Tennessee Tech professor named "Distinguished Citizen" in Argentinian hometown
Pedro E. Arce, chemical engineering professor at Tennessee Tech, center, receives
the Distinguished Citizen Distinction from the city of Nagoya representatives, from
left, Ayalen Correa, Ph.D., member of the Honorable City Council; Bernardo Schneider,
Ph.D., mayor of the city of Nogoyá; and Desiree Peñaloza, president of the Honorable
City Council.
Pedro E. Arce, chemical engineering professor and University Distinguished Faculty
Fellow at Tennessee Technological University, has been honored with the prestigious
Distinguished Citizen Distinction by his hometown of Nogoyá in Entre Rios, Argentina.
The Nogoyá City Council presented Arce with the recognition this past summer, citing
his many contributions to chemical engineering sciences, technology, and engineering
education. This marks the first time the distinction has been awarded to a S.T.E.M.
professional, as its previous recipients have been artists, writers, poets, athletes
and government servants.
“I am indeed extremely honored by this prestigious distinction,” Arce said. “I want
to share my heartfelt thank you to my entire family, teachers, students, colleagues
and the people of Nogoyá for their constant and sustained support, encouragement and
overall appreciation over the years.”
Arce's journey to becoming a distinguished chemical engineer and educator began on
his family's farm outside Nogoyá from where he daily commuted on horseback to and
from school throughout his elementary, middle and high school years. He got his first
taste of teaching in high school when he helped struggling classmates studying for
their exams. He enjoyed the experience so much, he set himself on track for one day
to become a college professor.
At first, Arce’s dream was to study aeronautical engineering, as his interest lay
with NASA landing on the moon and the mysteries of outer space. However, the nearest
university, Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina, offered chemical
engineering as the closest equivalent at the time. Arce planned to start at this university
and then later transfer to another to follow his aeronautical engineering dreams.
However, shortly after he started, something shifted.
“After that first year, I fell in love with chemistry,” Arce said. “I grew so excited
to see how these molecules were connecting themselves to make different products.
It was fascinating to see how they could do that and how I could control the process
and predict the outcomes.” Lab work and a textbook in general chemistry by Nobel
Laureate Linus Pauling were instrumental in understanding the subject and learning
about possibilities.
Arce decided to continue pursuing chemical engineering. Encouraged by his undergraduate
mentor, Professor A. Lombardo, he worked diligently to be selected for a highly competitive
opportunity to teach as a student assistant, which he won and held for several years.
Later in his career, he discovered a copy of a PhD dissertation in the university
library written by one his professors, Alberto Cassano, Ph.D., and learned that he
was the first to earn a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in the entire country. Arce
made an appointment with Professor Cassano, then the director of the postgraduate
division of the School of Chemical Engineering at UNL immediately and sat down with
him to talk about his career. These meetings became a habit towards his junior and
senior years while working at the Department of Physical Chemistry at the School of
Chemical Engineering as an instructor and student researcher.
It was Professor Cassano who suggested Arce come to the United States to pursue further
education in the field. However, to be competitive in the admission to a USA graduate
program, he suggested completing a postgraduate program sponsored by the National
Council of Research (CONICET) where he enrolled and completed the two levels. Arce
was also selected for the competitive CONICET Researcher Career Award before he headed
to Purdue University in Indiana. He was attracted to Purdue due to the integration
between engineering education and research he perceived and Professor D. Ramkrishna,
a leader in modeling complex engineering problems with advanced applied mathematics.
Purdue is the first university to offer a Ph.D. in Engineering Education in the USA
and, as a graduate student, Arce was part of the earlier courses that led to this
program.
While at Purdue, he found to his surprise that the university is known as the “Cradle
of Astronauts” because of its influence on the U.S. space program. “All those years
I was on my family’s farm, looking up, thinking of rockets flying in space. I had
no idea those astronauts were from Purdue. It was such a full circle moment,” Arce
recalls with a chuckle.
He received both his master’s degree and his Ph.D. from Purdue before he headed to
Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering to teach first
as an assistant professor and then as an associate professor. It was 2002 when he
heard of an opportunity at Tennessee Tech University to become a faculty member as
the Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department.
“When I came here, I fell in love with the university immediately,” he said. “The
university was smaller than my previous one, but I found it was very dedicated to
their students. Also, I found I was now serving a rural area like where I came from.
I felt like this opportunity was connecting everything.” Arce added, “Tech has been
a supporting environment to develop, implement, and test engineering education initiatives
over the years”.
He has also been delighted with Tech’s connection to the NASA space program with the
contributions of alumnus astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore who is currently serving
aboard the International Space Station.
Now having been at Tech for 21 years, Arce has made significant contributions to chemical
engineering education through the innovative Renaissance Foundry Model, which emphasizes
both technical skills and societal problem-solving. The model is the instructional
engine of the first $3M NSF-NRT grant ever received at Tech, an effort where Arce
serves as the principal investigator. He has mentored students on over 190 projects,
many of which have led to patents, publications and startups.
Robby Sanders, associate professor of chemical engineering, and a long-time collaborator
of Arce said, “His dedication to integrating entrepreneurship and nature-inspired
approaches into the curriculum has helped reshape the field, inspiring a new generation
of engineers to think creatively and impactfully.”
Arce is the founding director of the Environmental Catalysis Laboratory at Tech and
mentors a very active group of graduate and undergraduate students in collaboration
with colleagues.
“What we are striving to develop in our students is a holistic individual, a holistic
engineer, a holistic STEM professional who, when they have to make a decision, they
just don't make a decision based on one factor, but they consider all the factors
that may impact not only that project, but also the environment, the community and
things like that," Arce said. “We are excited that the National Academy of Engineering,
the American Society for Engineering Education, the KEEN Foundation, and VentureWell
are all advocates of this new type of STEM professional,” he concluded.
Arce has received numerous distinctions from both professional and academic organizations,
however, the Distinguished Citizen distinction from his hometown holds special significance
for Arce, who spent countless hours studying in the Nogoyá city library, located next
to the municipal building where he received the award this past summer. The award
required approval from the City Council and the signature of Mayor Bernardo Schneider.
Council Member Ayalen Correa, who drafted and presented the bill, Arce later found
out, is the granddaughter of one of his former teachers.
Arce hopes his recognition will inspire young prospective scientists in his hometown
and beyond to see the transformative value in STEM careers.
“An award like this is a tremendous recognition in a person’s career,” he said. “Receiving
an award from the city where you grew up and studied makes one think about the value
of your community and how much you can impact the people there if you do the right
thing."
