Ipatieff Prize: Aditya Bhan

Sponsor: Ipatieff Trust Fund

Citation: For contributions to heterogeneous catalysis through detailed kinetic and mechanistic studies of acid catalyzed C–C bond formation and methods for conversion of methanol feedstocks.

Current position: associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Education: B.Tech., chemical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Ph.D., chemical engineering, Purdue University

Bhan on his current scientific goals: “I would like for my research program to solve technologically relevant problems in the conversion of carbon-based feedstocks. Chemical catalysis plays a role in almost all petrochemical processes, and the scale of this industry implies that you paint on a very large canvas. I hope to accomplish this while concurrently providing a nourishing, focused, and challenging learning environment both in the classroom and in my research group.”

What his colleagues say: “Simply put, Bhan is one of the most outstanding heterogeneous catalysis researchers of his generation. Throughout the last decade, he has produced a stream of highly impactful work in catalysis, with his most significant scholarship associated with understanding, kinetically and mechanistically, the reactions of methoxy-containing species in zeolite catalysts.”—Christopher W. Jones, Georgia Institute of Technology