Howard Davis (chemical engineer)

Howard Theodore Davis
Born(1937-08-02)August 2, 1937
Died(2009-05-17)May 17, 2009
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Furman University
Known forSurface Thermodynamics
Statistical Thermodynamics
Transport in Porous Media
AwardsWalker Award - AIChE (1990)
National Academy of Engineering (1988)
Regents Professor (1997)
Scientific career
FieldsChemical Engineer, Materials Science
InstitutionsUniversity of Minnesota
ThesisSome theoretical and experimental studies of irreversible processes in simple dense fluids (1962)
Doctoral advisorStuart Rice
Doctoral students

Howard Theodore "Ted" Davis (1937–2009) was an American chemical engineer and regents professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS) at the University of Minnesota. He is known for his work in statistical thermodynamics, transport in porous media, and surface thermodynamics.

Davis was an author of more than 400 academic papers and five books, including the textbooks “Linear Algebra and Linear Operators in Engineering” (Academic Press, 2000, 1st Edition) and "Statistical Mechanics of Phases, Interfaces and Thin Films" (John Wiley & Sons, 1995, 1st Edition).

He served as the department head of CEMS for 15 years (1980-1995), followed by his leadership as Dean of the Institute of Technology (1995-2005), which is the University of Minnesota's college of physical science and engineering. In 2008, Davis became the director of the University of Minnesota's BioTechnology Institute.