E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry: Linda J. Broadbelt

Sponsor: ExxonMobil Research & Engineering

Citation: For distinguished contributions to the field of complex kinetic modeling, particularly the development of automated mechanism generation and mechanistic models applied to industrially important problems.

Current position: Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering and associate dean for research, McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science, Northwestern University

Education: B.S., chemical engineering, Ohio State University; Ph.D., chemical engineering, University of Delaware

Broadbelt on what gets her creative juices flowing: “I derive many of my most creative ideas from attending talks given by scientists and engineers from disparate fields. There is nothing more enjoyable than going to a conference and listening to speakers from areas outside my own, as I have found that many guideposts for my research directions have emerged from positioning myself, sometimes uncomfortably, at boundaries and intersections.”

What her colleagues say: “Linda Broadbelt is internationally recognized for her contributions in complex kinetics modeling of hydrocarbon chemistry, particularly for the development of automated mechanism generation techniques and methods for specification of rate coefficients. She has expertly developed computational algorithms to automate construction of mechanistic models and continued to improve the capabilities and apply them to topical areas as diverse as metabolic networks, silicon nanoparticle production, atmospheric chemistry, synthesis of antibiotics, and hydrocarbon conversion.”—Harold H. Kung, Northwestern University

Please send announcements of awards to l_wang@acs.org.