CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY BENEFICIAL The University of Kansas

2017 Plantingof Annual theSeeds Innovation Report CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY BENEFICIAL CATALYSIS The University of Kansas Planting Our mission is straightforward: theSeeds of Invent cleaner, safer, energy-efficient technologies that protect the planet Innovation and human health. Our approach is unique: Students and researchers collaborate at the CEBC to design cleaner, safer, economically viable chemical technologies. We actively seek out—and partner with— chemical companies. This industry-focused approach, uncommon in many university research programs, helps maximize the potential impact of our discoveries.

As the chemical industry’s global output continues to expand, the Center’s mission is more relevant than ever.

www.cebc.ku.edu Contributors: Claudia Bode, The Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis Nancy Crisp, Chris Lyon, Albert Masino Tel: (785) 864-6050, Email: [email protected] Designer: Nancy Crisp Copyright © 2018 from the From Aspiration to Achievement From the start as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center, our strategic goal has been to position the CEBC as a resource for the Director chemical industry. During the past 15 years, we created a diversified research portfolio, built a unique infrastructure, broadened expertise, and fostered industry collaborations. We are pleased to report the successes for this past year, which underscore just how far we have come. A record number of our member companies are now sponsoring research projects at the CEBC. We are also delighted that ExxonMobil decided to rejoin as an industry partner. The surge in sponsored projects boosted our overall funding above $4.5 million for the year. Several exciting new initiatives are underway. Our resource-efficient cata- lytic conversion technologies for shale gas, biomass and carbon dioxide are advancing. The blend of faculty expertise and unique high-pressure instru- mentation are serving to effectively tackle both the fundamental and practical challenges posed by such complex reaction environments. Recent faculty recruitments have strengthened CEBC’s capabilities, and we now welcome Alan Allgeier who brings a wealth of industrial experience in catalysis. The expanded expertise in computational chemistry, advanced sep- arations, electrochemistry, surface science and materials characterization has spawned unique collaborations and important discoveries. Many have caught the attention of the science community through publications in prestigious journals, cover articles, and edited books, as highlighted in this report. CEBC Publications each year since inception We congratulate two faculty members who received prestigious honors, bringing national visibility to the center and KU. Franklin Tao was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Raghu- nath Chaudhari won the 2018 Raney Award given by the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society for outstanding contributions to the science and applications of base metal catalysts. We are indeed proud of their accomplishments. We are pleased to welcome Cynthia Jenks of Argonne National Laboratory, John Kitchin of Carnegie Mellon University, and Clark Landis of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin as new members of CEBC’s Science Advisory Board. These renowned scientists and engineers play a key role in assessment and strategic planning. Our accomplishments and sustained successes are made possible by the dedicated work of students, researchers, faculty, and staff. Support from KU Annual R&D Funding by source administrators and guidance from our advisory boards are essential as well, shows significant growth and gratefully appreciated. in industry funding

Sincerely,

Dr. Bala Subramaniam CEBC Director

CEBC 2017 Annual Report | 2 Industry support spikes in 2017 ties...... Chemical companies took notice of the CEBC this year—big time. Capabili Seven companies launched nine projects with the center in 2017. At more than $1.5 million, these investments are ten times greater than the 2016 level of industry support. The trend continues into 2018, with three new projects just in the first quarter.

Industry reps attend The new industry-aided projects build on research advances made at the CEBC Ozonolysis test: CEBC’s 2016 Emerging with state and federal funds. While public funding plants the seeds of innovation, Feedstocks Forum Associate corporate support guides new discoveries from lab to marketplace. Researcher Michael The benefits go both ways. Companies gain access to expertise and instruments. Lundin Students and postdocs gain experience and often employment opportunities. CEBC Director Bala Subramaniam noted that many of these companies attended an industry workshop at the center in 2016. He said, “I’m delighted to see that companies are interested in leveraging CEBC’s long-term success in both cutting- edge fundamental science and applied research.” CEBC infrastructure enhances industry projects ...... Since its 2003 start, the CEBC has acquired more than $7 million worth of equipment, largely from federal grants and industry membership funds. Many discoveries have Shiflett lab unique been made with this equipment, including 42 patents and 384 publications. in sorption analysis As anticipated, CEBC member companies are choosing to leverage this infrastructure for proprietary research. The reason: cost savings. While new reactors may cost tens The most advanced gravimetric microbalance of thousands of dollars, existing reactors can be used as-is or customized for a few laboratory in the U.S can be found at The thousand dollars. Companies can test out new ideas more easily and at less cost. University of Kansas in the Shiflett Foundation labs, where several gravimetric sorption In-demand specialized equipment: analyzers from Hiden Isochema are available . An oxidation spray reactor that reduces substrate and solvent burning, for CEBC research. improves mass transfer, and maintains constant temperature For dry gases, hydrocarbons and fluoro- . A specialized setup for ozonolysis with benign carbon dioxide that stabilizes carbons, an IGA microbalance with a mass the ozone, curtails flammability risks and enhances product selectivity spectrometer, and a XEMIS microbalance are . Three continuous membrane reactors for retaining costly metal catalysts, both operational. The XEMIS can operate at as well as a six reactor Parr parallel system and several batch, fixed-bed, high pressure with corrosive and toxic gases, fluidized bed and continuous stirred tank reactors and KU is the only U.S. university that has one. . A first-of-its kind apparatus for electrocatalysis with liquid carbon dioxide The lab also houses an IGASorp instrument, and a custom-built scanning electrochemical microscopy instrument a microbalance specifically designed to . X-ray photoelectron spectrometer that operates at ambient pressures measure the sorption properties of vapors . In-situ vibrational spectroscopy for surface science analysis such as water, alcohols, and ketones. A Hiden Intelligent Gravimetric Analyzer . A milling machine for in-house equipment fabrication (IGA), provides a range of gas sorp- tion measurements, as well as kinetic and surface area studies for solids and liquids over a wide range of experimental conditions. Mark Shiflett

3 | CEBC 2017 Annual Report XEMIS microbalance at Shiflett’s KU lab Modeling catalysts, improving design . . . . ResearchCaricato research group, Finding the perfect catalyst is like winning the lottery— from left: Marco Caricato, only harder. Like picking Powerball numbers, stumbling Hunter Leblanc, Amy Jystad upon the right combination of atoms and , time and temperature, materials and methods, can take years. Assistant Professor of Chemistry Marco Caricato is part of Kevin Leonard an NSF-funded project at the CEBC focused on trying to Microwaves cook up beat the improbable odds. Connecting theoreticians with hot electrocatalysts experimentalists, the project aims to find how catalysts work . . . . at the most fundamental level. Such knowledge could predict Microwave ovens have been rapidly ways to design new and better catalysts ­— rationally instead of randomly. popping corn and splattering soup for In a recent paper (see back cover), Caricato’s group described 70 model decades. But they are not just for kitchens. structures they created using a computational method called density Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering functional theory. The models simulate geometrical arrangements of Kevin Leonard and his students recently possible catalytic sites in mesoporous silicates, where metal atoms are found that microwaves help make nimble grafted into the silicon-oxygen framework. electrocatalysts for splitting water. Associate Researcher Anand Ramanathan synthesized and tested the Solar-powered water splitting gives off mesoporous silicates in the lab. With their spacious pores, such materials oxygen and , a clean-burning show promise as catalysts for the bulky biomass molecules leftover from the source of energy. Electrocatalysts speed up pulp and paper industry. the process, but are currently made from rare and costly precious metals. Caricato’s computer simulations are consistent with Ramanathan’s experiments: Acidity depends on the type of metal and how it’s grafted Leonard’s group—and many others around into the silica. This confirms that the models are representative of the actual the world—are racing to develop high- material. It also reveals how structure enhances acidity, a pivotal discovery performing electrocatalysts from abundant for improving catalyst design. and cheap materials. At just pennies per ounce, nickel and iron are possible options. The project is part of a $4 million interstate grant from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. A recent paper by Leonard (see back cover) Chemists and engineers from KU and the University of South Carolina describes how his team turned these metals into an electrocatalyst for the more are collaborating on this project. The goal is to develop catalysts that can complex part of the water splitting process, coax stubborn lignin molecules—from plants and trees—into renewable known as the “oxygen evolution reaction.” substitutes for petrochemicals. Leonard’s new nickel-iron electrocatalyst performs similar to the costly precious metal version. The trick: microwave heat Cover to Cover: Featuring CEBC researchers during the synthesis process. This leads to The cover of the November 2017 issue of the AIChE Journal a layered, disordered structure with fast- features an article titled “The Solubility of Gases in Ionic Liq- acting catalytic sites. uids” written by KU Foundation Professor Mark Shiflett and This is the first-ever report of such a Edward Maginn, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, catalyst. A patent application University of Notre Dame. for the new synthesis tech- The cover of the January 2018 issue of Chemistry A Eu- nique has been filed. The ropean Journal features an article titled “Trivalent Lewis work was supported with Acidic Cations Govern the Electronic Properties and Stabil- an Army Research Office ity of Heterobimetallic Complexes of Nickel” written by CEBC/ Young Investigator award. KU Chemistry Professor James Blakemore, KU Chemistry postdoc Davide Lionetti, KU graduate student Amit Kumar, and Victor Day, KU MSG-Xray Crystallography Lab Director. CEBC 2017 Annual Report | 4 ...... Chaudhari bestowed ORCS Raney Award The Organic Reaction Catalysis Society (ORCS) has announced Raghunath V. Chaudhari, Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor at the University of Accolades Kansas, as the recipient of the 2018 Murray Raney Award, sponsored by W.R. Grace, for his significant contributions to advance the use of base metal catalysis in organic reactions. ORCS noted, “In a long and distinguished career that has accomplishments spanning a wide variety of heterogeneous and R.V. Chaudhari homogeneous catalysts, Dr. Chaudhari has made seminal contributions to catalysis by base metals.” The organization cited numerous examples of Chaudhari’s work, and said he “is active in the catalysis community with a network distributed widely among academic and industrial scientists and engineers. He holds several editorial responsibilities and has been prolific in organizing conferences in the US and Asia. Finally, he’s especially prolific in innovation, with over 60 approved patents and 295 journal publications.”

James Blakemore ...... Selected 2017 Invited Talks Alan Allgeier • NAM25, North American Catalysis Society, Denver, CO, June 4-9 Franklin Tao honored • Keynote, ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, Lawrence, KS, October 19 as AAAS Fellow James Blakemore • Symposium “CO2 Utilization”, 21st Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering CEBC faculty member Franklin Tao has Conference, Reston, Virginia, June 14 • Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France, July 6 been named a fellow of the American • Young Scholars Symposium at Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Sci- American Chemical Society, Loveland, Colorado, October 26 ence (AAAS). Tao received the honor for R.V. Chaudhari distinguished contributions to the field of • Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, Univ. of Louisville (KY), March 17 in situ/operando studies of materials at a • Binghamton University, State University of New York, April 21 molecular level, particularly catalysts un- Tim Jackson der reaction condition and during cataly- • 253rd ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, California, April 2-6 sis. Tao, the recipient of a National Science • Catalysis Research PI Meeting, Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Foundation CAREER award for his work, is Gaithersburg, Maryland, July 26-28 an associate professor of Chemistry and Brian Laird Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at KU. • Department of Chemistry, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ``Molecular modeling of gas-expanded solvents for use as catalytic reaction media,” June 2; One of 3 colloquia Laird presented at universities in Shanghai, May 31-June 2 Surface science journal • ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, Lawrence, KS, October 20 names Tao an editor Mark Shiflett • European Conference on Thermophysical Properties, Graz, Austria, September 5 Prof. Franklin Tao is now a member of the Bala Subramaniam Applied Surface Science editorial board. • 7th Asia-Pacific Congress on Catalysis, Mumbai, India, January 17-20 Established in 1985, the journal • Symposium on CO2 Utilization, 21st Annual Green Chemistry and publishes work in surface Engineering Conference, Reston, VA, June science, catalysis, materials • International Congress in Engineering of Advanced Materials, and energy science. Erlangen, Germany, October 10-12 • Panel Discussion: Rethinking Grand Challenges in Sustainability for the 21st Century, AIChE Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October 31

Franklin Tao Franklin Tao • ACS National Meeting, Symposia: Advanced X-ray Techniques for Catalyst Characterization and C1 Catalysis, San Francisco, CA, April 2-6 • Materials Research Society, Symposium: Novel Catalytic Materials in 5 | CEBC 2017 Annual Report Energy and Environment, Phoenix, AZ, April 17-21 Alan Allgeier, new CEBC professor ...... CEBC welcomes our newest faculty member, Alan Allgeier. As an associate Resources professor of Chemical Engineering, Allgeier utilizes experiences from his twenty- year career in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries to envision and realize revolutionary technologies for the sustainable manufacture of chemicals and materials. His expertise in heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis and Alan reactor design have been instrumental in producing large scale monomers Allgeier for nylon and polyesters, and small scale pharmaceuticals and specialty chemical products. Beyond sustainable manufacturing, Allgeier focuses on the characterization of porous materials including catalysts, but also biomass, thermal insulation, solid formulations of pharmaceuticals and adsorbents.

Prestigious grant awarded to Juan Bravo Suarez ...... Juan Juan Bravo Suarez, Assistant Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Bravo Suarez has been awarded a Doctoral New Investigator grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund. The two-year, $110,000 award seeks to reveal the mysteries behind an New SAB members industrial process for making propylene, one of the most versatile building We’re pleased to welcome three new blocks in chemical manufacturing. Propylene is made with the help of members to our Science Advisory Board. As catalysts, substances that trigger molecules to break apart and reform into experts in related science and engineering other molecules. Many consumer goods, such as plastics, fuels, cosmetics and fields, the new members will serve a three- detergents, get their start from propylene. year term to provide guidance and feed- At KU, Bravo-Suarez will be well-equipped to peek inside back on CEBC’s projects and programs. the inner workings of catalysts. Armed with infrared, . . . Raman and UV-visible spectroscopic equipment, his team Cynthia Jenks, Chemical Sciences and En- will look at catalysts in action, just as ethylene and butene gineering Division Director, Argonne Na- molecules are transformed into propylene in a process tional Laboratory, is an AAAS Fellow with research interests in surface structure and called metathesis. reactivity, surface structure-property rela- “Knowing how catalysts work will help us design more tionships, catalysis and thin film growth. efficient catalysts and cheaper ways to make propylene,” . . . said Bravo Suarez. “It will also help us to find new and John Kitchin, Chemical Engineering Pro- better ways to produce more with less.” fessor, Carnegie-Mellon University, has received both DOE (2010) and Presidential (2011) Early Career awards. He conducts surface science and CO2 capture research...... Clark Landis, Chemistry Professor, Univer- sity of Wisconsin-Madison, is an ACS and AAAS Fellow. He conducts research in ho- mogeneous catalysis, including computa- tion and theory. 2017 SAB members left to right: Yong Wang (Wash- ington State Univ.), Jerry Spivey (Louisiana State Univ.), Mahdi Abu-Omar (Univ. of California Santa Barbara), Peter Stair (Northwestern Univ.)

CEBC 2017 Annual Report | 6 Pump up the volume and save New butadiene process could save energy, cut costs ...... For many years, scientists have been exploring what happens when gases Research like carbon dioxide are dissolved in liquids. Of course we all know what happens to water: it turns fizzy. But what about organic solvents? They take up huge amounts of gases, expanding in volume like an inflatable beach ball. This changes their physical properties and impacts chemical reactions such as hydroformylations performed in that environment. CEBC Director Bala Subramaniam and his graduate student, Dupeng Liu, are exploiting the novel effects of these “gas expanded liquids.” Recently, Liu’s research showed how this technology enhances the making of butyraldehyde, a building block for consumer products like detergents, perfumes, and pharmaceuticals. The results, which are published in the AIChE journal (see back cover), suggest the technology enables using a mixed feed of propane and propylene, instead of just super pure propylene like the current industrial process. Since only propylene reacts to make the product, the enriched propane stream from the reactor can be reused to make more propylene! Eliminating the need for a costly purification step could save energy, curb greenhouse gas emissions and cut both capital and production costs. Cool catalyst is a matchmaker for methane ACS symposium series volume released New catalyst makes acetic acid by couplingmethane, carbon monoxide, and oxygen CEBC faculty members Aaron Scurto and Mark Shiflett edited the recently released While methane is plentiful, it’s not very reactive. To get this stable to American Chemical Society (ACS) Sympo- marry other molecules usually takes costly energy and blazing heat. Is there a sium Series volume, Ionic Liquids: Current way to charm methane to react at more of a low simmer? State and Future Directions. With chap- Franklin (Feng) Tao, University of Kansas Miller Associate Professor of ters written by leading experts in the ionic Chemistry and Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and his colleagues are liquids field, the book provides an update tackling this challenge. on recent research and applications, span- The group recently discovered a catalyst that drives methane to couple with ning research and development activities carbon monoxide and oxygen at low temperature. The resulting product is from fundamental and experimental in- mostly acetic acid, a pungent colorless liquid used widely in food, chemical vestigations to commercial applications. and medical industries. The text was developed from a selection The catalyst’s ability to coax steadfast methane to hook up with carbon of papers presented in a two-session sym- monoxide and oxygen lies in its structure. Isolated rhodium atoms dot the posium held at the 2016 ACS National inside of the micropores winding through an aluminosilicate zeolite mineral Meeting in San Diego, CA, in honor of Shif- called ZSM-5. After analyzing the catalyst with various methods, including lett as he was named an ACS Industrial & X-ray absorption spectroscopy, Tao’s team revealed that RhO5 species Engineering Chemistry Division Fellow. are anchored to the zeolite, which are a thousand times more active The book cover (above) , featuring than rhodium species free-floating in solution. artwork of an ionic liquid vapor- Tao is presenting this work at the 2018 American Chemical liquid interface, was designed Society meeting in New Orleans as part of a symposium or- by Scurto and Shiflett in col- ganized by the Division of Catalysis Science & Technology. laboration with Edward J. Maginn and Kristina Davis of Notre Dame. Top photo: PhD candidate Dupeng Liu works in the Subramaniam lab

At left, Franklin Tao’s new catalyst: Tucked inside the pores of a zeolite this rhodium-based catalyst couples methane, CO, and oxygen to 7 | CEBC 2017 Annual Report make acetic acid at low temperature. (Rh = green; Al = gold; O = red; C = blue) Meet our new Industry Liaison Director ...... Albert Masino joined the CEBC in May 2017 as Industry Liaison Director. Industry He recently retired from Chevron Phillips Chemical Company after nearly 35 years in research and development. As Team Leader for Catalyst Development and Commercialization, Masino led the polyolefins R&D unit in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He is an inventor on more than 45 U.S. patents Albert in the fields of homogeneous (metallocene, single-cite) and heterogeneous Masino catalysis applied to ethylene and propylene polymerization performed in loop and gas-phase reactor platforms, as well as development of novel polyolefin materials. He earned his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Alberta, Edmonton after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

2017 Industry Advisory Board ...... Company Board Member Archer Daniels Midland Derek Butler, Scientist III Chemours Technologies Austin Reed, Technical Fellow Industry attendees at Chevron Phillips Chemical Carlton Ash, R&D Manager CEBC Spring 2017 Meeting DuPont Rakesh Nambiar, R&D Leader ExxonMobil Ben Spry, Chemical Engineer Honeywell UOP Peter Coughlin, Dir. Catalysis & Materials Research Intellectual Property INVISTA Bill Tenn, Core Intermediates R&D Reliance Industries Ltd. Thomas Mathew, President - PTA & Gasification Corporate partners have privileged access W.R. Grace Dorai Ramprasad, Global Technology Manager to license intellectual property developed at CEBC on core projects, including a total of 48 invention disclosures and 17 patents. New industry member brings familiar faces “Spray oxidation process for produ- cing 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid from CEBC welcomes back ExxonMobil as an industry partner. We are especially hydroxymethylfurfural,” pleased to reunite with former Jayhawks who now work at ExxonMobil. Subramaniam, B.; Zuo, X.; Busch, D.; (David) Ben Spry will serve on the CEBC Industry Advisory Board. He graduated Venkitasubramanian, P. U.S. Patent from KU with a B.S. in Chemistry & Mathematics in 2004, then earned M.S. 9,586,923 B2 (issued 3/7/2017) and PhD degrees from Stanford University. He is now a Chemical Engineer for ExxonMobil. Also working with CEBC is Javier Guzman, ExxonMobil group “Depolymerization of lignin using head, who was an assistant professor of Chemical Engineering at KU from metal incorporated mesoporous 2006 to 2009. He worked for BP for a year before joining ExxonMobil in 2010. silicate catalysts,” Subramaniam, B.; Ramanathan, A.; Nandiwale, K.; Danby, One of the largest companies in the world, ExxonMobil focuses on sustain- A.; Chaudhari, R.V. U.S. Patent Allowed able solutions based on time-tested business practices. The company has manufacturing capacity in every major region of the world.

CEBC 2017 Annual Report | 8 Industry attendees at CEBC Fall 2017 Meeting ...... Postdoc’s . grant to enhance undergraduate labs Julian Silverman, postdoctoral teaching and research associate, won a Outreach resources grant from KU Libraries to adapt his economic and environmen- tal assessment tool for use in undergraduate chemistry lab classes. In spring 2017, Silverman created the assessment tool for a graduate level course on industrial catalysis taught by CEBC Director Bala Subramaniam. The goal was to foster higher-level thinking about economic and environmental impacts Julian of new technologies. The tool guides students through a simplified life cycle Silverman analysis using an Excel spreadsheet. The adapted version will help under- graduates contextualize the broader impacts of lab activities and understand how their choices can lead to safer and cost-effective practices. When com- pleted, the tool will have open access through KU Libraries.

...... ACS Meeting offers training for educators The American Chemical Society Midwest Regional Meeting hosted a half- day professional development session in Lawrence, Kansas, for two dozen science teachers on Oct. 21, 2017. CEBC Education Director Claudia Bode Jenny helped organize the event. Three participants from the CEBC’s NSF-funded Gartner “Research Experiences for Teachers” program presented at the meeting, including Jenny Gartner from Labette County High School, Amy Johnston- Clement from Olathe North High School, and Stanford Spurlin from Olathe Eduation Journal features East High School. Attendees learned how to engage students in inquiry, com- CEBC contribution putational modeling and higher order reasoning. The November 14, 2017 Journal of Chemi- cal Education special issue on “Polymer Leadership training promotes diversity in STEM Concepts across the Curriculum” includes CEBC’s Education Director, Claudia Bode, recently was invited to participate an article by CEBC Eduation Director Clau- in the 2017 Linton-Poodry SACNAS Leadership Institute led by the Society dia Bode (see back cover). The special issue for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SAC- is designed to help academic readers of the NAS), and sponsored by the American Association for Advancement of Sci- Journal improve the teaching and learning ence (AAAS). The institute was held in July 2017 at the AAAS headquarters in of polymer concepts at their institutions. Washington, DC. At the conference, a new generation of minority STEM lead- It features a collection of contributed pa- ers learned tools to lead institutional transformation and help build a critical pers describing how polymers are being mass of STEM professionals and leaders from underrepresented communities. taught in general, foundational, and ad- vanced chemistry courses and also in high schools, workshops, and demonstrations for the public. Bode’s contributed article, “Developing Students’ Understanding of Industrially Relevant Economic and Life Cycle Assessments,” is based on the core research at CEBC and Co-Founder of Green Chemistry lessons developed from the presents seminar at CEBC Research Experiences for John Warner, President and CTO of Warner Babcock Institute, Teachers program. gave a seminar for the CEBC on December 5th. Ten middle school students were present for the event. As one of the co- founders of the green chemistry movement, Warner inspired the audience to design safer materials for a more sustainable future. 9 | CEBC 2017 Annual Report Photo above: John Warner with Lawrence, KS middle-schoolers Graduate students win awards ...... Pallavi Bobba won one of 10 Sustainability Leadership Awards given by the University of Kansas Center for Sustainability on April Trainees 21. The award recognizes outstanding leadership and creativity in addressing issues of ecology, efficiency and equity on the KU campus and in the broader community...... Undergraduates rise to Kakasaheb Nandiwale won 1st Place in the Graduate graduate researchers Engineering Association’s Research Poster Competition Four CEBC undergraduate students on April 20 at KU for his poster on lignin depolymerization. who recently earned bachelor degrees ...... have started their graduate training Tugba Turnaoglu won 2nd Place in the Graduate Engineering at KU with CEBC faculty mentors. Association’s Research Poster Competition on April 20 at KU. Her poster featured ammonia in ionic liquids. Zeke Piskulich: Graduate student with Prof. Ward Thompson, under- grad research with Thompson’s group 2017 Conferences Attended Nick Reding: Graduate student Pacific Conference on Spectroscopy & Dynamics, Pacific Grove, CA with Prof. Mark Shiflett, undergrad Hiranya Mendis and Prof. Ward Thompson research with R.V. Chaudhari’s group American Chemical Society National Meeting, Washington, DC Tess Seuferling: Graduate student Pallavi Bobba and Yu Tang with Prof. Kevin Leonard, undergrad American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry, Boston, MA research with Leonard’s group Dr. Pablo Palafox and Zeke Piskulich Kyle Stephens: Graduate student with International Conference on Catalysis & Chemical Engineering, Prof. Alan Allgeier, undergrad research Baltimore, MD,Crystal Shi (travel award recipient) and Ziwei Song with Bala Subramaniam’s group Liquid Gordon Research Conference, Holderness, NH, Zeke Piskulich From top: Zeke, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Meeting, Minneapolis, MN Nick, Tess, Kyle Pallavi Bobba (travel award recipient), Prof. Juan Bravo Suarez, Prof. R.V. Chaudhari, Dr. Bill Gilbert, Amy Jystad, Dupeng Liu, Dr. Michael Lundin, Dr. Swarup Maiti, Dr. Dave Minnick, Kakasaheb Nandiwale, Alejandra Rocha, Crystal Shi, Prof. Mark Shiflett, Dr. Julian Silverman, Priya Srinivasan, Tugba Turnaoglu, Prof. Bala Subramaniam and Hongda Zhu North American Catalysis Society, Denver, CO, Prof. Juan Bravo Suarez, Dr. Industry partner shares Maheswari Rajamanickam, Dr. Anand Ramanathan, Prof. Bala Subramaniam, Yu Tang, Dr. Jianfeng Wu, Dr. Simin Yu and Dr. Xiaobin Zuo insights with students Dorai Ramprasad, Global Technology Where in the world are the CEBC alumni? Manager at W.R. Grace, shared advice about mergers, takeovers and startups Hong Jin,, PhD 2006, KU, has been promoted to Senior Staff Engineer, with students at the 2017 fall advisory Downstream Fuels & Strategy, at Chevron. board meeting. With over 30 years of in- dustrial experience, he has seen firsthand Jesse Kern, PhD 2016, KU, has joined the chemistry faculty of Randolph the ups and downs of R&D. College, Lynchburg, VA. His advice to students: (Cyrus) Kourosh Kian, MS Chemical Engineering 2017, is now a research be proactive and pre- assistant at Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO. pare for changes in Jianfeng Wu, CEBC postdoc 2015-2017, recently joined Lanzhou the job market. University, Gansu, China, as a faculty member in the School of Chemistry Dorai Ramprasad and Chemical Engineering. of W.R. Grace Simin Yu, CEBC postdoc 2016-2017, is now NMR manager at Lanzhou University, Gansu, China. CEBC 2017 Annual Report | 10 Biancardi, A.; Caraianai, C.; Chan, W.-L.; Caricato, F. “Elucidating the Copper-Hagg Iron Carbide Syner- M. “How the Number of Layers and Relative Posi- gistic Interactions for Selective CO to tion Modulate the Interlayer Electron Transfer in Higher Alcohols,” ACS Catal. 2017 7:8 5500-5512. π-Stacked 2D Materials,” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2017 Lundin, M. D.; Danby, A. M.; Akien, G. R.; Venkitasu- 8 1365-1370. bramanian, P.; Martin, K. J.; Busch, D. H.; Subrama- Biancardi, A.; Martin, S. C.; Liss, C.; Caricato, M. niam, B. “Intensified and safe ozonolysis of fatty acid “Electronic Coupling for Donor-Bridge-Acceptor methyl esters in liquid CO in a continuous reactor,” 2 PublicationsSee complete list: Systems with a Bridge-Overlap Approach,” J. Chem. AIChE J. 2017 63:7 2819-2826. 2017 Theory Comput. 2017 13:9 4154-4161. Massie, A. A.; Denler, M. C.; Caroso, L. T.; Walker, A. www.cebc.ku.edu/publications Daniels, I. N.; Wang, Z.; Laird, B. 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