Dr. James J. Spivey is the J. M. Shivers and C.M. Eidt,Jr. Professor of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University. He is Editor-in-Chief of Catalysis Today, and Editor of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Catalysis book series. He has written/edited a total of 17 books over the last 15 years, and has authored more than 100 publications.
His research focuses on the development and characterization of heterogeneous catalysts for applications such as environmental catalysis and synthesis of chemical intermediates from simple carbon feedstocks such as methane. Other research activities include the application of the principles of heterogeneous catalysis to catalytic combustion, control of sulfur and nitrogen oxides from combustion processes, acid/base catalysis (e.g., for condensation reactions), hydrocarbon synthesis, and the study of catalyst deactivation.
He has managed over $30 million in sponsored projects over the past 20 years. He is past Director of the Center for Atomic-level Catalyst Design at LSU one of 46 multi-million-dollar DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers. He has led a team of 21 investigators from 10 leading research universities with demonstrated expertise in computational catalysis; advanced materials preparation methods, surface spectroscopy, and experimental testing.