Kurt Nielson, a former senior engineering advisor and a chief engineer at ExxonMobil, received the University of Utah Department of Chemical Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award April 15.

The award was presented during the department’s annual Distinguished Alumni Dinner, which was held at the Cleone Peterson Eccles Alumni House on the U campus.

Nielson (pictured, center, with Dean Richard B. Brown, left, and chemical engineering chair Milind Deo) was the Chief Engineer-Project Development for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering’s (EMRE) Project Development Division and had been with the company for over 30 years. He retired earlier this year.

He was a member of EMRE Projects senior leadership team and played a broad, cross-disciplinary role, working with Functional Managers, Global Technology Sponsors, and EMRE project teams. His primary responsibilities included managing technical oversight and quality assurance for EMRE Projects worldwide as well as providing support to EMRE Project Development organizations.

Kurt has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Utah and attended MBA courses at the University of Texas and Louisiana State University. He started his career with Redd & Associates, a small consulting engineering company in Salt Lake City, and then joined Howe-Baker Engineers as a process design engineer supporting refining projects.

He joined Exxon Chemical Company in 1989 as a senior engineer at the Baton Rouge Chemical Plant providing operations technical support and later small/mid-sized project support. While at the company, he was also a Process Designer, Lead Process Designer, FEED Leader, Senior Section Supervisor, Engineering Associate and Senior Engineering Associate.

Kurt currently lives in Conroe, Texas, with his wife, Kathi. They have three sons, Andrew, Taylor and Bryce, and five grandchildren.