Mark A. Barteau, Robert L. Pigford Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been named chairperson of the Department of Chemical Engineering, effective July 1.

Eric W. Kaler, chairperson of the department since 1996, who became dean of the College of Engineering in July, said, "I'm very pleased that we have such a distinguished individual heading the chemical engineering department. I have no doubt that Mark will led the group to new heights, and I look forward to his successes."

Barteau joined the University of Delaware faculty as an assistant professor of chemical engineering and associate director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology in 1982. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987 and professor in 1990. He became director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology in 1996.

From 1991-92, he was visiting professor of chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was named Robert L. Pigford Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1994. He was also was a visiting professor of chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1997.

His research, presented in more than 150 publications and a similar number of invited lectures, focuses on chemical reactions at solid surfaces, and their applications in heterogeneous catalysis. He was one of the pioneers in demonstrating the application of surface spectroscopies to study the mechanisms of organic reactions on single crystal metal oxide surfaces, and such studies remain an important component of his research today. In addition, he and his students have recently brought to bear computational chemistry approaches, in combination with experiments, to identify several previously unknown catalytic reaction intermediates in commercially important processes for manufacture of epoxides. He is also pursuing several innovative approaches to the formation of model catalytic materials, including self-assembly of inorganic monolayers, and photochemical synthesis of supported metal nanoparticles, as well as atomic and molecular resolution imaging of these materials using scanning probe microscopes.

There is also a significant applications thrust to his work. He and his students have demonstrated a number "firsts" in catalysis by metal oxides, including the first example of oxide-catalyzed cyclization of acetylenes to form substituted aromatic molecules, the first heterogeneously catalyzed reductive coupling of carbonyl compounds, and a new oxide-catalyzed process for the environmentally benign synthesis of ketenes. These highly reactive molecules are used in a variety of chemical, pharmaceutical, and paper applications. Barteau and his co-workers hold a patent on the ketene technology, assigned to the University of Delaware, and additional applications are pending.

Barteau is the recipient of numerous awards, some of which include inaugural recipient in 2000 of the International Catalysis Award, presented by the International Association of Catalysis Societies; the 1995 Ipatieff Prize from the American Chemical Society; the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, given by the North American Catalysis Society; the 1993 Canadian Catalysis Lecture Tour Award; and the 1991 Allan P. Colburn Award, presented by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He has held NSF postdoctoral and graduate fellowships, a Langsdorf Engineering Fellowship and National Merit Scholarship.

During the last 18 years, Barteau has served as a coinstructor of the industrial short course "Chemistry of Catalytic Processes" for such corporations as Alcoa, Amoco Chemical, ARCO Chemical, Union Carbide, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Exxon and LaRoche Industries.

He is associate editor of the AIChE Journal and is an editorial board member of a number of journals and publications, including Catalysis Letters, Topics in Catalysis, Topics in Chemical Engineering, and Catalysis Communications. He is one of eight chemical engineers nationwide serving on the National Research Council's steering committee addressing "Challenges in the Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century."

Barteau is a member of such professional societies as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

–Ed Okonowicz