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Events & Announcements:
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| Nan Yi, Prof. Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, Yuan Wang,
Branko Zugic, Matthew Boucher, and Ioannis Valsamakis at the
Minneapolis Convention Center. |
NanoCEL members attend Annual AIChE Meeting
Several group members attended the 2011 Annual AIChE meeting in Minneapolis,
Oct. 16-21.
Prof. Stephanopoulos chaired three sessions at the meeting, and
graduate students Branko Zugic, Matt Boucher, Yuan Wang, Nan Yi, and Ioannis
Valsmakis made oral presentations in different sessions of the Catalysis and
Reaction Engineering Division.
At the CRE division dinner on Sunday, Oct. 16, Branko Zugic received a student travel award. Well done, Branko!
And
congratulations to all the speakers for delivering great talks!
Professor Stephanopoulos delivers plenary speech at CHEMECA
Prof. Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos was a plenary speaker at the annual
CHEMECA
conference in Sydney, Australia. Her presentation, entitled "Nanocatalysis for
Sustainable Energy", was delivered on the opening day of the conference Sept. 19, 2011.
Matthew Boucher wins IPMI Student Award
The
International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI)
has selected doctoral student Matthew Boucher as recipient of the 2011
Johnson Matthey Student award for his work with precious metals as catalysts
for the steam reforming of methanol reaction. Matthew will be presented with
the award on June 14, 2011 at the annual IPMI conference in San Antonio, TX.
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Matt Boucher and Joe Lessard
sport their GSC 5K medals |
NanoCEL group members do well in Tufts
GSC 5K Race
NanoCEL group member Joe Lessard took 1st
place in the Tufts Graduate Student Council
5K Race on Saturday, May 7, 2011. Matt
Boucher, also a member of the NanoCEL group,
took 3d place.
Nan Yi Named Outstanding Graduate Researcher
Nan Yi was honored as this year's
Outstanding Graduate Researcher at the
doctoral level at the Graduate Student
Awards ceremony on April 29, 2011. A Ph.D.
student in the Nano Catalysis and Energy
Laboratory, Nan investigates the efficacy
and practical application of a new
generation of catalyst, namely precious
metal clusters (gold, platinum and
palladium), for hydrogen production in
sustainable energy systems through methanol
steam reforming and decomposition of formic
acid, two processes that convert raw organic
compounds into hydrogen for scalable fuel
cells. Nan has published 16 journal papers
and presented 12 meeting papers, and has
received student awards from several
academic societies, including the 2010
Johnson Matthey Student Award from the
International Precious Metal Institute, the
2009 Kokes Award from the North American
Catalysis Society, as well as competitive
student travel awards from the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers and the
Gordon Research Conferences. He was also one
of the recipients of a Tufts Graduate
Student Research Grants-in-Aid during Fall
2009.
Matt Boucher Wins Travel Award from
AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
Division
Congratulations to Matt Boucher, a 3rd-year
Ph.D. student in the Nano-CEL research
group. He won a travel award from the AIChE
Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division,
to present his work on catalytic steam
reforming of methanol over gold on zinc
oxide nanoshapes at the upcoming AIChE
annual meeting in Salt Lake City. Matt will
be honored at the CRE Division dinner on
Monday, November 8, 2010.
Branko Zugic Receives 2010-2011 Tufts Institute for
the Environment Fellowship
Graduate student Branko Zugic was awarded
a 2010-2011
Tufts Institute for the
Environment (TIE) Fellowship for his
research in the area of biomass-derived
fuels and chemicals. The project, entitled
“An Alternative Biofuel: LPG from Biomass
Derived Organic Acids,” couples fermentation
with catalytic processing to selectively and
renewably produce propane, as well as
valuable chemical feedstocks such as
propylene. The support from TIE this past
summer allowed Branko to examine new
catalyst formulations to improve the
catalyst selectivity and stability.
Nan Yi wins IPMI Student Award
The International Precious Metals
Institute (IPMI) awarded graduate student
Nan Yi the first Johnson Matthey Student
Award for his work with precious metals as
catalysts for hydrogen production processes.
In this photo, courtesy of IPMI, Nan Yi
receives the award from Martin Durney,
President and General Manager of Chemicals &
Catalysts at Johnson Matthey, Inc., at the
annual IPMI conference in Tucson, AZ, on
June 15, 2010.
Professor Stephanopoulos Named Haber Professor
in Energy Sustainability
|
| Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
(center) was named
the first Haber Professor through a gift from Robert
J. Haber, E'79 (right) and his wife Marcy
(left). |
Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
has been named to the
Robert
and Marcy Haber Endowed Professorship in Energy Sustainability
at the School of Engineering. This endowed
professorship was created through the
generosity of Robert and Marcy Haber. A
distinguished alumnus of our department, Bob
Haber, E79, EG80, has been a member of the
School of Engineering Board of Overseers
since 2002. The Habers hope that
establishing this professorship in energy
sustainability will promote research in this
area and help to lessen the world’s
dependence on oil in an environmentally
sensitive manner.
Nan Yi Receives Support for Research Project
In October 2009, the Graduate Student
Research Awards Committee at Tufts awarded
Nan Yi financial support for his project,
"Hydrogen Production from Decomposition of
Formic Acid over Au-Ceria." Nan has been
investigating nanoscale ceria with gold as
new generation catalysts for the steam
reforming of methanol. This financial
support will allow Nan to continue his
research, to both optimize the amount of
gold and determine the practical conditions
under which this reaction can be implemented
in a PEM-based fuel cell.
Nan Yi Wins Travel
Award from AIChE Catalysis and Reaction
Engineering Division
Congratulations to Nan Yi, a 4th-year
Ph.D. student in the Nano-CEL research
group. He was awarded a travel grant from
the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
Division, to present his work on the steam
reforming of methanol on gold catalysts at
the upcoming AIChE annual meeting in
Nashville. Nan will be honored at the CRE
Division dinner on Monday, November 9, 2009.
Professor Stephanopoulos Elected AIChE Fellow
Professor Flytzani-Stephanopoulos was
elected Fellow of the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers. She will be recognized
for this significant achievement during the
2009 AIChE Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN.
Professor Stephanopoulos Elected AAAS Fellow
Professor
Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
was
inducted
as an
AAAS Fellow
at the
recent
Annual
Meeting
of the
American
Association
for the
Advancement
of
Science
in
Chicago,
IL,
February
13-16,
2009.
Group Has a Top Cited Article in Elsevier
An article published by the group in
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental in
2005 is among the top 50 most cited articles
published in Elsevier’s Catalysis journals
in the past 5 years (2003-2007).
"Activity and stability
of low-content gold-cerium oxide catalysts
for the water-gas shift reaction" has
been cited over 70 times since it was first
published in the journal in 2005.
Co-authors of this paper along with
Professor Stephanopoulos are former Ph.D.
students Qi Fu (now at BASF) and Weiling
Deng (currently a postdoc at Argonne
National Laboratory), and Research Professor
Howard Saltsburg.
A reception for the top cited authors will
be held at the 14th International Congress
on Catalysis in Seoul, Korea in July.
Prof. Stephanopoulos Wins
IPMI Award
 The
International Precious Metals Institute
(IPMI) has selected Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
to receive the 2008 Henry J. Albert award,
which it gives annually to a researcher in
recognition of outstanding theoretical and
experimental contributions to the science
and technology of precious metals. This
lifetime achievement award consists of a
palladium medal in the likeness of Mr.
Albert and a cash stipend. Professor
Stephanopoulos is recognized for her
investigations in the field of clean energy
technologies; specifically in the use of
novel precious metal nanoscale catalysts for
air pollution control and for clean hydrogen
production. In this photo, courtesy of IPMI,
Prof. Stephanopoulos receives the award from
Dr. Robert Ianniello of BASF Catalysts LLC,
sponsor of the award, at the annual IPMI
conference in Phoenix, AZ, on June 10, 2008.
Lab Awarded New Instrument from Micromeritics
In April, 2008, the Nanocatalysis and
Energy Laboratory was selected as the
recipient of a new AutoChem II 2920 catalyst
characterization system from Micromeritics
as part of the company's
Instrument Grant Program.
This is the sixth instrument award
Micromeritics has given as part of its
program to provide particle characterization
instruments to research groups for exemplary
research projects. The NanoCEL group plans
to make good use of this instrument in their
catalyst characterization,
structure-function evaluation, and catalyst
development efforts.
Prof. Stephanopoulos to moderate Clean
Energy session at AAAS annual meeting
Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
has organized a symposium on
Nanocatalysis for Clean Energy and
Sustainability that will be held at the
upcoming Annual Meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) in Boston, February 14-18, 2008. For information about the symposium speakers
and topics please click
here.
Weiling Deng receives AIChE-CRE Division Travel Award
Congratulations to Weiling Deng, a
5th-year Ph.D. student in the Nano-CEL
group. She was awarded a travel grant from
the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
Division. This award is granted to students
in recognition of their graduate work, so
they present their research at the annual
meeting. Weiling was honored at the CRE
Division dinner during the 2007 Annual AIChE
meeting in Salt Lake City.
Brian Ricks is 1st Dean’s Fellow in Sustainable Energy
Brian Ricks is the first recipient of the
Dean’s Fellowship in Sustainable Energy. He
is the newest member of the Nano-CEL group.
Brian is a 2006 graduate of Clarkson
University in Potsdam, NY, where he majored
in Chemical Engineering, with minor in
Mathematics and Computational Science. While
an undergraduate, Brian interned at Plug
Power, a well-known fuel cell company in
Latham, New York, where he contributed to
the design and implementation of a new
hydrogen recirculator device to reclaim
unused hydrogen from the exhaust of a fuel
cell. Before coming to Tufts, Brian worked
as an engineer with Mettler-Toledo Thornton. Brian will be working on his Ph.D. thesis
in the general area of fuel processing for
fuel cells.
Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos Spends Sabbatical Year at ETH in Zürich
Professor Flytzani-Stephanopoulos spent
the 2006-07 academic year at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in
Zürich. There, she interacted with Professor
Alfons Baiker and his group of students and
senior researchers in the area of
heterogeneous catalysis of gold,
specifically for the selective oxidation of
alcohols and for the water-gas shift and
fuel oxidation reactions for energy
applications.
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