The Chemical Engineering Department will revive its faculty symposium Thursday for the first time since 1988.

The 2003 Larson-Ruth Symposium will be held in Howe Hall and features presentations by seven department faculty members on their research. The symposium will also feature guest lecturer Nicholas A. Peppas, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Texas.

“The question, I think, is why we let this slip by,” said Kenneth Jolls, professor of chemical engineering, who was the primary player in organizing the event’s rebirth. “I always thought it was this department’s finest hour.”

Jolls said he expects about 90 people to attend the daylong symposium. Most of the attendees will be from Iowa State, he said. About 20 to 40 visitors are also expected.

Richard Seagrave, distinguished professor of chemical engineering, said Maurice Larson, a longtime chemical engineering professor, organized the earlier six B.F. Ruth Symposia in the late 1970s and 1980s.

“[B.F. Ruth] was an eminent faculty member here back in the ’40s and ’50s,” Seagrave said.

Larson’s death in 1999 eventually led to the decision to restart and rename the symposium to honor him as well, he said.

There was no conscious decision after the 1988 conference to cease the biennial event, Seagrave said.

“It’s almost like it’s back in fashion,” he said. “We were all very busy during that period of time … Professor Jolls has been the driving force in making it happen again.”

Many times individual researchers within the chemical engineering faculty aren’t aware of each other’s work, Jolls said.

“I found out things that I didn’t know were happening,” he said. “Many of the major schools of chemical engineering do this. Over the last six or seven years, I’ve been sort of hearing a voice saying, ‘We need to start doing that again,’ ” he said.

Peppas has ties to two ISU faculty members who will also present research during the symposium. He was the major professor at Purdue University for the graduate work of Balaji Narasimhan, now an assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Surya Mallapragada, associate professor of chemical engineering.

“He was probably the most profound influence on my academic career,” Narasimhan said.

Narasimhan said he was happy to have the opportunity to present his work to his teacher.

“He’s seen parts of my work at professional meetings, but never really seen the whole thing,” he said. “This will be a good opportunity to show him what we’ve been working on the last five years.”

Narasimhan said Peppas’ visit to Ames was scheduled earlier as a lecture sponsored by 3M. The symposium was timed to coincide with the lecture. Jolls said the event was also timed so members of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council would be able to attend the symposium after their annual meeting Wednesday.

“We’re off and running now,” he said. “We’re going to do it every other year.”

The Symposium begins at 8 a.m. and runs until 5:20 p.m. Thursday in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall.