B Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 381-3089 (home) (312) 567-3522 (work)
Email: US7721@aol.com, willbru@charlie.iit.edu
Education:
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL (1995-present)
Doctoral candidate in Chemical Engineering. Expected date of graduation: July 2001
Thesis title: “An Integrated Modeling, Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis System for Multivariable Batch
Processes”
M.S. Degree - Chemical Engineering July 1997
Concentration of Research: Process Dynamics Monitoring and Control
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (1991-1995)
B.S. Degree - Chemical Engineering May 1995
Area of Specialization: Process Dynamics and Control
Experience:
GEM Ph.D. Engineering Scholarship
Minority graduate engineering students selected conduct graduate-level research in a corporate setting.
May-August, 1998. Amoco Oil Company Catalytic Cracking Refining Technology Department - Naperville, IL
Evaluated the use of principal components regression, partial least-squares and ridge regression of time-series
catalytic cracker data from various refineries. Independently assessed software utilization, spearheaded group
evaluation of results, and proposed a general procedure for statistically evaluating on-line measurements.
Involved independent research of catalytic cracking and statistical modeling.
May-August, 1997. Amoco Oil Company Catalytic Cracking Refining Technology Department - Naperville, IL
Evaluated the use of principal components regression of time-series catalytic cracker data from Mandan refinery.
Independently assessed software utilization, spearheaded group evaluation of results, and proposed a general
procedure for statistically evaluating on-line measurements. Involved independent research of statistical
programs, catalytic cracking, and statistical modeling. Taught seminar illustrating the use of StatGraphics Plus.
September, 1995-present. Illinois Institute of Technology Research and Teaching Assistant - Chicago, IL
Developing and evaluating multivariate statistical process control techniques when applied to simulation data of
batch and fed-batch reactor systems. Design and improvisation of model to simulate explained and unexplained
disturbances using Simulink and MATLAB programming. Extensive research in statistics, statistical models,
process monitoring and fault diagnosis. Full-time responsibilities also include being a teaching assistant for
undergraduate and graduate control classes.
June-August 1995. Reliable Biopharmaceutical Company Engineering Assistant I - St. Louis, MO
Worked alongside chemical operators in the Inorganic Chemicals division. Responsibilities included supervision
of second shift, conducting wet bench quality control experiments, and design of new experimental procedures.
The operation capacity of the salvation, crystallization, and drying equipment produced about 1500 kg product
weekly. Materials were made at FDA purity. Chemicals prepared included sodium dodecyl sulfate, copper
tartarate, urea/HCI, and tris(trihydroxyaminomethylsulate-HCI).
September 1994-March 1995. Northwestern University Senior Independent Project - Evanston, IL. Studied
and evaluated the aspects of chemical process control using Daubechies and non-orthogonal "wave-packet"
mathematical bases. Design and testing of models, as well as computer programming using MATLAB.
Extensive research in mathematical modeling of distillation towers and advanced characterization of signals.
Time commitment averaged twenty hours per week.
Amoco CYCLE Scholarship
Minority engineering students selected gain experience and interpersonal skills in a corporate setting.
June-September, 1994. Amoco Chemical Company PTA R&D Group - Naperville, IL
Studied and evaluated the recycle of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) via a saponification-acidificationmetathesis process in high-pressure reactors. Learned and operated acid-base and number titration equipment,
COLOR SCAN II color analysis, Hiac-Royco particulate size, and Coulter particle size instruments. Analysis of
findings with respect to other current patterned processes. Also operated and designed high-pressure filtration
equipment and active-carbon packed columns.
June-September, 1993. Amoco Chemical Company PTA R&D Group - Naperville, IL
Studied and evaluated the MC oxidation process in bench-scale reactors. Studied CAD design of MC Oxidation
pilot plants. Learned and operated various Gas Chromatography (GC) instruments and analyzed data produced.
Synthesized various chemical intermediates.
June-September, 1992. Amoco Chemical Company CAPE Research Group - Naperville, IL
Studied VAX FORTRAN. Studied chemical engineering economic evaluation of potential new processes.
Wrote FORTRAN code, which transfers relevant information from ECON files into other VAX economic
evaluation programs.
June-September, 1991. Amoco Chemical Company Computer Systems Support Unit - Naperville, IL
Studied VAX usage and maintenance in a chemical research environment.
Computer
Skills:
Proficient with Lotus 1-2-3, QuattroPro, and Microsoft Office suite. Able to utilize SAS,
Statistica, SCAN, and StatGraphics Plus statistical programs. Also adept in HYSIM 2.2, SpeedUp, CC and G2.
Programming experience with MATLAB, FORTRAN, CLIPS, and BASIC languages.
Professional Associate Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Student Member of Institute of
Memberships: Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Student Member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
Publications: Refereed Journals
Ali Cinar and Bruce Williams. “Application of Two and Three Mode Models in Monitoring a Semibatch
Polymerization Reactor,” Journal of Chemometrics, Submittted, December, 1999.
Michael Riordan and Bruce Williams. FE/EIT PM Exam in Chemical Engineering. REA, Piscataway, NJ, 2000.
Conference Papers
Ali Cinar and Bruce Williams. “Application of Two and Three Mode Models in Monitoring a Semibatch
Polymerization Reactor,” 1998 AIChE Annual Conference, Miami, FL.
Cenk Undey and Bruce Williams. “Modeling and Monitoring of a Fed-Batech Fermentation Process,” 1999
AIChE Chicago Section Poster Session, Chicago, IL.
Cenk Undey, Bruce A. Williams, Gülnur Birol, Satish J. Parulekar and Ali Cinar “Multivariate Statistical
Monitoring of Penicillin Fermentation,” 1999 AIChE Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.
Bruce A. Williams, Cenk Undey, Gülnur Birol, Satish J. Parulekar and Ali Cinar. “Statistical Monitoring of
Bioprocesses,” 1999 AIChE Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.
Cenk Undey, Eric Tatara, Bruce A. Williams, Gülnur Birol, and Ali Cinar “A Hybrid Supervisory KnowledgeBased System for Monitoring Penicillin Fermentation”, American Control Conference (ACC) Chicago, 28-30
June, 2000.
Cenk Undey, Eric Tatara, Bruce A. Williams, Gülnur Birol, and Ali Cinar. “On-line Real-time Monitoring of
Penicillin Fermentation”, International Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM
2000), Pisa, Italy, 14-16 June, 2000.
Bruce A. Williams and Ali Cinar. “An On-line Monitoring and Curve Registration System for
Multivariable Batch Processes”, 2000 AIChE Annual Conference, Los Angeles, California.
Bruce A. Williams, Cenk Undey and Ali Cinar. “A Unified Framework for On-Line Monitoring of Batch
Bioprocesses With Unequal Run Lengths”, Submitted to the 8th International Conference On Computer
Applications In Biotechnology (CAB 8),to be held in Quebec, Canada 24-27 June 2001.
Bruce A Williams, Cenk Undey and Ali Cinar. “Detection of Process Landmarks Using Regularization for OnLine Monitoring”, Submitted to 6th IFAC Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Process Systems, to be held
in Cheju Island (DYCOPS), Korea, 3-6 June 2001.
References Available Upon Request