Inducted
1998
Degrees
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1974
- M.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1976
- Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1979
Professor of Chemical Engineering, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
Michael E. Prudich, a native of Charleston, received his BSChE (1974), MSChE (1976) and PhD (1979) degrees from West Virginia University. Prudich must have had a genetic predisposition to become a chemical engineer since he has at least five cousins, one brother, one daughter, one uncle, one father-in-law and two brothers-in-law who have studied chemical engineering. His father is a chemist. Prudich joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Ohio University as an associate professor in 1984, after spending six years working for Gulf Research and Development Company in Harmarville, Pennsylvania. Prudich became department chair at Ohio University in 1994.
Prudich has worked in a wide range of research areas throughout his career including coal liquefaction, oil field chemical development and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for remote gas conversion. Recently, Prudich, who is director of the Ohio Coal Research Center at Ohio University, has focused his research efforts on the removal of acid rain precursors from coal-combustion flue gases. He has been a contributor to both the sixth and seventh editions of Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook.
Prudich lives with his wife Carolyn (WVU, BS Pharmacy, 1975) in Athens, Ohio. They have three children: Julie, Philip and Darryl. They have found time to attend all but a handful of Mountaineer home football games since 1970.