Hello Dan,
I am honored to have the opportunity to greet you during this event celebrating your remarkable career at the University of Houston.
For the benefit of others who may be listening to this recorded message, I am Sankaran Sundaresan from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. I was a student in the Chemical Engineering department at the University of Houston between 1976 and 1980, and I received my M.S and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Houston. My thesis advisor was Neal Amundson, so Dan Luss is my academic brother.
Dan Luss was the department chair at that time. The students viewed him as a dedicated, caring and demanding professor. As a student, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to interact with him closely.
My office was in the Dan Luss plaza in the basement. Dan would come to the lab every day and talk with every student, including me, even though I was not his Ph.D. student. I can tell many stories about the impact he had on me. I will give one example of his caring attitude today when we are celebrating his career.
When I was a student in Houston, I used to stutter, and it was very hard for people to understand what I was saying. I had mentioned on multiple occasions to Dan Luss that I would love to pursue an academic career. I had my doubts because of my speech issues.
One day, towards the end of my second year at Houston, Dan came to my office and said that he wanted me to meet a professor in the speech and communications program and follow her advice on addressing my speech impediment. He insisted that I must fix my speech problem if I wanted to become a professor. I followed his advice. That professor assessed me and concluded that speech therapy could solve my problem. She worked with me for 18 months, teaching me how to slow down and pronounce each word fully and properly. It was truly transformative. She was simply a miracle worker.
Dan made that therapy possible by using his discretionary funds. It was a thoughtful and caring investment he made. I am eternally grateful for that, Dan. Thirty years later, when I came to know that I was going to be awarded the President’s Award for sustained excellence in teaching, Dan was the first person I called to share the news. Then I called my wife.
As I said before, this is just one of many examples. Dan has been instrumental in my professional life in multiple ways. The remarkable thing is that I am not the only beneficiary of Dan’s mentorship. Professor Vemuri Balakotaiah, for example, can tell similar stories.
Dan, you have been an impressive scholar, mentor, and exemplary leader of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. It has been an honor and a privilege to have known you throughout my professional career. I salute your success and wish you many more years of healthy and happy retired life.