2011 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences Lecture: Tobin J. Marks

Tobin J. Marks
Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences Lecture
Northwestern University

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
4:00 PM in the Ryan Family Auditorium, Tech Institute

"Catalysis at the Intersection of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Biology"

Catalytic processes underpin a large component of the industrialized world economies and account for massive quantities of fuels, fertilizers, plastics, coatings, and pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, addressing the current energy crisis, the rising demand for catalysis products as the world’s emerging economies accelerate, the need to implement alternative feedstocks, the scarcity of key elements, and urgent environmental/climate change considerations will all require new, more efficient and selective catalysts and catalytic processes. This lecture focuses on recent research advances in the field of catalytic research, those that have taken place at Northwestern, and some speculation on the future of catalysis research.

Northwestern University chemist and materials scientist Tobin J. Marks, a world leader in the fields of organometallic chemistry, chemical catalysis, materials science, organic electronics, solar energy, photovoltaics and nanotechnology, has received the 2011 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
Marks is being recognized for his pioneering studies in catalysis. In particular he was cited for the development of major new industrial catalysts and the fundamental understanding of their chemical structures and mechanisms of action.

The prize, given biennially by the Dreyfus Foundation and this year conferred in catalysis, recognizes exceptional and original research in a selected area of chemistry that has advanced the field in major ways. The prize consists of a monetary award of $250,000 -- one of the largest awards dedicated to the chemical sciences in the United States -- a citation and a medal. The award ceremony will be held at Northwestern in the fall and will include a lecture by Marks.

Marks is the Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalytic Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

He is a world leader in the understanding and development of new catalysts that enable the production of recyclable, environmentally friendly and sustainably produced plastics and elastomeric materials. His research has resulted in a far deeper understanding of the requirements to make and break specific chemical bonds, thus giving scientists the ability to design new catalytic processes. Marks’ work has directly led to multi-billion dollar industrial processes.