Nominees for Chair Elect
Marat Orazov
Marat Orazov obtained his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 2012, at the University of California, Berkeley, having performed undergraduate research in the labs of Profs. Alexander Katz and David B. Graves. Then, under the guidance of Prof. Mark E. Davis, he pursued a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Caltech, where he studied a number of catalytic systems pertaining to the synthesis of valuable chemicals from biomass. In the fall of 2016, Dr. Orazov started his postdoctoral research with Prof. Thomas F. Jaramillo, at Stanford, developing thermocatalytic systems for the synthesis of higher alcohols and cathode electrocatalysts for hydrogen fuel cells. In the summer of 2018, he will join the faculty as an Assistant Professor, at the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, at the University of Delaware. He aims to study and develop materials and coupled catalytic systems for the renewable generation and storage of energy, and chemical synthesis, with particular interest in microporous materials and electrochemistry.
Jacob Dickinson
Jake started at DuPont 2014. He has worked on a variety of projects including the conversion of non-edible biomass into an intermediate for renewable monomers, development of thermoplastic composites for compressed hydrogen storage vessels, and, most recently, on monomer and polymer process development.
Prior to joining DuPont, Jake attended Hope College and graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and then went on to the University of Michigan and graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. The general focus of his thesis was the hydrodeoxygenation of phenols in supercritical water. A major contribution of his thesis was the synthesis and use of a Cu-doped Raney Ni catalyst that contained tunable HDO and gasification activity depending on the Cu content of the catalyst.
Jake served as the Membership Director during the 2016–17 CCP season and hopes to continue serving the catalysis community.
Nominees for Treasurer
Lifeng Wang
Lifeng Wang is a research chemist in Zeolyst International and his research work is focused on developing various zeolite catalysts for automotive applications. He received his BS and PhD in Chemistry from Jilin University, China, where his research was focused on design and synthesis of novel sorbents and catalysts including silicas, carbons and zeolites. Lifeng has been an active member of the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia since 2014.
Istvan Halasz
Istvan is Principal Chemist at the Research & Development Center of PQ Corporation, studying the structure and properties of silica-derivatives. Prior to this he studied catalytic processes and superconducting ceramics partly at US universities and partly at the Central Chemistry Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. From this latter institution he obtained a Ph. D. equivalent degree and also holds a doctorate degree from the Lajos Kossuth University (Hungary). In the initial 12 years of his research carrier he worked at the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Institute, developing and scaling-up efficient patented processes for pharmaceutical, fine chemical and petrochemical industries along with performing fundamental studies in acid-base catalysis. He served as president and chair in various scientific organizations, edited one book, authored circa 125 book chapters, papers and patents and held 90+ conference presentations.
Nominees for Director (Poster, Membership and Sponsorship)
Runbo Li
Runbo Li obtained her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Drexel University in USA. In her thesis, she studied different methods for preparing samples for analysis by MALDI TOFMS and applied these methods to quantify proteins. At PQ R&D, she has focused on analytical method development and characterization research related to silicates, glass beads, amorphous silica gel and zeolites. She has published 18 papers.
Nicholas McNamara
Nicholas McNamara attained a B.S. (2009) and M.S. (2011) from the University of Dayton where he carried out research on the sonochemical synthesis and characterization of carbon-supported metal nanoparticles. He then attended the University of Notre Dame where his graduate research was supported by the Patrick and Jana Eilers Graduate Student Fellowship for Energy Related Research. In his graduate research, he studied the synthesis, characterization, and utilization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-templated materials as oxidative desulfurization catalysts. He earned his PhD in 2015 under the direction of Prof. Jason Hicks. He began his industrial research career in 2016 as a staff scientist in the Clean Air division of Johnson Matthey. His current research focuses on the design of new materials for targeted emissions control applications and the determination of structure-property relationships.
Bill Borghard
Currently, Bill is a consultant in the area of catalysis. In particular, he is the industrial liaison for the Rutgers Catalyst Manufacturing Consortium, based in the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department at Rutgers University. He is also on the Advisory Board for the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), based at the University of Delaware.
Bill retired from ExxonMobil in 2013 after 32 years with the company. He started at the Mobil Paulsboro Lab in 1980 investigating Fischer-Tropsch/ZSM-5 two-stage wax upgrading. In 1982, Bill transferred to Mobil’s lab in Princeton working in exploratory research and lab automation. In 1992, Bill returned to Paulsboro, where he had assignments in reforming, light gas upgrading, and catalyst characterization. Subsequently, he moved to the Clinton labs of ExxonMobil, where he led a number of major R&D projects, including GTL catalyst development, novel diesel catalysts, Algae BioFuels, and resid upgrading. Bill is an inventor or co-inventor on 24 U.S. patents.
Prior to joining Mobil, Bill graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering under the tutelage of Michel Boudart. He also obtained and M.S. and B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut where he studied under C.O. Bennett. He volunteers for Seeds of Hope Ministries (Camden, NJ).
Jim Hughes
Jim Hughes completed obtained his bachelors of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in Chemistry (UCLA). After graduation he spent two years working in the Catalysis Development group at Chevron’s R&D center in Richmond California working on heterogeneous catalyst development. Afterwards Jim left Chevron to pursue his Ph.D. under the guidance of Alexandra Navrotsky at The University of California, Davis. Jim’s Ph.D. was the study of the Thermodynamics of Metal-Organic Frameworks. During his Ph.D. Jim was awarded a NSF-EASPI fellowship. Currently Jim Is a Senior Research Chemist with Zeolyst International, working on pilot scale synthesis and commercial production of zeolite molecular sieves.