Pasman Joins Department, Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 20, 2008 - Hans J. Pasman, emeritus professor of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and a member of the Dutch ministerial Council of Hazardous Substances, has joined Texas A&M University’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering as a research professor for the Mary Kay O’Connor Safety Process Center.

A noted authority on chemical risk management, Pasman most recently has worked on improving explosion safety and efficiency of gas phase hydrocarbon oxidation processes as coordinator of the EU FP5 Project SAFEKINEX from 2003-2007. During that span, Pasman also served on the Dutch governmental Advisory Council on Hazardous Substances as chairman of the Committee for Knowledge Infrastructure and of the Committee for Explosive Substances and Items.

Prior to his time on those projects, Pasman served as director of marketing programs at TNO Defence, researching the broad field of defense technologies. There he introduced a new integrated project management approach to improve both effectiveness and efficiency of research and helped to establish mechanisms for broad international cooperative efforts.

In addition, Pasman has served as chairman of various organizations throughout his career, including OECD International Group on Unstable Substances, the European Study Group on Risk Analysis, the NATO AC/310 Safety and Suitability for Service of Munitions and Explosives, Sub Group I Explosives, and the Working Party on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering.

A decorated scholar, Pasman has been honored with numerous distinctions for his contributions, including receiving in 1991 a Royal Honour - Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau. In 2005, he was a recipient of the Dieter Behrens Medal of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering.

Pasman completed his undergraduate degree at Delft University of Technology in 1961 before earning his doctorate in the technical sciences in 1964. After serving in the military, Pasman joined TNO.

Established in 1995, the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center is dedicated to enhancing safety in the chemical process industry. The center conducts various educational endeavors aimed at “making safety second nature” to everyone in the industry. In addition, center researchers work to develop safer processes, equipment, procedures and management strategies to minimize losses.

Center researchers are leaders in the fields of process safety management; liquefied gas safety; ammonia and fertilizer plant safety; refinery and chemical plant safety engineering; and risk assessment for the process industries.

For more information on the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, visit http://psc.tamu.edu/.

http://www.che.tamu.edu/faculty/pasman-joins-department-mark-kay-oconnor-process-safety-center