The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has named its John M. Prausnitz AIChE Institute Lecturer for 2018: Klavs F. Jensen, the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jensen will deliver the Prausnitz Lecture on October 31 at AIChE’s Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In his lecture, “Accelerating Development and Intensification of Chemical Processes,” Jensen will discuss how process intensification techniques — coupled with automated optimization and screening of production candidates — offer opportunities for faster development and more efficient chemical production, particularly in industries with diverse product bases, such as the specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries.
Jensen’s research revolves around reaction and separation techniques for on-demand multistep synthesis, methods for automated synthesis, and microsystems biological discovery and manipulation. Catalysis, chemical kinetics, transport phenomena, and methods for predicting performance of reactive chemical systems are also among Jensen’s areas of study. He has documented his work in more than 420 journal articles, 175 conference presentations, and 47 U.S. patents. He chairs the editorial board of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Reaction Chemistry and Engineering.
Jensen is a Fellow of AIChE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Science. His past honors include AIChE’s Allan P. Colburn Award, R. H. Wilhelm Award, William H. Walker Award, and Founders Award, as well as the C. M. A. Stine Award from the Materials Engineering and Sciences Div. In 2012, he received the inaugural Prize in Flow Chemistry, presented by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and ThalesNano; and the inaugural Corning International Prize for Outstanding Work in Continuous Flow Reactors and Chemistry.
He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Prausnitz AIChE Institute lectureship is awarded to a distinguished member of the Institute who has made significant contributions to the chemical engineering sciences in his or her field of specialization. The lectureship is endowed by the AIChE Foundation and is named in honor of John Prausnitz, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, who pioneered the field of engineering-oriented molecular thermodynamics.
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.