Four professionals with ties to chemical and biochemical engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology were recently inducted into the university’s Academy of Chemical and Biochemical Engineers.

The academy honors chemical engineers for contributions to their profession, leadership and involvement with Missouri S&T. It serves as an advisory group to the university’s Linda and Bipin Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.

The new members, inducted on April 9 during a ceremony in Rolla, Missouri, are:

Alycia Ahrens of Houston, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Missouri S&T in 2001. She then began her career as a design engineer for major refinery instrumentation and process control modernization projects at Emerson Process Management in St. Louis. In 2006, she continued working in instrumentation and process control for Shell Deer Park Refining Company near Houston. Her career in Shell thrived in the company’s projects and technology division, spanning roles from a global process safety program coordinator project engineer, including managing sustainable low carbon fuels and renewable carbon negative gas projects. Ahrens proudly served as a member of S&T’s chemical engineering industrial advisory council.

Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, trivia nights, photography, world travel, and supporting and enjoying the arts and music. Each spring she enjoys annual trips to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with other S&T alumni.

Greg Bram of Shavano Park, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1987. As corporate vice president of refining services for Valero, he is responsible for process safety, technical resource management, operations and strategic planning, market analysis, procurement and strategic sourcing, power and natural gas purchasing, and capital project development for the company’s refining operations. He joined Valero in 2005 as part of the Premcor acquisition, serving as refinery manager of the Memphis refinery at the time. Bram moved to San Antonio in 2006 to serve as vice president of west coast and northeast optimization, added mid-continent operations to his duties in 2007, and moved to a similar role over Gulf Coast operations in 2009. He then served as corporate vice president of supply chain optimization before taking on his current position. Before joining Valero, Bram served as refinery manager at Premcor’s refinery in Lima, Ohio. He also held leadership positions in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and planning and economics while at Premcor. He began his career in 1987 as a process engineer at Amoco Oil’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana, progressing through engineering and planning positions.

Bram has served as a board member his local United Way, chamber of commerce, Family Service of San Antonio and Lutheran High School of San Antonio. Born in St. Louis, Greg and his wife, Beth (also from St. Louis) now live in Shavano Park, Texas, and have two adult children and two grandchildren who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Paul Morris of Houston, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1988. He also holds an MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Morris was raised in St. Louis and graduated from Lindbergh High School. As an S&T student, he completed a co-op for IBM in Lexington, Kentucky. Following graduation from S&T, Morris joined PPG Industries as a quality control engineer at the company’s flat glass plant in Crystal City, Missouri. A job transfer took him to PPG’s fine chemicals plant in La Porte, Texas. Several years later, Morris moved to environmental engineering. Through successive roles at PPG, Millennium Petrochemicals, Air Products and Chemicals, and The Chemours Company over 30 years, he has expanded his professional experience from hazardous waste management, process safety management and risk management to air emission permitting and emission compliance and continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS). He is chair of the Air Products CEMS Users Group and Air Center of Excellence.

Paul lives in Houston with his wife of 28 years, Diane, an information technology professional. He has served as a volunteer and board member for the Bay Area Habitat for Humanity and the Exploration Green Conservancy, a nonprofit group working to convert a former golf course into stormwater detention lakes surrounded by a nature preserve to mitigate flooding and restore native habitat in the Clear Lake area of Houston. 

Bill Watson, the general manager of Shell’s Deer Park Chemicals site in Texas, joined Shell in 1991 after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Missouri S&T. He began his career as a process development engineer at Shell’s Westhollow Technology Center in Houston, Texas. Since then, Watson has worked at several manufacturing locations across the country and the world. He has also worked in regional and global roles. In addition to his site general management experience, he has also held various technical, operations and startup management roles as well as senior health, safety, security and environment (HSSE), production and technology leadership positions.

Watson has served on the board of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association, the Texas Chemistry Council, the chamber for Beaver County in Pennsylvania, and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development in Pittsburgh. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Bill is married to his spouse of 32 years, and they have two sons, who also live and work in southeast Texas. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family, exercising and spending time outdoors.