[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6300-6301]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. GEORGE E. KELLER II

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, it is my honor today to recognize Dr. 
George E. Keller II for his outstanding achievements in the areas of 
engineering, innovation, and leadership. Dr. Keller was born and raised 
in Charleston, WV, and has a bachelor's degree from Virginia 
Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree and Ph.D. in chemical 
engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Keller's wisdom is 
evidenced in his personal life as he has been married to his wife, Judy 
Keller, for decades, allowing for his legacy to live on through his 
many children and grandchildren.
  Dr. Keller served as a lecturer in President Eisenhower's ``Atoms for 
Peace Program'' in Chemical and Nuclear Engineering from 1958 to 1959. 
He went on to have an illustrious and highly accomplished 36-year 
career at the Union Carbide Corporation in research and development at 
the South Charleston Technical Center and achieved national and 
international accolades for pioneering contribution in separation 
science, reaction engineering, catalysis, and novel process technology 
development.
  After retiring from the Union Carbide Corporation, Dr. Keller became 
the cofounder and vice president of New Carbon, LLC, with the purpose 
of commercializing various aspects of the WVU Chemical Engineering 
Department's coal to advanced carbon products programs. Dr. Keller also 
inspired leadership under the BIDCO organization for local economic 
development, which ultimately led to the birth of the Mid-Atlantic 
Technology Research & Innovation Center, MATRIC, Inc., in 2003. Dr. 
Keller served as MATRIC vice chairman until 2014, as well as MATRIC's 
chief engineer. He currently serves on the MATRIC board of directors 
and continues service as the company's chief engineer.
  In 1988, Dr. Keller was elected to the National Academy of 
Engineering, NARE, for his invention and insightful analysis of novel 
separation processes. Recently, Dr. Keller was recognized as ``one of 
the nation's top 100 chemical engineers of the modern era'' by the 
premier industry association, the American Institute of Chemical 
Engineers, AIChE.
  He is a recipient of many prestigious awards including the Chemical 
Pioneer Award by the American Institute of Chemists for his 
breakthrough work in long-range hydrocarbon technology, as well as the 
Institute Lecture Award, the Clarence Gerhold Award, and the Institute 
Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology, all awarded by the 
AIChE. The Chemical Engineering Magazine awarded Dr. Keller's team with 
the Kirkpatrick Honor Award for the most innovative chemical technology 
successfully commercialized in the world: development of highly 
efficient pressure-swing parametric pumping for gas-gas separations. 
Pennsylvania State University also awarded Dr. Keller with the 
Outstanding Engineering Alumnus Award in 1989.
  Dr. George Keller has coauthored and edited more than 35 publications 
in refereed journals and is the coauthor of two major books in the area 
of industrial separations. He also holds 21 U.S. patents in key 
technologies. Dr. Keller has lectured at more than 30 universities 
around the world and has served as chairman for many prestigious 
international conferences. At West Virginia University, Dr. Keller 
serves as chair of the visiting committee of the College of Engineering 
and Mineral Resources, as well as a longtime member of the visiting 
committees of several chemical engineering departments at WVU, Virginia 
Tech, Penn State, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, and 
University of Virginia. He has also served on the National Research 
Council's board on chemical science and technology, BCST, and as an 
adjunct professor of chemical engineering at WVU and Virginia Tech.
  In addition to Dr. George Keller's many awards, honors, and service, 
he

[[Page 6301]]

also has an abundance of major technical accomplishments. Dr. Keller 
was a pioneer in discovering ways for converting methane to hydrocarbon 
feedstock for the chemical industry and was awarded by the American 
Institute of Chemists for doing so.
  When Dr. Keller joined Union Carbide in 1961, he was a trailblazer in 
implementing amongst the first computer-controlled pilot plants in the 
industry worldwide. Under his leadership, the separations and process 
fundamentals skill center developed such disparate processes as the 
most advanced technology for producing oxygen via miniature adsorption 
units in the homes of people with severe lung problems in the 1970s, 
creating a better and longer life for countless millions around the 
world, and the world's largest commercial pervaporation facility in the 
1990s.
  Dr. Keller's personal expertise in membranes, adsorption, 
distillation, and extraction operations has resulted in reducing the 
generation of process wastes, developing more cost-effective ways to 
treat industrial waste streams, and, in some cases, resulted in 
recovery of valuable coproducts from traditional waste streams. In 
addition to his Carbide contributions, Dr. Keller has also worked on 
several next-generation technologies for carbon capture from fossil 
fuel combustion. His work in this area will be impactful for years to 
come, especially in industries touched by the development of shale gas 
in the United States.
  Dr. Keller has recruited exceptional, diverse talent to WV and to 
Union Carbide, including over 100 of the world's premier doctoral-level 
engineers and scientists. He has served and continues to serve as an 
excellent mentor to countless individuals. In turn, this aspect of Dr. 
Keller's efforts paid exceptionally rich dividends to Union Carbide and 
West Virginia in developing and sustaining a world-class, market-
driven, R&D technical center at South Charleston for many decades. This 
culture still lives on today at MATRIC. The company is a growing 
multidivisional company with long-term strategy levering both market 
opportunity and its own internal expertise. It is noteworthy that 
MATRIC has delivered more than $95 million to the West Virginia economy 
that would never have existed without exceptional leaders like George 
Keller.
  It is with great respect that I ask my colleagues in the U.S. Senate 
to recognize the accomplishments and dedication of Dr. George E. Keller 
II. Dr. Keller is an excellent example of perseverance and commitment 
to innovation, enhancing the lives of others and inspiring the next 
generation of scientists and engineers.

                          ____________________