Michael Lee and Helen Yang Establish Opportunities for Engineering Students

Michael Lee and Helen Yang have built distinguished careers as global business leaders, leveraging their experience and training in chemical engineering into executive roles at DuPont and Honeywell. At Illinois, Michael studied droplet deposition in two‑phase flow and Helen studied the kinetics of the uncatalyzed and homogeneously catalyzed oxidization of p‑chlorophenol in supercritical water.

After graduating with their PhDs, both Michael and Helen worked as research engineers for DuPont. Their careers grew to span sales and marketing, industrial applications, business, management and leadership, and global strategy. Prior to retirement, Michael served as Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for Asia Pacific at Honeywell, and Helen the Global Program Director for Electronics and Imaging at DuPont.

Michael and Helen continue to share their expertise through executive coaching and board membership for several nonprofit organizations. They are generous supporters of scholarships and graduate student fellowships in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.