UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 14, Page 6
December 10, 1992
UD first; National catalysis society honors Prof. Mark Barteau

     Mark Barteau, professor of chemical engineering and chemistry and
associate director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, is
the first University of Delaware faculty member to receive the prestigious
Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis from the Catalysis Society.
     Barteau has been cited for "pioneering the surface science of metal
oxides, including innovative studies which have identified sites for and
mechanisms of chemical reactions of oxygenates."
     His work has received widespread recognition from industry and
academia. His publications have generated more than 1,000 citations in
books and journals, and he has given more than 60 invited lectures and
co-taught a course on the chemistry of catalytic processes for several
organizations.
     Sponsored by the Davison Chemical Division of W.R. Grace, the award,
presented only to scientists under the age of 45, consists of a plaque,
$3,000, plus $500 for travel expenses. It will be given at the meeting of
the society in Pittsburgh next May.
     Catalysts provide a meeting place for different molecules and cause a
reaction between them to speed up. Often the molecules are chemically
changed by the surface of the catalyst to make them more reactive when
certain other molecules are introduced.
     In addition to his work on metal oxides, supported by the National
Science Foundation, Barteau and his research group are working on the
chemistry of higher alcohols used as clean-burning, high-octane fuel
additives.
     This program is receiving support from the Department of Energy (DOE).
From an understanding of alcohol synthesis and decomposition catalysis,
there are possibilities for synthesizing other valuable chemicals,
according to Barteau.
     DOE also has funded new instrumentation for Scanning Tunneling
Microscopy/Atomic Force Microscopy, which permits imaging atoms and
molecules on surfaces.
     With Hercules Inc. and the Delaware Research Partnership Program, the
group is developing catalysts for the synthesis of a class of molecules
known as ketenes in order to create a cleaner chemical process with fewer
undesirable by-products.
     According to Barteau, in this research effort, he and his group are
investigating inventing new catalysts starting from single crystal surfaces
in ultrahigh vacuum (less than one-trillionth of atmospheric pressure)
which has not been done before.
     Last year, Barteau received the Allan P. Colburn Award for excellence
in publications from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).
     He was the first faculty member from Delaware to receive this award in
more than 30 years.
     In 1985, Barteau received a National Science Foundation Presidential
Young Investigator Award.
     His other honors include the Innovation Recognition Award from Union
Carbide Corp. in 1988-89 and the Ernest W. Thiele Lectureship from the
University of Notre Dame in 1988.
     He also received the Victor K. LaMer Award of the American Chemical
Society Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry in 1982. His student,
John M. Vohs, won this award in 1989, the only time that a student of a
LaMer award recipient also has won the award.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure