7:53 a.m., March 6, 2009----Thomas F. Degnan Jr., who earned a doctorate from the University of Delaware in 1976 and is now a research executive with ExxonMobil, will deliver the Jack A. Gerster Memorial Lecture at 10 a.m., Friday, March 13, at 102/103 Colburn Laboratory.

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The lecture is sponsored by UD's Department of Chemical Engineering.

Degnan, manager of breakthrough and new leads technology at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., will speak on the topic “Catalytic Technologies to Meet the World's Energy Needs.”

The presentation will provide an overview of global energy growth and the associated opportunities for innovation and development of new catalytic technologies.

Global energy needs are expected to grow by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2050 despite the current economic slowdown. Meeting this energy challenge will require the expansion and further development of many different energy sources including heavy oils, biomass, solar, and wind.

Heterogeneous catalysis has been and will remain a key enabler in both expanding the world's energy supplies and in addressing the environmental challenges presented by the growth in global population and living standards.

Degnan received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1973 and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1976.

In November 1976, he joined 3M Company's Central Research in St. Paul, Minn., where he worked in the area of radiation polymerization using UV and high energy electron beams. He received an MBA from the University of Minnesota in 1980 while working at 3M.

In late 1980, Degnan joined Mobil's Central Research Laboratory near Princeton, N.J., where he began a career in exploratory catalyst development, specifically focused on zeolite catalysts. He has spent most of his career at Mobil and now ExxonMobil in the areas of zeolite discovery, synthesis, and zeolite catalyst commercialization.

Degnan is an inventor or co-inventor on more than 100 U.S. patents and has written one book and numerous journal publications.

He was honored as a “Hero of Chemistry” by the American Chemical Society in 2007.

The Jack A. Gerster Memorial Lecture was created to honor the work of the late UD professor of chemical engineering. Dr. Gerster served as chairperson of the chemical engineering department from 1966 to 1970 and made extensive contributions to both the University and his profession during that time. His primary research interests were in the areas of distillation, separations processes and thermodynamics.