[3] Neal Amundson was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, as the only child of a pipefitter and a housewife who struggled to survive the Great Depression.

He entered graduate school at the University of Minnesota and earned his master's degree in chemical engineering in 1941; and his PhD in mathematics in 1945.

[5] Amundson joined the University of Houston (UH) in 1977 as a Cullen Professor and a faculty member of the Chemical Engineering & Mathematics departments.

Amundson is known internationally for his pioneering work applying mathematical modeling and analysis to the solution of chemical engineering problems.

[11] Neal Amundson has authored numerous journal articles describing significant advances in chemical reaction engineering and chemical engineering which includes but is not limited to: Neal's vision was to combine modern advances in science together with elegant yet practical mathematical methods.

Neal acknowledged the importance of emerging fields and had a goal of attracting young faculty in topics such as microbiology and polymers.

In two decades, he hired several faculty that would become leaders of chemical engineering and materials science; these diverse individuals were then combined into a coherent program bound by his philosophy for team teaching and collaborative research.

As stated by Professors Andreas Acrivos and Dan Luss, "Seldom has an individual exerted such a major influence in the development of an important field as was done by Neal Amundson to chemical engineering.