Sean Moran's Blog, page 7

Water Treatment Plant Expert

I have a number of expert witness and insurance claim expert witness jobs still on the books, (mostly for water treatment plants) but it looks like everything is slowing down now for the end of the year. No-one is making any appointments before a couple of weeks into the new year. 

I'm going with the flow, but we will remain open until 23rd December. It's reasonably common for people to seek to clear their desks at year end. They also seem to come back for the New Year with a renewed appetite for suing each other, so I usually pick up a few more jobs in January.

Package Plant Problem Expertise

I have long experience of diagnosing and fixing problems with package sewage treatment plant, in both domestic and industrial applications. I wrote a short account of some of the more common problems here. I have also designed such plants, and done quite a bit of expert witness work with them. I'm sure you can find a cheaper "expert", as there are all kinds of people claiming expertise in the area. Not many of them have actually designed such plants, or are accepted by the courts as an expert.  

Moran's Dictionary

The dictionary is in the shops in time for Xmas, though Amazon were a bit behind the curve. If you were wondering what to get a chemical engineer for Xmas, look no further!

Moran's Dictionary of Chemical Engineering Practice

Moran's Dictionary of Chemical Engineering Practice

The dictionary was published back on the 18th November. I'm glad that that is over. It's the longest project I have done, and I won't be rushing to do anything else which takes three and a half years to complete for a while.  We'll see how it sells....

Publication Delayed

A few last-minute problems in India have delayed publication of Moran's Dictionary of Chemical Engineering Practice. We are still hoping that it will be out in good time from Xmas, so if you are wondering what the chemical engineer in your life would like in their stocking, preorder now! https://www.elsevier.com/books/morans...

A week to go!

Final, final proofs checked and returned for the dictionary. Hopefully we will hit scheduled publication date this time next week! After three and a half years, I'll soon be getting hardcopy of the book. Its never really over until then...Moran's Dictionary of Chemical Engineering Practice

Environmental Expert Witness Work

I'm bidding for a new expert witness job this week, having just submitted reports for a couple of other expert witness engagements. The new one is relatively unusually to do with air pollution rather than water as the other two are.

As far as writing is concerned looking forward to the chemical engineering practice dictionary coming out next week, and just submitted a new process industry informer article. I have a couple of Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology articles in proof-reading, ready for submission by year end, and I'm talking to a couple of publishers about my next book project.

Expert Witness Work, With a Side Order of Writing

I'm starting a new expert witness engagement this week, which is supposed to be to do with drainage issues, but I'll see what it is about when I have had a look for myself.

Other than that, its been final proofing for my dictionary, writing a couple of articles (on Water and Water Pollution) for Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia, a couple of Process Industry Informer articles and some promotional blog posts for the dictionary.

Real Engineering Practice And Publications

I was talking to someone about doing some real engineering work today (in the pharma sector), and he told me my CV didn't look like one for a proper design engineer any more, because I had written "about 31" books. I have probably got around 31 publications, but only four of them are whole books. 

I do however know what he means. Practicing engineers (with a few notable exceptions like me and Norm Lieberman) don't usually write much, which is part of how academia has lost its way. 

I had to explain that my detour into academia for a few years was primarily responsible. Seeing that academics only had available to them books written by people who never practiced engineering to teach from led me to write them some books informed by practice.

Though some second- (and tenth-) rate academics were offended by the idea that they might learn something from someone who had decades of practical experience which they did not, some of these books are pretty popular in academia. I consequently have a ranking by references appropriate to the associate professor/professor level appointments I once held in academia.

I knew that this was of no use whatsoever in the eyes of practitioners, but I hadn't realized before today that it was worse than useless. I may need to drop the doctorate and the publications entirely, and gloss over my time in academia. It was only five years of my thirty plus since graduation. I'm an engineer who writes., not a writer with an interest in engineering.  

Moran's Dictionary Of Chemical Engineering Practice

I'm working on the proofs for the dictionary, presently scheduled to come out in November. I finished writing it back in January. Sometimes I envy the self-publishers. Barbara Cartland could of written twenty novels in the time it takes my publisher to turn my competed text into a book in the hand....Of course, her books were shite...Moran's Dictionary of Chemical Engineering Practice