Dan Tedder
Dr. Dan Tedder is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He attended Kenyon College and received his B.ChE from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he was a UW Fellow. Dr. Tedder is a registered Professional Engineer in Georgia and a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). In 1972 he received the A.E. Marshall Award from the AIChE, and was a DuPont Distinguished Visiting Scholar in 1982 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, he was a staff engineer in the Chemical Technology Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee where he developed actinide partitioning flowsheets for radioactive waste management, an advanced concept for reducing the long-term radiotoxicities of high-level and transuranic wastes. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Tedder has continued research in radioactive and chemical waste management, advanced chemical separations, and process invention (synthesis). He holds seven patents and has over 70 technical publications. He was the Senior Series Editor of the Radioactive Waste Management Handbook, and former Executive Editor of Toxic and Hazardous Substance Control, Part A, in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health. Dr. Tedder was elected Chairman of the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society in 1992, and has organized nine national I&EC Division Special Symposia on Emerging Technologies in Hazardous Waste Management. Five volumes in the ACS Symposium Series have resulted from these meetings; one volume was published by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and two by Plenum Press. He is listed in Who’s who in America, Who’s Who in Science & Engineering, Men of Science, and the Dictionary of International Biography.
Dr. Tedder provides professional service to both the private and public sectors. His service on national committees for the U.S. Department of Energy include Member and past Chairman of the Independent Review Group for Transuranic Waste Management Programs, Member of the Independent Technical Review Panel for the Conceptual Design of the Transuranic Waste Treatment Facility at the idaho National Engineering Laboratory, the Basic Energy Sciences Independent Review Committee for Separation Sciences, the Morgantown Environmental Technology Review Committee, the Molten Salt Oxidation Process Task Force, the HazWrap Chemical Separations Committee, and the Los Alamos Red Team for Independent Technical Review for In-Tank Precipitation and Extended Sludge Processing at the Savannah River Site. He is an active consultant in the private sector and served as the lead design engineer in developing the Optima Chemicals Process for manufacturing sodium tetraphenyl borate (STPB). This plant was constructed in Georgia and is now manufacturing STPB and other specialty chemicals for industry.
Jesus and Me: My Personal Story
My parents were married in France at the end of World War II in Europe. They were both in the military. They met in Paris at a military hospital and my conception in Marseille kept my mother, who was serving in the army as a dietician, from being sent to China. After the war, we moved to Florida where I was raised, primarily in Winter Haven, although I was born in Orlando.
I have three younger brothers and I guess our family was typical of those living in central Florida. My parents were both members of a large church in Winter Haven and they made sure we all attended regularly. I can remember learning bible verses in Sunday school when I was in kindergarten. I learned John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but has everlasting life.” I also remember learning bible stories about Jesus and events in the Old Testament, like when Moses was found floating down the Nile and was rescued by pharaoh’s daughter.
Being raised in an evangelical church, I heard invitations to accept Christ as my savior on a regular basis. For some reason though, I didn’t really take it personally until I was about 12 years. I remember sitting in a pew that summer during vacation bible school and the speaker mentioned once again that each of us needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. At that instant I realized that I had not prayed to receive Christ and so I did. The following Sunday, I came forward at the end of the service and was baptized about two weeks later. The pastor wept when I came forward at the end of the church service. He said that he was about my age when he came forward. When he baptized me, the pastor held me under water while he prayed. I didn’t hear what he said, but I remember struggling to come up in the newness of life. I thought I was going to drown.
My salvation was disappointing at first. From what little I understood, I really thought getting saved would cure warts! Instead, it seems that my life got more complicated. I told some of my friends about my decision for Christ and they used that as an excuse to tease me or worse. Other things happened too, but now I understand that when a person becomes saved he or she moves into Satan’s enemy camp. For that reason Satan has an incentive to cause problems whereas Satan would more likely leave a nonbeliever alone. C.S. Lewis points this out in his book, “The Screw Tape Letters,” and in other writings.
By my junior year in high school, I was president of the science club and questioning my faith. Did I really believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, or not? I was reading atheistic philosophers and beginning to doubt. One Friday afternoon I was at a friend’s house working on a float that the science club was entering in the homecoming parade for school. I came around a corner with a hammer in my hand and broke partly through a sliding glass door. Such doors are popular in Florida, but dangerous. As I pulled my head back, I seriously cut my throat. Next thing I knew, I was on my way to the hospital with severe bleeding. I was also praying to Jesus and asking Him to spare my life. I had to wait a while on the gurney in the emergency room for the doctor to come and stitch me up. Being in a small town, a surgeon was not always available in the ER. So I had to wait. I also prayed and remained very calm. I felt the Lord close to me during that time. The nurses said that another man who came into ER about the same time as me hyperventilated and bled to death, although his knife wound was not nearly as serious as mine. I believe it was my faith in Christ that kept me safe during that time until the doctor could get there and sew me up. I’ve done a lot of stupid things since then, but I’ve never again questioned whether or not my faith is in Jesus. If He is not raised from the dead, then all hope for me is lost because I cannot trust another.
The Lord blessed me with two wonderful daughters. I was married for 28 years, and I knew that my wife and I had some problems, but I never realized how bad they were until she left me and then divorced me six months later. Before my divorce, I believed that if I was a good Christian husband that things would somehow work out OK between us, but they did not. I was wrong. My former wife and I are still friends, but being divorced is the greatest shock I’ve had to face so far. I know I’ve had it easy, but it still hurts and for a long time I was very angry with God because He allowed this to happen. It felt very unfair and I didn’t understand why it should be that way.
But why did God allow the Holocaust? It was totally unfair. I asked that question to a Holocaust survivor who is now a believer and came to speak at my church. She said, “I thought you were going to ask me a question. So I have a question for you. Did God create robots or intelligent creatures who can think for themselves?” “Intelligent creatures,” I replied. “Yes,” she said, “and even though God doesn’t agree with murder He still lets it happen, doesn’t He?” “Yes,” I replied, “He does.” So now I see that God allows bad things to happen and he expects us to use the gifts we have to respond to these things in appropriate ways. The Holy Spirit is one of those gifts and it is the Holy Spirit and my faith in Jesus that has gradually helped me to resolve my divorce and move on with my life.
Yes, God allows bad thing to happen even though He doesn’t agree with them, but He allows them only for our good. Mostly, it’s hard to understand why we must suffer, but then God allowed Jesus to suffer much more than I ever have. So why am I complaining? The truth is this. My daughters grew up and moved away to Virginia. My wife moved out and divorced me. But Jesus is faithful. He has never left me and, I believe, He never will.
The Four Spiritual Laws
1. God loves us and has perfect plans for our lives.
2. But we are separated from God by our sins. We cannot know and experience God’s love and plans for us without God’s help.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s help. He is our bridge to God. Through Him we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.
4. In order to know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives, we must personally receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We can receive this gift from God by a simple prayer. If we ask Him to enter our hearts and take control of our lives, then we are saved only by trusting in Him.