The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Board of Directors has announced the creation of a new Institute-level high honor. The L.-S. Fan Award for Advancing Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering will recognize significant and new contributions to fundamental practice in chemical engineering. The prize — named in honor of particle technology pioneer Liang-Shih (L.-S.) Fan, Professor at The Ohio State University — will be supported by an endowment with fundraising led by Dr. Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of the School of Engineering and Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Bing Du, the Technology Development Lead at ExxonMobil, in collaboration with the AIChE Foundation. The L.-S. Fan Award includes an invited lecture by the recipient, with the inaugural award presentation slated for the Fall 2026 AIChE Annual Meeting.
Candidates for the L.-S. Fan Award for Advancing Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering should have a record of sustained contributions that have advanced the frontiers of chemical engineering with an emphasis on, but not limited to, particle science and technology and their related multiscale, multiphase, materials, transport, and reaction engineering fields. The particle science and technology fields are key enablers for numerous processes in multiple industries, including power and energy, oil and gas industry, chemicals, biological and pharmaceutical industries as well as renewable energy and emerging industries for sustainable energy and environment. Such contributions may be characterized by important fundamental research, innovation, technological development, or the innovative application of technology.
Alissa Park lauds Fan as “a seminal figure in the field of particulates and multiphase reaction engineering — a discipline whose economic and environmental impact resonates profoundly through the U.S. and world economies.” Reflecting on Fan’s leadership in sustainable energy research and his mentorship of future chemical engineers, Park adds, “I am honored to be a part of his legacy, and excited to present this new AIChE award recognizing the importance of the fundamentals of chemical engineering.”
Liang-Shih Fan is Distinguished University Professor, C. John Easton Professor of Engineering, and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. He has invented processes that control sulfur, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide emissions, and that convert carbonaceous fuels, plastic wastes, and biomass to hydrogen, chemicals, and liquid fuels. These energy conversion processes and technologies include OSCAR, CARBONOX, and redox chemical looping. He also invented and commercialized the electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) — the first 3D, real-time, non-invasive tool for industrial imaging of multiphase flow systems. He has documented his work in eight authored books, over 500 journal articles, 40 book chapters, and 90 U.S. patents.
Fan has also made a lasting impact on chemical engineering education. At the Ohio State University, he has served as the thesis advisor for 97 PhD, 50 MS and 14 BS students, and has worked with 72 post-doctoral research associates. His authored book, “Principles of Gas-Solid Flows,” has become a widely-adopted textbook, and his edited book, “The Expanding World of Chemical Engineering,” has gained popularity with general audiences as an introduction to the field. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Powder Technology, and has served as a consulting editorial board member for over 20 journals including the AIChE Journal and the International Journal of Multiphase Flow.
A Fellow of AIChE, the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fan is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the United Kingdom’s Royal Academy of Engineering, the Australian Academy of Technology Science and Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Mexican Academy of Sciences, the Academia Sinica Academicians in Taiwan, and the National Academy of Inventors. He earned his BS from National Taiwan University and his MS and PhD from West Virginia University, all in chemical engineering. He also earned an MS in statistics from Kansas State University.
The L.-S. Fan Award is one of AIChE’s Institute Awards, which celebrate eminent chemical engineers for their career accomplishments, service to society, and impact on the profession. Candidates for these awards are nominated by the chemical engineering community, and the awards are presented each year at AIChE’s Annual Meeting, the organization’s largest annual conference and the foremost educational forum for chemical engineers working in research and development. Learn more at www.aiche.org/awards/institute.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities, and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.