1. Ryan B. McLay
rmclay3@gmail.com ♦ 321-368-6780 ♦ 100 NW 69th
Cir. #134 ♦ Boca Raton, FL 33487
OBJECTIVE: Competent and resourceful Chemical Engineer professional with demonstrated success in
material characterization techniques, catalyst development and synthesis, pharmaceutical
analysis, material engineering, and biochemical processes.Strongleadership capabilities, strong
verbal and written communication skills, self-motivated and willing to learn.
EDUCATION: University of Houston (UH) -Houston, Texas
MasterofScience, ChemicalEngineering – May2016
Thesis: Engineering Alkane-Inducible Fimbriation in Escherichiacoli
Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) - Melbourne, Florida
BachelorofScience, magna cum laude,ChemicalEngineering – May 2014
Minor in Nanotechnology & Concentration in Nuclear Engineering
TECHNICAL SKILLS:
 CAD/Operating Systems: AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Linux, and Windows.
 Data Analysis: Mathcad PLC, Minitab, DataFit, MATHLAB, root cause and failure analysis (RCA).
 Instrumentation: ScanningTunneling Microscopy (STM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Confocal Microscopy, Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR), Real Time Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Gas
Chromatography (HPLC/GC),hydraulic tensile testing/mechanical testing (UTM).
 Management Tools: Standard operating procedures (SOP), design of experiments (DOE), current good
manufacturing practices (cGMP), Six Sigma/Lean/Continuous process improvement.
 Soft Skills: Detail oriented, well-organized, reliable and highly motivated, team player, strong problem-solving
skills, strong technical reporting/writing skills, strong project management skills, and oral presentation skills.
 Software: HYSIS, AspenPlus, Simulink, Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio).
PROJECTS:
Senior Plant Design: Production ofStyrene from Benzene and Ethylene Aug. 2013 – May 2014
 Proposal manager who directed RFPs for design, research, and evaluation of plant construction, economic and
risk analysis, and costing including RFIs and RFQs from major suppliers. Generated PFDs and P&IDs for plant.
 Monitored team activities and deliverables; constantly evaluated progress and adjusted Gantt chart projections.
 Designed all unit operations to minimize overall costs,grassrootscapital investment, & annualmanufacturing costs
and then performed a lifetime profitability and sensitivity analysis to determine the breakeven point for plant
profitability.
 Effectively communicated design changes to sub-team members to modify and refine design of unit operations in
order to minimize costs and reduce overhead.
Distillation Column Design: Jan. 2013 – May 2013
 Designed distillation column for the separation of ammonia from water with fixed inputs (molar flowrate, mole
fractions of feed, distillate, and waste streams) defined in request for proposal (RFP).
 Performed material and energy balances based on transport and separation principles to minimize cost by
optimizing reflux ratios with respect tooperating costs to determine physical dimensions of column based on RFP
(diameter, height, number of trays).
Pipeline Design: Sept. 2012 – Dec. 2012
 Designed a pipeline to transfer vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) from delivery railroad car to spherical holding
tank at plant.
 Determined optimal physical path for pipeline, based on proximity to existing structures and supports.
 Calculated frictional penalties from changes in heights, flanges, flowmeters, valves, etc., which add additional
head penalties, resulting in additional power costs and increased load on pumps for VCM transport.
 Performed energy calculations to determine amount of work required by pumps for varying pipeline diameters;
optimized operating costs versus nominal pipe diameter.
EXPERIENCE:
Head Research Scientist, Houston, TX January 2015 – Dec. 2016
 Environmental, health, and safety (EHS) officer in charge of lab safety and conformity; disposed organic and
chemical wastes, ensured safety protocols were followed lab-wide, and all lab members maintained up-to-date
training.

2.  Engineered several bacterial strains for enhanced chemotaxis, biofouling properties, and metabolism of common
environmental contaminants, including BTEX, aromatic hydrocarbons, and linear alkanes.
 Increased liquid-solid substrate biofilm formation by 2700%, liquid-liquid partitioning by 70%, and caused the
fimbiral-assisted sedimentation rate to occur 25 times faster than non-engineered strains.
 Designed and tested novel experiments (DOE) to quantify efficacy of engineered strains, wrote standard operating
procedures (SOPs) for experiments, and trained new lab members in all lab techniques and equipment uses.
 Monitored inventory and maintained adequate supply of lab supplies, identified alternate materials for research
components to minimize costs, negotiated costs with suppliers to minimize costs, and generated purchase orders
(POs) for required materials.
Undergraduate Research Scientist, Melbourne, FL Fall 2013 – Spring 2014
 Developed a novel tissue engineering method for the creation of artificial cornea via electrochemical alignment of
collagen to generate the stromal layer of the cornea – which is the thickest and most important layer for mechanical
durability.
 Interfaced with electrical, mechanical, and biochemical engineers to develop conditions and optimize synthesis
conditions that aid in increased transparency, strength, and biocompatibility of the artificial cornea.
 Increased the strength and stiffness of corneal tissue by 20 and 117 times, respectively, via electrochemical
compaction.
 Planned design of experiments, wrote standard operating procedures, and conducted literature review resulting
in publication.
Chemical Engineer Intern, Ames, IA Summer 2013
 Designed homogeneous catalysts that aide in the synthesis of organic molecules from amines, including ureas and
lactams.
 Investigated the optimum reaction conditions for maximum conversion of reactants into products by varying:
• Pressure, Temperature, Catalyst Loading, and Solvent Effect
 Manipulated reactivity and selectivity of catalysts by altering the electronics and sterics of the NHC ligands on
catalyst:
• Substitution of electronegative analogs (Cl, Br, I) and addition of large and bulky substituents
 Increased yield of benzolactams from 16% to 85% and cyclic ureas from 14% to 52%; reaction pressure and
solvent effect dominated yield changes compared to ligand exchanges and catalyst structure (sterics).
Chemical Engineer Intern, Columbia, SC Summer 2012
 Studied the energetics for the hydrodeoxygenation of organic esters by conducting multiple DFT simulations
to determine optimum energetics for various decomposition pathways of an organic esterinto the linear alkene
ethylene.
 Analyzed and reevaluated the results in an iterative manner and submitted new calculations to find the optimum
energy pathway.
 Computed and analyzed how solvents affected the activity of Pd catalysts; increased the turnover frequency of catalyst
by 7 times.
Undergraduate Researcher, Melbourne, FL Aug. 2011 – May 2014
 Performed a case study of a promising anti-malarial substance named Tryptanthrin.
 Imaged the electron density of states of various analogs of Tryptanthrin via scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM).
 Investigated the effect of the locational substitution of analogs near the molecular node that most affect the
biological activity of the molecule; developed novel QSAR correlation relation apparent barrier height to IC50 of
molecule.
RELEVANT COURSES:
Separation Processes Transport Processes Independent Study – Tissue Eng.
Chemical Reactor Design Radiation & Envir. Protection Microbiology
ChE Plant Design Nuclear Reactor Engineering Transport Phenomena
ChE Unit Ops Lab Physics of Nuclear Reactors Advanced Reactor Design
Heat Transfer Processes Nanotechnology Classical & Statistical Thermodynamics
Mass Transfer Processes Materials Characterization Advanced Separation Processes
ChE Thermodynamics Materials Engineering & Science Principles of Management
Chemical Process Controls Biomaterials & Tissue Regeneration Colloidal, Interfacial, and Surfactant Processes