Brownell, Lloyd E. (Lloyd Earl), 1915-

Professor of chemical and nuclear engineering and director of the Fission Product Laboratory at The University of Michigan.

Lloyd E. Brownell was born on November 8, 1915 in Potsdam, New York. He attended Clarkson College, receiving a B.A. in chemical engineering in 1937 and a M.A. in mechanical engineering in 1939. After college he moved to Saginaw, Michigan to take a position at Baker Perkins, Inc., manufacturer of chemical and food machinery. Assigned to the development of food processing equipment, Brownell was sent by the company to the University of Michigan to perform research on foods at the College of Engineering. He decided to continue his education at the University, and completed his master's degree and doctorate in chemical engineering by 1947, afterwards joining the faculty as an associate professor of chemical engineering. He was promoted to full professor in 1954.

Maintaining his interest in food processing, Brownell specialized in research and teaching in this area, and participated in projects involving the industrial applications of radiation in food preservation and the development of a new technique for extracting sugar from sugar beets. He became head of the University's Fission Projects Laboratory in 1951, gained publicity as an expert in the atomic irradiation of foods for preservation, and served as consultant to the Atomic Energy Commission and to a number of industrial firms. In 1955 Brownell took part in the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Several years later he developed a synthetic rice substitute, Batina, to be used in supplementing the diets of third world populations. Brownell retired from the University of Michigan in the 1970s, and died in Richland, Washington in 1976.