Ralph D. Nelson

The author earned a B.A. at Colby College and a Ph.D. at Princeton University. He taught chemistry at Middlebury College and at West Virginia University, then earned an M.S. in engineering at West Virginia University. After seven years providing technical assistance to manufacturing at several color pigment plants he spent two decades in corporate engineering consulting for the DuPont corporation.

Proud of his liberal arts education, Ralph edited the 1995 republication (with four commentaries) of Colby College President Julius Seeyle Bixler's seminal book, "Conversations with an Unrepentant Liberal". This book was based on a series of lectures that Bixler gave at Yale in 1946, four years after being named President of Colby College. The republication was a project of the Colby Class of 1960 for its 35th reunion and the tenth anniversary of J.S. Bixler's death.

Ralph taught courses on dispersing powders in liquids within DuPont and at the Center for Continuing Education for many years, culminating in writing the book "Dispersing Powders in Liquids", which was re-published by Elsevier. Many chapters were updated and posted on the website "Educational Resources for Particle Technology" (no longer active). He chaired the international team of experts that wrote ISO standard 14887:2000, "Sample preparation -- Dispersing procedures for powders in liquids". He served as vice-chair of several national and international meetings on colloids and particle technology

Ralph is a former chair of the AIChE's Particle Technology Forum, a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and a fifty-year member of the American Chemical Society. He is now (2015) living a quiet life in Florida.