7:47 a.m., Feb. 25, 2009----Air Products has given the University of Delaware an $18,000 fellowship gift to support a graduate student in chemical engineering or materials science.

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Elizabeth D'Addio, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, has been selected to receive the fellowship for the 2008-09 academic year. D'Addio is advised by Jochen Lauterbach, professor of chemical engineering.

“Elizabeth has been studying ammonia decomposition catalysts for hydrogen generation for fuel cells,” Lauterbach says. “She has performed excellent work in her first two years and has already given multiple presentations at international meetings and actually won the young scientist award at the International Congress in Catalysis in her second year as a grad student. She has also taken a leadership role with the undergraduate researchers in my group.”

D'Addio, who earned her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Villanova University, chose the University of Delaware's doctoral program because of her strong interest in catalysis. “I was very attracted to UD because of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology,” she says.

D'Addio's interest meshes well with ongoing research at Air Products, and the company selected her out of a pool of highly qualified candidates.

In addition to the financial support she is receiving with the fellowship, she will have the opportunity to serve an internship at one of the company's sites in the upcoming year.

The internship will be from three to nine months in duration and will be funded directly by Air Products.

“Elizabeth D'Addio is an excellent choice for the first Air Products Graduate Fellowship,” says Norman Wagner, Alvin B. and Julia O. Stiles Professor of Chemical Engineering and chairperson of the Department of Chemical Engineering. “We appreciate the continuing support of Air Products for the College of Engineering's graduate program, and thank our dedicated and loyal alumni at Air Products who helped create this new graduate fellowship.”

The gift includes a $2,000 increment above the student's current stipend, with the remaining $16,000 applied toward the base stipend.

Air Products provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and service to customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide.

Article by Diane Kukich