Imperial Sugar Team Leader Takes Home Prestigious Award
iscnewsroom | Aug 16, 2010
For the 33rd year, the Cane Sugar Refiners’ Institute met for two weeks this summer at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. And at the end of it, ISC process engineering team lead Robert Burch took home the institute’s top honor.
The prestigious Director’s Award goes to the student with the highest academic achievement. Burch, along with two other attendees, won this year’s award in a three-way tie. As a relative newcomer to the sugar-refining business, Burch was a dark horse to take home the prize. Though Burch has been a process engineer for 30 years, he has only worked in sugar refining since February 2010.
Robert Burch took home the institute’s top honor, the prestigious Director’s Award.
“I felt pretty good about being new to the business and achieving this,” Burch says. “The two guys I tied with have been in the sugar business for quite a while.”
The institute is administered by the Office of Continuing Education and directed by Dr. Robert Falgout, a retired professor in the Nicholls Department of Agriculture.
“Nicholls has become the world leader in sugar-industry education,” Falgout says. “The institute has attracted professionals from all over the globe, and we’re happy to have contributed to the growth and success of the industry.”
Burch and fellow employee Curtis Raymond were tapped to attend this year’s institute to stretch their knowledge. Imperial Sugar covered the cost of tuition and travel.
For Burch, the experience was an eye-opener: “It covered sugar refining from start to finish, and every step in between. And we were tested on every single lecture.”
Understanding the full sugar-refining process makes a difference, he says. “It’s a little more complex than most people would think — removing all the color from the sugar, getting the right crystal size, etc. It’s not something that the average person could do, and do well.”
Says the 30-year engineering veteran, “I’ve definitely been challenged since I came to Imperial Sugar.”
