The late Dr. Oden S. Knight together with Dr. Lee Allen Parker and Ralph Cohen were the primary founders of the North Jersey Section of AIChE in 1958.  Dr. Knight served as the Section’s first Chairperson in 1958 and 1959.

Dr. Knight was born in Denver, Colorado on June 22, 1907.  He earned his B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering with special honors from the University of Colorado in 1928. He earned his M.S. Degree in 1932 and his Doctorate in 1933.  He was an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado from 1935 to 1937.

Dr. Knight began his career as an engineer with Link-Belt Company of Indianapolis, Indiana.  He worked as a Director for J. P. Devine Manufacturing Company in Mount Vernon, Illinois from 1937 to 1939 before joining the Rose Polytechnic Institute as Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering from 1939 to1944.

Dr. Knight came east to join Commercial Solvents Corporation in 1945 where he rose to the rank of Chief Engineer.  His experience, at Commercial Solvents and later at S.B. Penick and Company, involved him in the design of liquid carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and hydrocarbon nitration plants and equipment.

Dr. Knight was a frequent contributor to transcripts of the AIChE, the Journal of the ACS, and Chemical Engineering.  He was a registered Professional Engineer and an active member of AIChE, ACS, and American Society for Engineering Education, and Sigma Xi