Bart Carpenter has had a long and distinguished career, with over 40 years of diversified engineering and management experience in petroleum refining, gas processing and industrial biotechnology. Upon graduating from CU Boulder in 1981 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemical engineering, he spent nearly 30 years at Conoco/ConocoPhillips in various roles, ranging from process engineer to strategic management. He then moved to consulting as a senior technical specialist at Merrick and Co., a technology director at AECOM, and currently as a senior consultant for Parv Process Consulting & Engineering. In these roles, he supported large projects in gas processing, petroleum refining and biofuels/biochemicals. Apart from consulting, Carpenter has served as a coach for the Masters Apprentice Program and as an instructor at Baron Education.
Contributions to the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department over the past year:
Carpenter has been a valued contributor to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering鈥檚 External Advisory Board. As a board member, he has helped implement new senior exit surveys, improved fundraising and recruiting strategies, and personally called newly accepted high school students and encouraged them to attend CU. He continues to mentor students through the Alumni Student Mentor Program and conducts mock interviews with students to help prepare them for industry interviews.
In the last 10 years, Carpenter has had an enormous positive impact on the department. He has served on the External Advisory Board since 2013, including as the chair elect in academic year 2018-19 and the chair in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Though his term as EAB chair was slated to end in June 2020, Bart stepped up to continue as chair for an additional eight months to stabilize the board during CU鈥檚 transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his time on the board, he spearheaded some ground-breaking efforts, including creating the Alumni Student Mentor Program (ASMP), the Peer Mentor Program, and the fundraising-focused 1904 Society. He has served as an ASMP mentor since 2013 and earned the department鈥檚 annual Distinguished Mentor Award in 2016. Always willing to help with classes, Carpenter has given many technical and professionalism lectures in design, undergraduate seminar and introduction to chemical engineering courses. He has also helped interview students for ABET accreditation audits and conducts mock interviews. Carpenter has been extraordinarily dedicated to improving the undergraduate program overall, as well as helping students on an individual basis.