Table of Contents
Elections for the 2015–2016 Season Executive Committee will be held on April 16th 2015
Candidates for the CCP Executive Committee
- Chair-Elect: Anton Petushkov, Daniel Slanac (3 year appointment)
- Treasurer: Roger Grey, Steve Harris
- Directors: Prannit Metkar, Eric Sacia , Bingjun Xu
- NACS Representative: Chuck Coe, Dion Vlachos (4 year appointment)
Biographical sketches of the candidates
Chair-Elect (3 year appointment)
- Anton Petushkov received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Iowa where he researched nanosized zeolite synthesis from 2006 to 2011. In 2010 Anton participated in internship in Chevron, where he worked with Stacey Zones on multiple projects. Anton joined Zeolyst International in 2011 and has been working there on the development of new zeolite products for a variety of custom and automotive applications. Anton has been a member of the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia since 2011 and has been the club’s secretary since 2012.
- Dan Slanac has been a Research Investigator in DuPont Central Research and Development in Wilmington, DE since 2012. His current work is focused on developing next generation cellulosic ethanol processes. He received a B.S. in biomolecular engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD in 2007. Immediately after, he went to the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 2012, working with Prof. Keith Johnston and Prof. Keith Stevenson on the synthesis of PGM and non-PGM catalysts (perovskites and other oxides) for oxygen reduction in PEM fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Dan joined the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia in 2013 and is the Program Chair this year. ToC
Treasurer
- Roger Grey After almost 40 years working in the chemical industry utilizing my PhD in Chemistry, I recently retired from Lyondell Chemical Company. Much of my career was involved in catalysis chemical research and process development in homogeneous and heterogeneous oxidation and hydrogenation catalysis including metals, supported metals and zeolites. I have been a member of the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia for over 20 years holding several officer positions, including program chair, director, chair and treasurer as well as co-chair for the poster session for the North American Catalysis Society Meeting (NAM) the last time it was held in Philadelphia. Even though I am retired, I intend to stay active in the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia activities.
- Stephen Harris Organic Chemist/Scientist. 32 years in petrochemical/refining process definition and optimization, product development and technical service for ARCO Chemical and its successors. Three years in biochemical transformation process development. Past treasurer. ToC
NACS Representative (4 year appointment)
- Dr. Charles Coe, Research Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering, comes to Villanova with more than 30 years of experience in the development of catalysts and adsorbents. At Villanova he is sharing his knowledge with the next generation of engineers and scientists. He is actively involved in developing and teaching alternative energy courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. His research at Villanova, in collaboration with Drs. Satrio and Smith, is focused on the thermal chemical conversion of biomass using catalytic pathways to enhance carbon yield and product selectivity. He also is involved in Corporate sponsored research on the separation and purification of gases over molecular sieves. During his industrial career at Air Products he developed an extensive expertise in molecular sieve science and catalysis. For many years he teamed with project leaders across business units to enable the development of improved adsorbents and catalysts based on creating structure-property relationships targeted at specific applications. He has been active in the PCC for 35 years and served in most administrative positions of the PCC over this period of time.
- Dion Vlachos is the Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and the Director of the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the Department of Energy (DOE). Dr. Vlachos obtained a five years diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical Univ. of Athens, in Greece, in 1987. He obtained his MS and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1990 and 1992, respectively, and spent a postdoctoral year at the Army High Performance Computing Research Center, MN, after which he joined UMass as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to an associate professor at UMass in 1998. He joined the Univ. of Delaware in 2000. He was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the spring of 2000, a visiting faculty at Thomas Jefferson Univ. and Hospital in spring of 2007 and the George Pierce Distinguished Prof. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the Univ. of Minnesota in the fall of 2007. Dr. Vlachos is the recipient of the R. H. Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering from AIChE, an AAAS Fellow, an ONR Young Investigator Award and a NSF Career Award. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the Combustion Institute, the Catalysis Society, and SIAM. His main research thrust is multiscale modeling and simulation along with their application to catalysis, crystal growth, portable microchemical devices for power generation, production of renewable fuels and chemicals, catalyst informatics, detailed and reduced kinetic model development, and process intensification. He is the corresponding author of more than 300 refereed publications and has given nearly 200 plenary lectures, keynote lectures, and other invited talks. He has served as an executive editor of the Chemical Engineering Science journal and has served or serves on the editorial advisory board of several journals (e.g., ACS Catal., Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (I&ECR), Applied Catalysis A: General, The Combustion Institute, The Open Energy and Fuels Journal, the Journal of Nano Energy and Power Research, and J. Chem. Eng. & Proc. Tech.) ToC
Directors
- Dr. Pranit Metkar is a Research Investigator in DuPont’s Central Research and Development at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, DE. He has been working with DuPont since June 2012. His main areas of expertise include experimental and computational catalysis and chemical reaction engineering. His current research at DuPont is focused on producing non-fuel chemicals from biomass. Before that, he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, TX under the guidance of Prof. Michael Harold and Prof. Vemuri Balakotaiah. His Ph.D. research involved experimental and modeling of Fe/Cu-zeolite-washcoated monolithic catalysts used for NOx reduction in diesel engine vehicles. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India. He has been an active member of Catalysis Club of Philadelphia since 2012. Pranit served as the Membership Director for the CCP during 2014–2015.
- Dr. Eric R. Sacia is currently a Research Investigator at DuPont’s Central Research & Development in Wilmington, DE. In this position, his work focuses on selective oxidation catalysis and process development in the field of renewably-sourced chemicals and materials. Prior to working with DuPont, he received his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley with Prof. Alexis T. Bell, during which time he was recognized with a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and as a Kokes award winner for the North American Catalysis Society during the 23rd NAM. His thesis concentrated on the elucidation of new catalytic pathways from biomass-derived furanics and related derivatives to automobile lubricants as well as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. During the course of this work, Eric studied novel chemical pathways using heterogeneous acid, base, and selective hydrogenation catalysis through the framework of reaction kinetics and catalyst fundamentals. In addition to his published articles, patent applications, and presentations in the field of catalysis, he also has prior industrial experience with Marathon Petroleum. Eric has an extensive background in leadership roles, serving most recently as DuPont’s Safety Day Co-Chair along with roles in the Graduate Student Advisory Committee, Lab Committee, and Safety Committee at UC, Berkeley. He hopes to have the opportunity to serve the Philadelphia area catalysis community as a director of CCP.
- Bingjun Xu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Delaware. Bingjun received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University in 2011. After finishing his postdoctoral research at Caltech, he joined University of Delaware in the fall of 2013. Bingjun’s research interest spans heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis and in-situ spectroscopy. Bingjun joined CCP in 2011, and has been an active member since. He organized the CCP annual poster competition in 2014, which was well-attended and had the highest number poster presentations.