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W. ROBERT MARSHALL
1916-1988
BY R. BYRON BIRD, EDWIN N. LIGHTFOOT,
DALE F. RUDD, AND JOHN G. BOLLIN-GER
W. ROBERT MARsHA~, former dean of the College of
Engineering of the University of Wisconsin, died at age
seventy-one on January 14, 198S, after suffering a heart
attack. At the time of his death he was still quite active
professionally and was serving as the director of the Uni-
versity-Industry Research Program. This influential position
was a fitting capstone to an impressive career, which included
teaching, research, industrial consulting, professional soci-
ety leadership, and university administration. He spent
much of his time at the University of Wisconsin trying to
strengthen ties between academia and industry. He was
also an effective author, whose books and writings strongly
influenced chemical engineering education and research.
Bob Marshall was born on May 19, 1916, in Calgary, Alberta,
and came to the United States as a child; he became a
naturalized U.S. citizen on March 20, 1944. He was an
undergraduate in chemical engineering at Armour Insti-
tute of Technology (now called Illinois Institute of Tech-
nology), which awarded him the B.S. in 1938. In the spring
of 1937 Professor Olaf A. Hougen of the University of Wis-
consin was a visiting professor at Armour, and forged a
lifelong relationship with Bob, who accompanied Olaf back
to Madison for graduate study. In 1941 he received the
Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin based on a thesis
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
entitled "Through-Circulation Drying," done under Profes-
sor Hougen's direction.
In 1941 Bob accepted a position in the Engineering De-
partment of the Engineering Experiment Station of the
E.~. du Pont de Nemours and Company in Wilmington,
Delaware. The du Pont experience played an important
role in shaping Bob's professional attitudes in particular
his emphasis on solving real engineering problems, his feeling
that science and engineering are equal partners in the ad-
vancement of technology, ant! his concern that research
results should be put in such a form that they will be of
direct use to the practicing engineer.
During his stay at du Pont Bob served as an instructor in
the evening program of the Extension Division of the Uni-
versity of Delaware. This led to his collaboration with Professor
Robert L. Pigford on the book The Application of Differential
Equations to Chemical Engineering Problems, which was published
in 1947 by University of Delaware Press. This book was
extremely influential because it was richly illustrated with
imaginative and important problems, many of which even
today provide excellent examples of how mathematics can
be used to solve problems of engineering interest.
In 1947 he was once again attracted to the University of
Wisconsin by Olaf Hougen, where he was given an appointment
as associate professor of chemical engineering. His teach-
ing activities included a new graduate course on applied
mathematics (based on his book) and the graduate course
on mass-transfer operations, which he revitalized by introducing
new ideas based on transport phenomena and boundary-
layer theory. His research program took shape quickly,
and he soon had a rather large graduate group working on
a wicle variety of drying processes. He and his students
made major contributions, particularly in the areas of atomi-
zation and spray drying, and for some time he was referred
to as "the founder of modern spray-drying technology." All
in all Bob directed the Ph.D. theses of thirty-two graduate
students, most of whom have made substantial professional
contributions.
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W. ROBERT MARSHALL
223
In 1954 his famous monograph Atomization and Spray Drying
appeared as the second volume of the Chemical Engineer-
ing Progress Monograph Series, published by the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers. This monograph summa-
rized his seven years of research at du Pont and six years of
research with his students at the University of Wisconsin.
In this book Bob showed how applier! mathematics, fluid
dynamics, transport phenomena, statistics, and physical
chemistry could be used to solve critical problems in spray
processing, and that this could be done in such a way as to
obtain workable design methods and performance charac-
teristics of spray dryers. In 1981 a practicing engineer in a
large U.S. industry said of Bob's monograph, "Using many
of the principles described in this publication, we have im-
proved equipment capacity nearly ten-fold with accompanying
major improvements in costs. When you consider that we
produce approximately two billion pounds of spray-dryed
products annually, these improvements were and are of
obvious economic value." Bob was an early practitioner of
"engineering science" in the best sense of that term. His
work was the basis of industrial processes that were to pro-
duce billions of pounds of products every year.
Although Bob was a gifted teacher and a brilliant re-
search supervisor, he was soon asked to transfer his talents
to help solve administrative problems. In 1953 he was ap-
pointed associate dean of the College of Engineering and
executive director of the Engineering Experiment Station.
In this capacity Bob was able to combine his originality and
enthusiasm to bring about a number of changes. He chaired
the committee that led to the establishment of the Depart-
ment of Nuclear Engineering, which included both gradu-
ate and undergraduate programs. Along with Farrington
Daniels he established the Solar Energy Laboratory. He
was also instrumental in the development of the Materials
Science Program. He was directly responsible for setting
up a lively exchange program with Monterrey Institute of
Technology in Mexico, and also a student exchange between
the University of Wisconsin and universities in West Germany.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
In 1971 Bob was named dean of the College of Engi-
neering, a post that he was to hold for ten years. In this
position he was able to continue being creative in an adminis-
trative way. His strong belief that engineering opportuni-
ties should be open to women and minorities led to the
creation of one of the first student programs for minorities
in engineering in the country. He also encouraged the in-
volvement-of College of Engineering faculty members in
the Development Program for the Institute of Technology
at Surabaya in Indonesia; this involved the building of a
new campus and providing postgraduate training for the
engineering faculty. His concern for the inability of engineers
to be effective in the political and public service arenas led
him to establishing courses in the General Engineering
Department dealing with the interaction of engineering and
society. He also gave positive encouragement to the devel-
opment of the first instructional program on technical~apanese
translation in the United States, and set up a mechanism
for faculty and student exchange between the chemical en-
gineering departments of the University of Wisconsin and
Kyoto University.
After retiring from the deanship in 1981, Bob accepted
the assignment of director of the University-Industry Research
Program. In this capacity he found new opportunities to
put his experience and leadership to work by facilitating
and supporting faculty research relationships with industry.
Bob concerned himself with the diversity of research activities
on the entire campus and the possible beneficiaries of this
research throughout the state. He worked on such problems
as patent advice for professors, small business development,
and sources of external research support.
Bob Marshall was an enthusiastic supporter of the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and had a keen
sense of responsibility to the organization. He accepted
numerous committee assignments and was the primary force
in establishing the Continuing Education Committee, which
he chaired from 1964 to 1967. He served as director from
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W. ROBERT MARSHALL
225
1956 to 195S, vice-president in 1962, president in 1963,
past president in 1964, and treasurer from 1976 to 1980.
The institute recognized his research and leadership roles
by bestowing on him many awards and special recognitions:
Institute Lecturer in 1952, William H. Walker Award in
1953, Professional Progress Award in Chemical Engineering
in 1959, and Founders Award in 1973. In 1983, on the
occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of the AIChE, he was included
in the list of thirty "Eminent Chemical Engineers" in the
United States.
In addition to participation in the ATChE, Bob also served
on seven committees of the American Society for Engineer-
ing Education, including the Black Engineering Colleges De-
velopment Committee and the Professional Development
Committee of the Biomedical Engineering Division. For
Argonne National Laboratory he served as chairman of the
Chemical Engineering Review Committee and as member
of the Policy Advisory Board. He was very active in the
Associates! Midwest Universities organization, serving on the
board of directors and as vice-president in 1961 and 1962
and as president in 1962 and 1963. He had a three-term
stint on the Executive Committee of the Engineers joint
Council and served for two years as vice-president of that
organization.
In addition to the awards he received from the AIChE,
Bob Marshall was accorded many other honors, including
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
1960, the Gold Medal of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure
in 1974, and an honorary doctor of laws from the Illinois
Institute of Technology in 1981. From his own College of
Engineering he received the Ragnar E. Onstad Award for
Service to Society in 1981, and the Byron Bird Award for
Excellence of a Research Publication in 1983.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
came in 1967. Within the NAE he served on the Commission
on Education, of which he was vice-chairman in 1969 and
chairman from 1970 to 1974. He also was a member of the
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Committee on the Interplay of Engineering with Biology
and Medicine from 1968 to 1973, and served as chairman
from 1969 to 1973. In addition he was on the Committee
on Membership from 1968 to 1970.
Bob was always professional and gentlemanly. He was
devoted to providing the best possible opportunity for his
colleagues and students to deploy their talents and energies
to maximum effectiveness. It came naturally to him to
convey to others his enthusiasm for their skills and potential,
and he provided them with the chance to present their
ideas and hopes in a supportive setting. He never assumed
any credit for their contributions. He simply wanted his
associates to be able to attain their goals. Many people
owe their own professional success to words of encouragement
from Bob Marshall. He was always available to his friends
and colleagues when they needed help or advice.
In addition to his university and professional activities,
Bob found the time to support the community in which he
lived. He was a member of the school board in Monona,
Wisconsin, for six years. He was vice-president of the Madison
Downtown Rotary Club from 1984 to 1985, and he served
as a member of the board of directors of United Way from
1981 to 1982.
Bob was a very genuine and' modest person, and despite
his exalted standing in the professional world, he was never
ostentatious or condescending. He always gave his very
best efforts to every task that he undertook; but he did
more than that—his performances always had a sense of
"style" and "flair" that few others can attain. Whether he
was chairing a committee, making a technical presentation,
or giving a eulogy at a memorial service, Bob could supply
a little extra spirit or warmth or humor that would upgrade
the performance from excellent to superb. He left his
colleagues, friends, and family a remarkable legacy of accom-
plishments, inspiration, and high principles.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
experiment station
