PREFACE
In memoriam
When Dr. Milton Mori, the chief editor of this journal, asked me to write a few lines about our colleague and friend Dr. Rahoma Sadeg Mohamed, I was touched and yet happy. I was touched because not enough time had passed for us to resign ourselves to the loss of our colleague, and happy because, as a former associate editor of this journal, and a former head and the current vice-head of the Thermal and Fluid Dynamics Department of the School of Chemical Engineering at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), I would have the opportunity to write about the great contribution of our friend Dr. Mohamed to the Chemical Engineering community as the professor and the scientist. I've had opportunity to share with him important moments during his life here in Brazil. Dr. Mohamed came to UNICAMP during my first term as head of the Department in 1991 and last December I presided over the committee, which granted him the position of full professor.
I would like to make some brief comments about his career. Dr. Mohamed finished high school in Libya and, at 19, received a government scholarship to study in the U.S. In 1971 he began an undergraduate course in chemical engineering at the University of Kansas, which he finished in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Working for Exxon in Libya for a few years, he returned to the U.S. to attend a graduate course at Northwestern University, where he remained until 1980. Afterwards he took another graduate course in chemical engineering and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, which he finished in 1982. In 1983 he started his doctorate at Princeton University, finishing in 1989. In April 1989 he came to Brazil as a visiting professor at the State University of Maringá.
Since 1991, Dr. Mohamed has been very active in teaching and research in the Thermal and Fluid Dynamics Department of the School of Chemical Engineering as well as in the Petroleum Engineering Department of the School of Mechanical Engineering at UNICAMP. Last December he became a full professor at UNICAMP. He had done much more in many areas than the minimum required by UNICAMP to attain the highest position in an academic career, such as number of publications in international journals; coordination of research laboratories; management of research projects, supported by both government agencies and industry; and organization of research groups, seminars and scientific meetings. Of his many accomplishments, the following are worthy of mention: supervision of 16 master's thesis dissertations and 3 doctoral dissertations; publishing of 37 papers in journals, 6 book chapters, and 68 papers in conference proceedings, of which 30 were international; participation in 14 research projects, usually as coordinator; teaching extensive graduate and undergraduate courses in both the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering at UNICAMP; supervision of 19 undergraduate scientific projects; and contribution as head of the Thermal and Fluid Dynamics Department and vice-head of the undergraduate course.
He was also the recipient of many awards, including the Zeferino Vaz Academic Award. Dr. Mohamed left a good example of dedication, solidarity and partnership.
We will miss him.
Professor Sandra Cristina dos Santos Rocha
Department of Thermal and Fluid Dynamics
School of Chemical Engineering
State University of Campinas - Brazil.
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
17 July 2004 -
Date of issue
Sept 2004
