Cover story

Green chemistry

Bala Subramaniam, professor and chair of chemical and petroleum engineering and director of KU’s new Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, holds a bottle of liquid acid as he speaks during a press conference announcing the record-breaking federal grant that will team KU scientists with those at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Iowa. Doug Koch/University Relations

KU snares $17 million grant for environmental research center

A KU center whose mission is to develop environmentally friendly and economically viable chemical processes for industry has been selected to receive $17 million under the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers Program.

The five-year grant is the largest single federal research award ever received by a Kansas university. Additional funding streams and donated facilities as a result of the award are expected to bring the total package value to nearly $30 million.

The Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis is a multidisciplinary, multi-university research center led by KU, with the University of Iowa and Washington University in St. Louis serving as core partners.

Professor Bala Subramaniam of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering is the CEBC director. Professor Daryle H. Busch of the Department of Chemistry is the deputy director, while professors John Rosazza, University of Iowa, and Milorad Dudukovic, Washington University, will serve as CEBC associate directors at their institutions.

“This award is a testament to the University of Kansas’ commitment to bring together technology and industry to produce tangible innovations that benefit the public,” Chancellor Robert Hemenway said.

“The program will protect our environment and strengthen the economic viability of corporations. It also will promote environmental stewardship to K-12 students and create exceptional opportunities in engineering and science for undergraduate and graduate students from diverse ethnic backgrounds.”

Catalysis is the acceleration of a chemical reaction through the presence of a material — a catalyst — that is chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction.
The CEBC also will develop opportunities for the next generation of engineers and scientists.

The center will establish partnerships with educational institutions that have high populations of Hispanic, African-American and Native American students, such as Garden City Community College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, and the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus.