“When I found out what chemical engineering was, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I had never thought of the connection between the chemical industry, the fuels industry and forest products until I was at Wisconsin. That completely changed my thinking, because once you see an example of one alternative renewably sourced molecule, you ask, ‘Why we don’t go after everything? Why don’t we make the forestry products of northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota the source for carbon for everything we do?’ When I went to graduate school, that’s what I sought out.”
Paul Dauenhauer
Lanny and Charlotte Schmidt Professor, chemical engineering and materials science, University of Minnesota, BSChE ’04 (PhDChE ’08, University of Minnesota)