A Conversation with John McKetta

John J. McKetta, Jr. is a foundational figure in chemical engineering education and energy policy in the United States. An authority on the thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons and an energy adviser to several US presidents, McKetta helped to educate and mentor thousands of students at the University of Texas at Austin for over 40 years, many of whom became leading figures in the energy and petrochemical industries, as well as in academia. As dean of the College of Engineering, McKetta helped to establish a bioengineering program, which later became the Biomedical Engineering Department, at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a tireless advocate for excellence and a focus on the student. At age 100, McKetta recalls the challenges and opportunities he faced in childhood, his memories of the emergence of petrochemical engineering, and his views on chemical engineering education and the people it has impacted in the United States over the past 100 years.