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| Edward J. Corey | |
|---|---|
| Name | Edward J. Corey |
| Birth date | 1924 |
| Birth place | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Chemical engineering, systems engineering |
| Workplaces | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater | Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Nonlinear programming, optimal control, process systems engineering |
| Awards | National Medal of Science, AIChE Founders Award |
Edward J. Corey
Edward J. Corey is an American chemical engineer and academic noted for foundational contributions to optimal control theory, process systems engineering, and chemical process design. He served for decades as a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and influenced fields spanning operations research, systems engineering, and environmental engineering. Corey's work established practical methods that bridged theoretical mathematics with industrial design at organizations such as DuPont and informed standards used by agencies including the National Science Foundation.
Corey was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He pursued graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving doctoral training in chemical engineering during a period when peers included scholars from Princeton University, Harvard University, and Stanford University. His formative education connected him to instructors and contemporaries from institutions like the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology, exposing him to developments in mathematical programming and control theory then emerging from groups at Bell Labs and RAND Corporation.
After completing his doctorate, Corey joined the faculty at MIT, where he rose to prominence in the Department of Chemical Engineering. At MIT he worked alongside faculty from departments and labs such as the Sloan School of Management, the Lincoln Laboratory, and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, collaborating with scholars affiliated with Columbia University, Yale University, and University of Pennsylvania. Corey advised doctoral students who went on to positions at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan, and industrial research laboratories including General Electric and Shell Research. He also consulted for corporations and agencies like ExxonMobil, IBM, and the United States Department of Energy, integrating academic research with industrial practice.
Corey developed and popularized methods in nonlinear programming and optimal control that became central to chemical process design and operations. He advanced algorithms that drew on earlier work from Richard Bellman and the Pontryagin school, integrating concepts from linear programming pioneers at Cornell University and Princeton University. His contributions include formulation of variational and adjoint methods for chemical reactors, development of optimization techniques for multicomponent separation processes, and application of dynamic programming to model predictive control used in petrochemical and pharmaceutical plants. Corey's research intersected with landmark efforts in process synthesis and process optimization alongside figures from Imperial College London and ETH Zurich.
Several of his papers and monographs became standard references cited by researchers at institutions such as National Renewable Energy Laboratory and companies like BASF and Dow Chemical Company. He contributed to methodologies for minimizing energy consumption and emissions in process systems, influencing regulatory frameworks shaped by bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency and collaborative research programs with Sandia National Laboratories and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Corey's theoretical work also informed computational tools developed by teams at Microsoft Research and Siemens for large-scale nonlinear optimization and simulation.
Corey received many prestigious recognitions including the National Medal of Science and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Founders Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he held fellowship or membership in organizations such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. International honors connected him with academies and societies in United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, and he was invited to deliver named lectures at Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, and Caltech.
Corey served on advisory panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the Department of Energy, and received honorary degrees from universities including Worcester Polytechnic Institute and institutions with historical links to Cambridge University and McGill University.
Corey maintained professional relationships with a wide network spanning academia and industry, mentoring generations of chemical engineers who took faculty and leadership roles at University of California, Los Angeles, Princeton University, and University of Cambridge. His legacy is preserved through curricular materials and optimization frameworks taught at schools such as MIT, Stanford University, and University of Texas at Austin. Posthumous tributes and dedicated symposia at venues like the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting and conferences hosted by IFAC and AIChE celebrate his influence on modern process systems engineering. His methodologies continue to underpin research programs in sustainability at centers including MIT Energy Initiative and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Category:American chemical engineers Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Category:National Medal of Science recipients