William (Bill) S. Hammack (born 1961) is an American

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

, and professor in the department of chemical engineering at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. Hammack is well known for his ventures in

science communication Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the Public awareness of science, public awar ...

as the persona ''Engineer Guy'': between 1999 and 2005 he produced radio commentaries for

Illinois Public Media Illinois Public Media, previously "WILL AM-FM-TV", is a not-for-profit organization located within the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which is responsible for the university's public broadcasting, public media ...

, and starting in 2010, he produced a regular series of videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

explaining the engineering of everyday objects. He is one of the authors of the book ''Eight Amazing Engineering Stories.'' He also authored the book ''The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans,'' as well as the book ''Fatal Flight: The True Story of Britain's Last Great Airship,'' which was also recorded as an audiobook read by the author.

Education

Hammack received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1988 from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign under the guidance of Harry Drickamer. He completed his masters from the same university in 1986. Hammack's bachelor degree was from

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. At Michigan he earned his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1984.

Awards

In 2002, Hammack was awarded the Edwin F. Church Medal. In 2019, he was awarded with the

Carl Sagan Award for Public Appreciation of Science The Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science is an award presented by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) to individuals who have become “concurrently accomplished as researchers and/or educators, and as widely recog ...

. * National Science Board Public Service Award (2021) In 2022, Hammack was elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

References

External links

Engineer Guy website

Engineer Guy YouTube Channel
1961 births Living people American chemical engineers University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Jefferson Science Fellows Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American engineers 20th-century American engineers YouTubers from Illinois Michigan Technological University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American science communicators {{US-engineer-stub