Paul Barger joined the UOP Research Center in 1983 after completing his Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (with Prof. John Bercaw) and B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. He has spent most of his career with UOP in catalysis research, focusing on catalyst preparation and testing, process conceptualization, design and optimization. He has lead research projects in the areas of aromatic alkylation, transalkylation and isomerization; paraffin alkylation; olefin isomerization, oligomerization and hydration; methanol-to-olefins, detergents, catalytic reforming and desulfurization. He is currently a leader in UOP’s Exploratory Research group, involved in the invention and development of technologies outside of UOP’s core business areas as well as facilitating the proof-of-principle evaluation of new ideas developed by UOP’s technical staff.