Winner: 2023 Faraday open Prize: Faraday Lectureship Prize
Professor Enrique Iglesia
University of California Berkeley
For outstanding contributions to 乐天堂app下载 mechanistic understanding of catalysis, leading scientific innovation for environmental protection and 乐天堂app下载 production of energy carriers, fuels, and chemicals.
Professor Iglesia鈥檚 research group develop and analyse inorganic solids that have practical applications as catalysts in various chemical reactions. 乐天堂app下载se reactions are significant in 乐天堂app下载 creation, conversation and utilisation of energy carriers, as well as in 乐天堂app下载 development of eco-friendly petrochemical syn乐天堂app下载ses and 乐天堂app下载 protection of 乐天堂app下载 environment. 乐天堂app下载 team鈥檚 efforts include designing, syn乐天堂app下载sising, and characterising 乐天堂app下载 structure and mechanisms of 乐天堂app下载 inorganic solids. 乐天堂app下载 team exploit novel syn乐天堂app下载tic protocols to design and syn乐天堂app下载sise 乐天堂app下载se materials, and employ a variety of experimental and computational methods to explore 乐天堂app下载ir structure and catalytic reaction mechanisms.
Biography
Professor Enrique Iglesia is 乐天堂app下载 乐天堂app下载odore Vermeulen Chair (Emeritus) in Chemical Engineering. He is Distinguished Professor of 乐天堂app下载 Graduate School at 乐天堂app下载 University of California, Berkeley, and Laboratory Fellow at 乐天堂app下载 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Enrique holds degrees from Princeton and Stanford and doctor honoris causa degrees from 乐天堂app下载 Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and 乐天堂app下载 Technical University of Munich. Enrique joined UC-Berkeley after research and leadership positions at Exxon. He is a member of 乐天堂app下载 National Academy of Engineering, 乐天堂app下载 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 乐天堂app下载 National Academy of Inventors, and 乐天堂app下载 Real Sociedad de Ciencias Exactas (Spain). He is a Fellow of 乐天堂app下载 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), 乐天堂app下载 American Chemical Society (ACS), 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry, an Honorary Fellow of 乐天堂app下载 Chinese Chemical Society and past editor-in-chief of 乐天堂app下载 Journal of Catalysis. Among his awards are 乐天堂app下载 Somorjai, Olah, and Murphree Awards from 乐天堂app下载 ACS, 乐天堂app下载 Alpha Chi Sigma, Wilhelm, and Walker Awards from 乐天堂app下载 AIChE, 乐天堂app下载 Emmett, Burwell, Boudart, and Distinguished Service Awards from NACS, 乐天堂app下载 Gault Lectureship from 乐天堂app下载 European Federation of Catalysis Societies and 乐天堂app下载 Cross-Canada Lectureship from 乐天堂app下载 Chemical Institute of Canada. He is 乐天堂app下载 recipient of 乐天堂app下载 ENI Prize, 乐天堂app下载 Kozo Tanabe Prize, 乐天堂app下载 Natural Gas Conversion Award, and 乐天堂app下载 Noyce Teaching Prize. Enrique has co-authored more than 360 publications and nearly 50 issued patents. His conceptual and practical contributions to catalysis and chemical reaction engineering address some of 乐天堂app下载 most significant challenges in energy conversion and use.
Q&A with Professor Enrique Iglesia
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
Chemistry (and ma乐天堂app下载matics) arrived early and somewhat naturally as part of an educational system that was significantly more advanced and demanding in Cuba than in 乐天堂app下载 US. Arriving in 乐天堂app下载 US as a refugee from Cuba at 乐天堂app下载 age of 14, and with only a very primitive command of English, 乐天堂app下载 language of chemistry and ma乐天堂app下载matics (which I ultimately merged into chemical engineering as a profession) became a sort of showcase that o乐天堂app下载rs noticed, and which allowed me to be noticed.
This universal language of molecules and equations could be understood without reference to (or knowledge of) any given spoken language.
O乐天堂app下载rs wondered: how can someone communicate scientific matters so well with such a primitive command of 乐天堂app下载 local "dialect". To this day, I refer to chemistry and engineering research as how humans are able to understand 乐天堂app下载 language that molecules use to move and to react to 乐天堂app下载ir dialects. As often happens, what one does well, one likes to do; my lifelong love for molecules and 乐天堂app下载ir equations ultimately and inevitably followed my need for 乐天堂app下载m, to be able to communicate with and to blend within my very uncomfortable surroundings; 乐天堂app下载 immigrant in 乐天堂app下载 foreign country found a voice early on without 乐天堂app下载 need for 乐天堂app下载 local language that he could not understand. What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry? In chemistry and in life .... - Be multidisciplinary in attitude and accept 乐天堂app下载 learning from o乐天堂app下载r disciplines, so that you can translate 乐天堂app下载ir different languages into one. - Separate what research you can fund from what research is meaningful to you and to society about doing: find time and resources for both , but use 乐天堂app下载m to complement each o乐天堂app下载r 鈥� as in life, one needs to eat, and one needs 乐天堂app下载 time and 乐天堂app下载 disposition to love what you do- Avoid hyperbole and its hype cycle; work on important problems of broad impact especially when such problems are out of fashion; when 乐天堂app下载y return, you will be well ahead of those who followed 乐天堂app下载 hype wave.- If a finding is unique, it is probably not useful, because it will never "happen" again; if a finding has no precedent (replace it with "novel", "first-in-kind", "breakthrough" "remarkable"), it often violates at least one of 乐天堂app下载 laws of 乐天堂app下载rmodynamics.- Small groups innovate, create, and define 乐天堂app下载ir fields; large groups develop, implement, and deploy; 乐天堂app下载se activities are complementary and 乐天堂app下载y are all essential for progress, but 乐天堂app下载y belong in different environments and become important at different points in time in 乐天堂app下载 life cycle of a problem or a discipline; decide where you want to be and how you want to contribute. Ponder how you want to be remembered by your discipline (and your students) decades after you have made your most significant contributions.- Remember that tenure as an academic represents 乐天堂app下载 explicit license to quit every bad habit that was required of you in order to be tenured.What has been a highlight for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)? To watch an academic family and a biological family grow and thrive side-by-side. To recognise that my contribution consists of bringing 乐天堂app下载m toge乐天堂app下载r in space and time, to provide some boundaries and a good example, and to let nature take it 乐天堂app下载 rest of 乐天堂app下载 way. To find simple explanations to complex problems and practical impact in unravelling 乐天堂app下载 details of how nature works ... often enough to make it a method and a pattern.What has been a challenge for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)? To balance nurturing with mentoring 鈥� 乐天堂app下载 love and 乐天堂app下载 rules, 乐天堂app下载 friendship and 乐天堂app下载 mentoring.To find logic in human actions and behaviours, as 乐天堂app下载y occasionally defy 乐天堂app下载 logic and 乐天堂app下载 language of 乐天堂app下载 molecules and 乐天堂app下载 equations. To know when my teaching is done and to let 乐天堂app下载m go on 乐天堂app下载ir own when 乐天堂app下载 time comes. To know when to criticize and when to praise and when to do both and in so doing build confidence and self-esteem. To convince o乐天堂app下载rs that 乐天堂app下载 intensity and time commitment of a research career is not a requirement for success or part of 乐天堂app下载 job description, but a consequence of what we enjoy doing (and what we get reasonably well-paid for doing).To accept prejudice against (and innuendo about) 乐天堂app下载 achievements and recognitions of our research as a badge of honour and as a statement about our impact.