LOVE & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: CLINT’S STORY
Big brain, bigger heart. That’s the first thing you notice about Clint Aichele. The chemical engineering professor at Oklahoma State University radiates a serene passion for everything he does.
You see it when he speaks about his wife, Melanie, who he knew he’d marry the moment they met in an OSU lunch line. You see it when he speaks about his students, who he truly considers a part of the family. And you see it when he speaks about Oklahoma, where his origin story began and continues to this day.
“We love it here. Love the community. And we love OSU and love working with the students at OSU. That’s the best part of my job,” he says.
GONE ‘N’ BACK AGAIN: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Clint is an Oklahoma boy through and through. He grew up in Stillwater. It’s where he took his first steps and saw his first football game. Most importantly, it’s where a childhood friend would change his life with a simple suggestion: why not give chemical engineering a try?
The suggestion resonated, and a full scholarship to OSU cemented Clint’s plans. What Clint couldn’t have anticipated was how far that first step would take him.
As an undergraduate, Clint’s education presented opportunities to see the world and experience his major firsthand. He traveled to Washington, D.C. and Japan and met with a range of companies to tour high-tech facilities. These trips were a glimpse into his future, and the experiences gave him a closer look at problems engineers were solving every day.
“I got to do things that you couldn't do just as a regular student. It was a fantastic scholarship program,” he says.
After earning his degree, Clint left Stillwater. He moved to Houston with Melanie, who’s also an accomplished chemical engineer. There, he pursued his Ph.D. at Rice University while she worked at ConocoPhillips. Later came a stint in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where Clint joined a research and development team working on carbon dioxide capture.
Then, something fateful happened.
That same friend from years ago, now an OSU faculty member, suggested he apply for a teaching position. Both Clint and his wife had successful careers, but they felt Stillwater calling. Their hometown offered something they wanted for their four sons: a strong community in a place they’ve loved since childhood.
They made the move and never looked back.
A NEW CHALLENGE: FINDING VALUE IN THE WASTE
Today, Clint and his students are exploring opportunities closer to home and closer to his heart. Their mission: turning waste from Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry into something useful for the state and the world.
On the surface, the water used for oil and gas extraction, known as produced water, seems irredeemable. It’s a toxic liquid that’s often much saltier than the ocean, but it holds something valuable. Within the murky brine lay rare materials, including lithium, which is a key component in modern manufacturing.
“We’re trying to extract value from it and then ultimately turn it into a resource,” he says.
Oklahoma already recovers iodine from produced water. Clint sees potential for a similar approach with other materials, helping the country obtain more of what it needs from a source closer to home.
For him, it’s an Oklahoma problem with national implications. For his students, it’s a chance to help learn and solve problems on a massive scale.
THE COWBOY CODE: FINISHING TOGETHER
“We finish what we start.”
That line from the Cowboy Code holds particular, and personal, meaning for Clint. It’s not just a lesson he teaches his students; it's a principle he and Melanie instill into their sons.
“That's a big one for me,” he says, “especially raising sons and helping teach them.”
Like Clint’s children, who are growing into adulthood, students pursuing degrees need years of effort and enough guts to withstand setbacks along the way. The “finish what we start” mantra embodies the kind of tenacity he wants his students and his boys to carry into the rest of their lives.
And they don’t have to do it alone. In Clint’s senior design courses, students tackle projects that would be “nearly impossible to complete on their own,” he says. They learn to rely on each other, put their knowledge to work and see a challenge through together.
The effort it takes creates a bond between students and teacher alike. By graduation, Clint is celebrating their accomplishments and preparing for a goodbye he knows won’t be easy.
“I feel alive and I feel sad because they’re my family,” he says with a hint of bittersweet pride.
But he keeps in touch with most of his former students, following their careers and celebrating news of marriages and children from afar. Watching the lives they build beyond campus is one of his favorite parts of the job.
As bittersweet as it is, it’s these kinds of connections that brought him back to Stillwater. It’s why he, Melanie and the boys remain in the city where he was born. And it’s why OSU will forever hold a special spot in their hearts as a place where real education, innovation and relationships thrive.
“I feel like the culture of OSU is one that wants authenticity and wants relationships, wants community, wants real. And I love how it continues to happen here.”
