|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
National Academy elects Delaware's Mark Barteau
Mark A. Barteau, UD's Robert L. Pigford Chair of Chemical Engineering and chairperson of the Department of Chemical Engineering, is among the NAE's 76 new U.S. members and nine foreign associates. He joins three other UD colleagues who are members of the academy: Stanley I. Sandler, Henry Belin du Pont Chair of Chemical Engineering; T.W. Fraser Russell, Allan P. Colburn Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Dominic Di Toro, Edward C. Davis Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who was elected last year. Academy membership is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer, honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education. It recognizes scientists who have been pioneers in new and developing fields of technology, made major advancements in traditional fields of engineering or developed innovative approaches to engineering education. “This national recognition of Mark Barteau is richly deserved and all the more significant because it is a highly coveted honor that is conferred only through election by the members of the National Academy of Engineering,” UD Provost Dan Rich said. “An internationally respected scholar in catalytic science and engineering, he is also recognized as an outstanding teacher and mentor. His exceptional leadership of UD's Department of Chemical Engineering has further enhanced that program's proud distinction of being among the finest in the world.” "I am very pleased that Mark has won this recognition,” Eric Kaler, Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering and dean of the UD College of Engineering, said. “He is one of the leaders of the field and is extremely deserving of election to the National Academy of Engineering. His leadership and scholarship are very important to the College of Engineering." “I am humbled to join this very distinguished body. It has been a career-long dream,” Barteau said. “Following in the footsteps of giants of chemical engineering at Delaware-like the late Bob Pigford, for whom the chair I hold is named, Art Metzner, Ken Bischoff, Fraser Russell and Stan Sandler--is a real thrill.” Barteau said that when he accepted the offer of a position as an assistant professor at UD nearly 25 years ago, those he cited “were already leaders of the profession but, more importantly, they were colleagues. Their examples and their support have been invaluable in my career, and I hope that the faculty joining us now will be able to say the same things in decades hence. In the meantime, I look forward to working both to provide service to the nation as a member of the Academy and to help bring recognition to other accomplished colleagues in our college.” Barteau is a leader in applying surface science and computational chemistry techniques to understanding surface reaction mechanisms and using these to design new catalysts. His most recent work has produced a new bimetallic catalyst for direct epoxidation of ethylene. Barteau proposed that a never-before-seen surface oxametallacycle was the missing link in olefin epoxidation. Combining experiment and theory, his research group synthesized and identified an oxametallacycle on a metal surface. The Barteau group further demonstrated that competing reactions of the oxametallacycle controlled epoxide selectivity, and from this predicted computationally and demonstrated experimentally that a copper-silver bimetallic catalyst is superior to pure silver. Development of this catalyst is proceeding with industry and federal Department of Energy support, Barteau said, and this example is helping to establish a new paradigm for design for catalyst selectivity from first principles. Barteau was one of the first to apply surface science techniques to understand the site requirements for reactions on metal oxides. One application has been his invention a new catalytic process for the synthesis of ketenes. Utilizing principles derived from studies of organic reactions on oxide surfaces, Barteau's group designed and patented silica-based catalysts for the direct synthesis of ketenes from carboxylic acids. He said the development of this catalyst represents a successful “scale-up” of more than 12 orders of magnitude in pressure and more than six orders of magnitude in surface area from the original single crystal surface science studies on which it is based. Barteau earned his bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and both his master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. He said he came to UD because of the strength of the chemical engineering department and the creation of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, which conducts research in his area of interest. He was named director of the center in 1996 and four years later was named department chairperson. Article by Neil Thomas |
|
|
