Elsa Reichmanis, Professor and Carl Robert Anderson Chair in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University, has been chosen by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) to present the John M. Prausnitz AIChE Institute Lecture for 2022. The Institute's 74th annual lecturer, Reichmanis will present her lecture, "From Silicon to Plastic: It's All About Surfaces, Interfaces, and Processing," on November 16 at the 2022 AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.
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 Prausnitz lecture is a featured event at each year’s AIChE Annual Meeting — a foremost educational forum for chemical engineers working in research and development.
In her talk, Reichmanis will explain that, while molecular design plays a significant role in determining a material’s electronic performance, a device’s performance also depends on surfaces, interfaces, and active material assembly and alignment at many length scales. Reichmanis will explore how surface chemistry considerations, coupled with interfaces and physical interactions, can impact the design of advanced materials for applications ranging from electronic devices to energy storage and conversion.
Prior to joining the faculty at Lehigh University, Elsa Reichmanis was the Pete Silas Chair in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Tech. She started her engineering career at Bell Labs, where she was Bell Labs Fellow and Director of the Materials Research Department. Her research today focuses on the chemistry, properties, and application of materials technologies for photonic and electronic applications. The Reichmanis research group is exploring polymeric and hybrid organic/inorganic materials chemistries for a range of electronic device and sustainable energy applications.
Reichmanis is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. A current member of AIChE’s Board of Directors and a former president of the American Chemical Society (ACS), her past honors include AIChE’s Margaret H. Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer, ACS awards in the Chemistry of Materials and Applied Polymer Science, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s Distinguished Woman in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Award, and the Society of Chemical Industry’s Perkin Medal. Reichmanis is a Fellow of AIChE, ACS, the Materials Research Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is also an Executive Editor of the journal Chemistry of Materials.
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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.