As an engineer in the plastic research department at BASF (Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik Aktiengesellschaft), Ludwigshafen, Germany, Hans Schuster dreamed of studying chemical engineering in the United States. In 1964, he obtained a scholarship to pursue his master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in environmental engineering and sanitary engineering under the guiding hand of John Geyer, who succeeded Abel Wolman in 1957 as chair of the Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Resources.
As Geyer’s assistant, Hans developed a research proposal to address reactions-and-process techniques in the field of water treatment and water purification. The Water Quality Control Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the US Navy approved funding for his proposal for the years 1968-1970. On May 28, 1971, he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering and Medical Engineering from Johns Hopkins. His dissertation was On the Interaction between a highly compliant visco-elastic Boundary and turbulent Shear Flow. Hans remained passionate about developing sustainable technologies to improve the environment and protect human health and was the co-inventor of the first motionless mixer for mixing and blending fluid materials in laminar and turbulent flow range.
Hans’ professional career was at BASF, one of the world’s largest chemical companies. He was responsible for upgrading research and development at its American affiliate, Badische Corporation, in Freeport, Texas. He later became the director of a new Ketone and Soda plant, located at the BASF headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Throughout his career, he was aware of innovation not only in environmental health and engineering, but also at the intersection between engineering and medicine and closely followed the cross-disciplinary pursuits in these fields.
Hans never forgot the warm welcome he received in the United States and the importance of Johns Hopkins University in his own life. For that reason, his wife Dr. Vittoria Borso Schuster established a fellowship fund to honor the legacy of her beloved husband, cherished father, and grandfather.
The Hans H. Schuster Fellowship is awarded to a graduate student of one of the following departments: Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Mechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering.