University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

R. Byron Bird

R. Byron Bird

R. Byron Bird

2019 Distinguished Alumni Award

Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

BS 47

Dr. Bird is a towering figure in modern chemical engineering. As a professor at Wisconsin, where he has been on the faculty since 1950, Dr. Bird outlined and unified the fundamental theories that govern transport phenomena in all chemical engineering processes. His book, Transport Phenomena, written with Warren Stewart and Edwin Lightfoot, is the classic text of 20th-century chemical engineering. He is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the National Medal of Science. He was a recipient of the College of LAS Alumni Achievement Award in 1989.