Renowned Alum Invests in Current and Future Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Success
“Every great scientific journey has a launching pad — a place where curiosity is molded into rigorous discipline.”
These words were spoken by Tonya Kuhl, professor and chair of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis, at an event celebrating the renovation and naming of the Howard A. & Valerie C. Stone Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Office in June.
Kuhl was referring to one half of its namesake, Howard Stone, who graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical engineering in 1982. A recent donation by Stone and his wife, Valerie, provided the department with the resources necessary to reinvent the graduate student office to better meet the needs of its students.
As UC Davis was the launch pad for his own career, Stone has helped create a space that will launch the next generation of engineers.
“The physical spaces where graduate students work, collaborate, learn and build community really do matter,” said Dean of Engineering Richard L. Corsi at the event. “They are where ideas are exchanged, where research collaborations begin, where lifelong friendships are formed and where future careers take shape.”
Stone was inspired by his parents, Henry and Joan, to give back to the department. Both were German-Jewish immigrants to the United States during World War II, and Howard’s father was unable to attend school in Germany but eventually became a mechanical engineer. He and Joan instilled in young Howard and his siblings the value and importance of education.
Howard Stone was introduced to chemical engineering at UC Davis and became fascinated by transport phenomena, fluid dynamics and the mathematics that govern them. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1982, he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Caltech, conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge and joined the faculty at Harvard University. He now serves as the Neil A. Omenn ’68 University Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, the institution’s highest faculty distinction.
For his research contributions to fluid dynamics, Stone has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society and as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom. He has received the top awards in fluid dynamics and mechanics: the G.K. Batchelor Prize, Fluid Dynamics Prize and G.I. Taylor Medal.
Stone has also directly influenced the UC Davis Department of Chemical Engineering. He has served on the department’s external advisory board. He mentored Professor William Ristenpart and Associate Professor Jiandi Wan in his lab.
“By training them in his research group, Howard directly exported his world-class expertise back to Davis, shaping the minds of the students in this room today,” said Kuhl at the event, which was attended by several chemical engineering graduate students.
The Stones’ gift not only funded the renovation of the office suite; it also established the Howard A. and Valerie C. Stone Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Endowment fund to support the ongoing maintenance of the space for future graduate students.
“Valerie and I are thrilled to give back to the college,” said Stone. “Education is one of the most beautiful things you can have, and it was very important to my parents. We are grateful for the opportunity to remember them and give back to the education that was so important to me.”
