Shows
PodCATProf. Raj GounderProf. Rajamani (Raj) Gounder received his BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin in 2006, where his interest in catalysis was sparked while performing research under Jim Dumesic. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC-Berkeley in 2011 under the guidance of Enrique Iglesia, and then completed a postdoctoral stay at Caltech with Mark Davis. He started his faculty career at Purdue in 2013, and is currently the R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Professor in Chemical Engineering and the Director of the Purdue Catalysis Center. Raj's research group studies the kinetic and mechanistic details of catalytic reactions...
2025-07-2352 min
PodCATProf. Michele SarazenProf. Michele L. Sarazen is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and an associated faculty with the DOE Princeton Plasma Physic Laboratory. Her research group couples synthetic, kinetic, and theoretical investigations of porous crystalline materials as catalysts and adsorbents for sustainable fuel and chemical production with an emphasis on reaction and deactivation mechanisms. She earned her BS in Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, at the Pennsylvania State University and her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley under Enrique Iglesia. Before arriving at Princeton, she was a postdoctoral...
2025-07-1551 min
PodCATProf. Carsten SieversProf. Carsten Sievers is a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. Prof. Sievers’ expertise spans heterogeneous catalysis, reactor design, applied spectroscopy, and the synthesis and characterization of solid materials. By bridging fundamental science with applied engineering, his research aims to develop innovative catalytic processes for producing fuels and chemicals, especially from renewable resources like biomass. In his fundamental studies, Prof. Sievers uses advanced spectroscopic techniques to uncover how catalysts work on a molecular level. This insight guides the design of more effective and robust catalysts. His applied research focuses on optimizing catalytic processes in...
2025-05-2847 min
PodCATDr. Bob McCabe Dr. Bob McCabe is the former Program Director of the NSF CBET-Catalysis program after retiring in February 2025. Bob's interest in catalysis began as an undergrad student in chemical engineering at the University of Houston through a combination of catalytic reaction engineering, an elective survey course in catalysis, and a senior design project involving the Andrussow process for HCN catalyzed by a Pt-Rh gauze. The latter, via a collaboration between Dan Luss and Lanny Schmidt, led to Bob’s graduate work at the University of Minnesota under Lanny involving UHV surface science studies of CO and H2 adsorption on various si...
2025-05-201h 01
PodCATProf. Aditya BhanProf. Aditya Bhan received his Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.) in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2000 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2005. From January 2005 to August 2007, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and since then he has been on the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science faculty at the University of Minnesota where he currently serves as a Distinguished McKnight University Professor. He leads a research group focused on mechanistic characterization of catalysts useful in energy conversion and petrochemical synthesis. His group at the University of Minnesota has been...
2025-03-2744 min
PodCATProf. Friederike Jentoft Prof. Friederike C. Jentoft studied Chemistry at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen and at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where she earned her Dr. rer. nat. (1994) under the guidance of Helmut Knözinger. After working as a postgraduate researcher in Bruce Gates’ group at the University of California in Davis, she led a research group in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry for 12 years at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. In 2008, she assumed a faculty position at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, where she was named Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Presidential Professor in 2014. Since 2015, she has been Pr...
2025-03-2044 min
PodCATProf. Mark Barteau Prof. Mark A. Barteau holds the Charles D. Holland Chair at Texas A&M University, with appointments in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. He received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford working with Professor Robert. J. Madix. He was an NSF Post-doctoral Fellow at the Technische Universität München with Professor Dietrich Menzel, before joining the University of Delaware in 1982. He has held faculty appointments at the University of Delaware, the University of Michigan, and Texas A&M University, as we...
2025-03-1353 min
PodCATProf. John KeithProf. John Keith is an R. K. Mellon Faculty Fellow in Energy and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Energy. After obtaining his Ph.D. from Caltech, he was an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ulm and then an Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University. He began his independent position at Pitt in September 2013. His group uses first principles-based computational chemistry to study chemical reaction mechanisms for fundamental insights to aid the design of molecular and material catalysts. He received an NSF-CAREER award from CBET Catalysis in 2017...
2025-03-0652 min
PodCATDr. Tracy LohrDr. Tracy L. Lohr is Senior Researcher at Shell. She obtained her Ph.D in organometallic catalysis at the University of Calgary. She then pursued a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Tobin J. Marks (in collaboration with Peter C. Stair) at Northwestern University working on heterogeneous catalytic valorization of biomass. She spent over 2 years as a Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern in the Center for Catalysis and Surface Science working in the areas of both homo- and heterogeneous catalysis, with particular focus on tandem catalysis, olefin polymerization, atomic layer deposition, and various heterogeneous oxidative processes. She joined Shell in 2018...
2025-02-2747 min
PodCATProf. Joaquin Resasco Prof. Joaquin Resasco was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He completed his B.S. at the University of Oklahoma, and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley under the guidance of Prof. Alex Bell. At Berkeley, he was an NSF and UC Chancellor’s Fellow. Following his Ph.D., Joaquin was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara with Prof. Phil Christopher. In 2021, Joaquin became an Assistant Professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Joaquin is the recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the Society of...
2025-02-2044 min
PodCATProf. Jason Adams Prof. Jason Adams completed his B.S. at Georgia Tech in 2015, where he studied the fundamentals of gas adsorption and diffusion on nanoporous carbon materials under Bill Koros. He then pursued a PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an NSF graduate fellow under the mentorship of David Flaherty. There, he conducted fundamental studies investigating thermal and electrochemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide over noble metal catalysts, where he graduated in 2022. Afterward, Jason pursued postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Karthish Manthiram to develop automated reactors and elucidate...
2025-02-1351 min
PodCATProf. Eranda NikollaProf. Eranda Nikolla is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, MI. Prior to this, she was a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. She received her received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Michigan in 2009 working with Prof. Suljo Linic and Prof. Johannes Schwank in the area of solid-state high temperature electrocatalysis. She conducted a two-year postdoctoral work at California Institute of Technology with Prof. Mark E. Davis working on designing functionalized silica and zeolite catalysts for selective conversions of biomass derived feedstocks.
2024-12-0352 min
PodCATProf. Susannah ScottProf. Susannah Scott is a Distinguished Professor in both Chemical Engineering and in Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Iowa State University, under the direction of Jim Espenson and Andreja Bakac, for her work on the activation of O2 and transition metal-catalyzed oxidation mechanisms. She was awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship for work with Jean-Marie Basset at the Institut de recherches sur la catalyse (CNRS) in Lyon, France. In 1994, she joined the faculty of the University of Ottawa (Canada), where she was named a Canada Research Chair...
2024-11-2649 min
PodCATProf. Charles T. CampbellFor our 30th episode it is a pleasure to welcome Prof. Charles (Charlie) T. Campbell! Prof. Campbell is Professor Emeritus in Chemistry at the University of Washington, where he is also Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Physics, and the Rabinovitch Endowed Chair in Chemistry since 2012. He received his BS (1975) and PhD (1979, under JM White) degrees at the University of Texas at Austin in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, then did postdoctoral research in Germany with Gerhard Ertl (2007 Nobel Prize Winner). He is the author of over 370 publications and two patents on surface chemistry, catalysis, physical chemistry and biosensing, w...
2024-11-1850 min
PodCATDr. Chris BradleyDr. Chris Bradley is a Program Manager in Catalysis Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. He earned B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biology at the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Cornell University. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. His independent academic career involved stints as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas Tech University from 2008-2012 and at Mount St. Mary’s University from 2012-2016. After being promoted in 2016, Chris moved to his current role. While at DOE, Chris has been involved with...
2024-11-1243 min
PodCATProf. Suljo LinicProf. Suljo Linic was born in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he completed his elementary and high school education. His family were forcefully displaced from Bosnia during the Bosnian war of 1990s. He moved to the USA in 1994 after being awarded a faculty scholarship from West Chester University in PA. Suljo obtained his PhD degree in chemical engineering in 2004 working with Prof. Mark Barteau at University of Delaware, specializing in surface and colloidal chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. He was a Max Planck postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Dr. Matthias Scheffler at the Fritz Haber Institute, working on...
2024-11-0557 min
PodCATProf. Phillip ChristopherProf. Phillip Christopher earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006 and his M.S and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from University of Michigan in 2011 working with Prof. Suljo Linic. From 2011-2017 he was an Assistant Professor at University of California, Riverside. In 2017 he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara where he is a Professor and Vice Chair for Undergraduate Affairs in the Chemical Engineering Department and the Mellichamp Chair in Sustainable Manufacturing. He serves as a Senior Editor for ACS Energy Letters. His research interests are in sustainable chemical...
2024-10-2452 min
PodCATDr. Simon BareDr. Simon R. Bare is a distinguished scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He earned his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Surface Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, UK. He was a postdoctoral fellow at both Cornell University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He then transitioned in industry and held various positions in catalyst research at The Dow Chemical Company over 10 years, and then at UOP, a Honeywell Company for 19 years. He then had a career change and joined Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in 2016. His research is focused on...
2024-10-1650 min
PodCATDr. Sean HuntDr. Sean Hunt is the co-founder and CTO of Solugen. He focuses on utilizing novel metal catalysts, scaling up proprietary chemienzymatic process technologies, and developing the framework for Solugen’s molecule factories: the Bioforge. His engineering endeavors have spanned a wide range of industries and applications, working as fuel cell engineer for the U.S. Navy, a vaccine and API process engineer for Merck in Singapore, and a Cocoa Puff engineer at General Mills. Sean holds a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT where he was advised by Prof. Yuriy Roman as an NSF graduate research fellow. He is a...
2024-10-0947 min
PodCATDr. Stafford (Staff) SheehanDr. Stafford (Staff) Sheehan leads Air Company as President and Chief Technology Officer. Staff is a scientist and entrepreneur who has developed several commercial technologies based on his applied research in the fields of chemistry, physics, and computer science, and has built collaborations with several world-renowned universities and institutes through his research. He completed his PhD at Yale University in 2015 as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and was awarded Yale’s Wolfgang Prize for the top doctoral dissertation in chemistry. His work has been featured in various publications, most recently being named as one of MIT Tech Review's Innovators un...
2024-09-1344 min
PodCATDr. Cathy TwayOn this episode of PodCAT we welcome Cathy Tway, bp’s Senior Director for Chemistry and Catalysis. Cathy designs and directs development programs to deliver bp’s growth engines portfolio. Cathy has a wealth of industrial experience, having held leadership roles at several major chemical companies including most recently serving in leadership positions at both Johnson Matthey and Dow before joining bp. She has industrial experience in identifying and creating new science and technologies, scaling up processes, commercialization, licensing, and plant support of catalytic systems. Cathy is passionate about technology commercialization, and she has successfully brought two new inorganic mate...
2024-07-1744 min
PodCATDr. Randall MeyerDr. Randall Meyer received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University, his master’s degree in environmental engineering from UCLA, and his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He then performed postdoctoral research at both the Fritz’s Haber Institute and the University of Virginia working under the guidance of Prof. Freund and Neurock, respectively. Randall then before began his independent academic career at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he rose to the rank of associate professor. After obtaining tenure, Randall joined the Corporate Strategic Research team at ExxonM...
2024-05-1754 min
PodCATProf. Darren Lipomi Darren Lipomi is a professor of nanoengineering, chemical engineering, and materials Science at UC San Diego. He is also the Associate Dean for Students and the Faculty Director of the IDEA Engineering Student Center at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD. He is the incoming chair of Chemical Engineering at University of Rochester, scheduled to begin his term in July! Darren earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in physics at Boston University, and his PhD in chemistry at Harvard with Prof. George M. Whitesides. He did his Postdoc with Zhenan Bao...
2024-04-1651 min
PodCATProf. Julie RorrerProf. Julie Rorrer is an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she investigated etherification catalysis under the guidance of Profs. Alexis T. Bell and Dean Toste. She then performed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Prof. Yuriy Roman-Leshkov with funding from a Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship. She was also recently recognized for her early career achievements and contributions to the field of chemical engineering by being listed as one of AIChE’s 35 under 35. She is als...
2024-04-0949 min
PodCATProf. Ian McCrum Electrocatalysis guru Prof. Ian McCrum did his undergraduate studies at Clarkson University, graduating in 2012. From there he went on to Penn State for his PhD, where he was advised by Prof. Mike Janik. In 2017 he moved to the Netherlands, studying at Leiden University as a postdoc under advisor Marc Koper. He returned to Clarkson in 2020 as an assistant professor. There he has won several awards, most notably the ACS PRF award and the NSF CAREER award. Tom had the pleasure of sitting next to Ian for three years while they were both in the Janik group, where Tom learned...
2024-03-2642 min
PodCATProf. William Schneider Prof. William Schneider earned his PhD studying Inorganic Chemistry at The Ohio State University. Following his PhD he spent over a decade working at the Ford Motor Company, where he researched strategies for mitigating the environmental impact of automotive emissions. He joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Notre Dame in 2004 and he has served as the department chair since 2020. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is an Executive Editor of J Phys Chem C. In 2009, he received the BP Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award, which happens to be...
2024-03-0147 min
PodCATProf. Lea WinterProf. Lea Winter is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University. Lea earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale and received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University as a NSF graduate research fellow, working under the supervision of Professor Jingguang Chen - sharing academic lineage with Marc. Lea then returned to Yale as a nanotechnology enabled water treatment distinguished postdoctoral fellow and started her independent career as an assistant professor in 2022. We are thrilled to welcome Prof. Lea Winter to PodCAT!
2024-02-2344 min
PodCATProf. Michael Janik On this episode of PodCAT we welcome the distinguished Prof. Michael Janik from the Department of Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Mike earned his B.S. from Yale University and then had a brief stint in industry working at Procter and Gamble. He returned to academia and earned his Ph.D. from University of Virginia under Profs. Matthew Neurock and Robert Davis. Mike has won many awards, but the one that stands out is the Outstanding Advising Award from the Penn State Alumni Society, well deserved considering he was Tom's Ph.D. advisor. It is a pleasure t...
2024-02-1644 min
PodCATProf. Yuriy RománOn this episode of PodCAT we welcome Prof. Yuriy Román from MIT. Yuriy Román is the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. Yuriy earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008, working under the supervision of Professor James A. Dumesic. He then moved to the California Institute of Technology to do postdoctoral research with Professor Mark E. Davis. Yuriy has won numerous prestigious awards throughout his career, including the recent 2024 Paul H. Em...
2024-01-2446 min
PodCATProf. Sheima J. KhatibOn this episode of PodCAT we welcome Prof. Sheima Khatib from Virginia Tech. Sheima exemplifies the complete professor: successful research, top-notch teaching, and recognized service to the profession. For her research in natural gas upgrading she received the NSF CAREER award, for her teaching she received the Rawls Outstanding Undergraduate Educator award, and she was the 2023 programming chair for AICHE’s Catalysis & Reaction Engineering (CRE) division. Sheima does it all!
2023-12-1141 min
PodCATProf. Alexis T. BellOn this episode of PodCAT we welcome Prof. Alexis T. Bell. We discuss how Prof. Bell entered the field of catalysis and went out on a limb to secure a faculty position at UC Berkeley. We also discuss strategies for maintaining a successful research program and how to respond to reviewer comments. Fun fact, Prof. Bell was Ezra's PhD advisor! Prof. Bell is the Dow professor of Sustainable Chemistry in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. He was a two time Department Chair. He is a member of the...
2023-10-0654 min
PodCATThe First ProposalWelcome to the new season of PodCAT! Our first episode of 2023-24 is a deep dive into submitting your first proposal. Where should you apply? What are strategies for dealing with rejection? No worries, PodCAT is here to help.
2023-09-2940 min
PodCATProf. Cathleen CruddenOn this episode of PodCAT we welcome a very special guest, Prof. Cathleen Crudden. We discuss how Prof. Crudden entered the field of catalysis and rose to Editor in Chief of ACS Catalysis. We also discuss mentoring strategies and philosphies, with important tips for early career researchers. Prof. Crudden is the AV Douglas Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She also holds a position as a Research Professor at Nagoya University in Japan. Since 2021, she has been the Editor in Chief of ACS Catalysis. Prof. Crudden is a Fel...
2023-04-0756 min
PodCATThe NegotiationWhat do you need to be successful? Estimating start-up costs and negotiating an offer is no sweat with PodCAT in your corner. Tune in for the last installment of our series on the faculty application process.
2023-03-0738 min
PodCATProf. Paul DauenhauerOn this episode we welcome a very special guest, Prof. Paul Dauenhauer. We discuss details of how Prof. Dauenhauer became interested and excited about catalysis with some tips and strategies for early career researchers. Prof. Dauenhauer received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His PhD was under the guidance of Lanny Schmidt at University of Minnesota in Chemical Engineering. He is currently the Lanny & Charlotte Schmidt Professor at University of Minnesota in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department. His research group focuses on developing and understanding catalysts for...
2023-02-1738 min
PodCATSeminar and Chalk TalkIn this episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc we discuss tips and strategies for approaching the research seminar and chalk talk.
2023-02-0431 minPodCATOn Campus InterviewsIn this episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc we discuss tips and strategies for approaching the on campus interview. Good luck!
2023-01-2234 minPodCATProf. Jesse BondWe are honored to have our very first guest, Prof. Jesse Bond. We discuss details of the faculty application process and getting involved with AIChE. Jesse Bond received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University, where he developed an interest in catalysis and reaction engineering. His PhD and Postdoctoral training were under the guidance of Thatcher Root and Jim Dumesic in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is presently a Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University. His research group focuses...
2022-12-1244 minPodCATThe Faculty Application PackageWelcome to our first episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc. We provide an overview of the faculty application process for the field of heterogeneous catalysis.
2022-12-0347 minPodCATResearch StatementIn the second episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc we discuss strategies for approaching the research statement. Find your champion!
2022-12-0339 minPodCATTeaching StatementIn the third episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc we take a deep dive into the teaching statement.
2022-12-0327 minPodCATMeet the Faculty CandidatesIn this episode of PodCAT with Tom, Ezra and Marc we discuss the horrors and opportunities of the meat market, better known as the Meet the Faculty Candidates Poster Session at AIChE.
2022-12-0334 minPodCATPhone and Zoom InterviewsTom, Ezra and Marc discuss tips and strategies for approaching phone and Zoom interviews.
2022-12-0324 min