Ignacio E. Grossmann, the Rudolph R. and Florence Dean University Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and former department head at Carnegie Mellon University, has been selected by AIChE to deliver the John M. Prausnitz AIChE Institute Lecture for 2024. AIChE’s 76th annual lecturer, Grossmann will discuss his application of models and algorithms in the optimal synthesis and planning of sustainable chemical process and energy systems on October 30 at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA (October 27–31).
The Prausnitz AIChE Institute lectureship is awarded to a distinguished member of AIChE who has made significant contributions to chemical engineering in their field of specialization. The lectureship is endowed by the AIChE Foundation in honor of John Prausnitz, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, who pioneered the field of engineering-oriented molecular thermodynamics. The lecture is a highlight of each year’s AIChE Annual Meeting — a foremost educational forum for chemical engineers working in research and development.
Grossmann’s main research interests are in the areas of discrete/continuous optimization, optimal synthesis and planning of chemical processes and energy systems, supply chain optimization, and optimization under uncertainty. He has documented his work in more than 700 papers, in the recent textbook Advanced Optimization for Process Systems Engineering, and in the textbook Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design (co-authored with Lorenz Biegler and Arthur Westerberg). Grossmann also organized the virtual library on process systems engineering, and he has supervised 68 PhD graduates.
He is a member and former director of Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Advanced Process Decision-Making, an industrial consortium that involves 20 petroleum, chemical, engineering, and software companies. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of AIChE and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS). Among numerous honors, he is a recipient of AIChE’s Founders Award. Grossmann earned his BS at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and his MS and PhD at Imperial College London.
For the latest information about the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting, visit www.aiche.org/annual.
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.