Lutheran North News

Meet a Crusader: Dr. Norman Brockmeier

Norman Brockmeier, LHS ’55. You know those caps on your car battery that you have to take off in order to jump it? Yeah, well Norm owns the patent for the plastic that is used to make those. Apparently they have to withstand very high heat in order to not melt. As a graduate of Cornell University and MIT, Norm is a scientist, engineer and educator, who invents, patents and sells new technology.

Dr. Norman Brockmeier had an outstanding career as an educator, scientist, engineer and community leader. He considers himself a leading educator who also invents, patents and sells new technologies.
 
After graduating from Lutheran High School, Dr. Brockmeier obtained a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 1960. He served 3M in research for 3 years before obtaining his Ph.D. in chemical engineering and plasma physics from MIT in 1966. He then accepted a position at the University of Texas at Austin in the Chemical Engineering Department where he taught in the graduate program for five years.
 
In 1971, Dr. Brockmeier joined the Polymer Process Design Group of Amoco where it was his responsibility to write computer code used to design and model the operation of world-scale facilities for the manufacturing of Polypropylene and Polystyrene. He was the co-designer of facilities built in Japan, China, Europe, and the US Gulf Coast. During his 22 years at Amoco, he continued to publish research papers (52 scholarly articles in refereed journals) and lead international presentations around the world. He presented his work at conferences from Frankfurt, Germany to Beijing, China on the unique process he developed and patented.
 
In 1995, he founded his own company, Oakwood Consulting, Inc. with clients from around the world. Upon retiring he was hired by the Argonne National Laboratory to use his ingenuity for its Energy Systems Division. He was also invited to teach a capstone course in engineering design at The Ohio State University. In 1999, he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering. Dr. Brockmeier was a member of the American Chemical Society.
 
He presently lives in the western suburbs of Chicago. He is very active in community activities (local school board, etc.) along with being the captain of his senior golf team. He has very fond memories of and respect for his LHS teachers (Dr. Lange, Iris Guenther, Mr. Klinck) and their God-given skills. He initiated the Catherine C. and Norman Brockmeier Scholarship Fund at LHSN to assist students who are interested in careers in church-related teaching or as pastors. Currently at the top of his “list” is his appreciation for the faith development of his twelve grandchildren.
 
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