Joan Brennecke was WIC's 2000 Past Chair and has been an active leader of WIC since its inception. Currently Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, her research interests are in the areas of supercritical fluid technology and thermodynamics. Of particular interest is the use of supercritical carbon dioxide and supercritical water as environmentally benign solvents for extractions, separations and reactions. Current research projects investigate the solvent effect on reactions in supercritical fluids, use of spectroscopy and integral equation theory to determine the local environment around dissolved solutes, and measurement and modeling of high pressure phase behavior. Her group is also interested in experimental and theoretical studies of preferential solvation in liquid mixtures.