DEBORAH L. GRUBBE

Chairperson of Visiting Committee

(Term expires January 31, 2007)

Deborah Grubbe is Vice President, Group Safety and Industrial Hygiene, for BP International. Based in London, she is accountable for providing global safety leadership in all business areas: exploration and production, refining and marketing, gas, solar and renewables. Formerly, Deborah was employed by DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, where she held corporate director positions in safety, operations and engineering. Her many assignments have included capital project implementation, strategic safety assessments, manufacturing management and human resources.

Deborah currently is Chair of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee for Advanced Technology. She has recently served as a consultant to the Columbia Shuttle Accident Investigation Board, and has been appointed to the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. She is a past member of the FIRST Robotics Executive Advisory Board, and has worked with the National Academy of Sciences as a member of the oversight committee for the Demilitarization of US Chemical Weapons Stockpile. Deborah is a member of the Board of Directors of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and is on the Business Management Advisory Committee of Wilmington College. Deborah currently serves as a member of the Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering New Directions Executive Committee. She was the first woman and youngest elected member on the State of Delaware Registration Board for Professional Engineers (1985-1989). During her tenure on the State Board, she was the Chair of the Law Enforcement and Ethics Committee. She is active with the Society of Women Engineers, and is a former board member of the Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network (WEPAN). Deborah has been featured in the books "Engineer Your Way to Success" and "Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering - No Universal Constants."

She has been active in the Delaware community; as former president and board member of the Chesapeake Bay Girl Scout Council, and currently sits on their Northern President's Advisory Council. Deborah is also a board member of the Delaware Zoological Society. She is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity and served as Province President for Eastern Pennsylvania. Deborah is a past board member of the YWCA of New Castle County and the Delaware State Board of Pharmacy. In 1994, Deborah was named an outstanding Chemical Engineering Alumna by the Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering, and is a recipient of the 1986 Trailblazer Award from the Delaware Alliance of Professional Women. In 2002, she received the Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, and was named Engineer of the Year in Delaware.

Deborah was born in suburban Chicago and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with Highest Distinction from Purdue University. She received a Winston Churchill Fellowship to attend Cambridge University in England, where she received a Certificate of Post-Graduate Study in Chemical Engineering. She is a registered professional engineer in Delaware. She is married to James B. Porter, Jr., and resides in London.

Last updated: 4/-6/05

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