Rakesh Agrawal joined the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue Univ. in 2004 as Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor, with a teaching and research focus on energy and sustainability. Before Purdue, Agrawal’s career at Air Products and Chemicals included serving as Air Products Fellow and as the first chair of its Technology Board. Under his leadership, innovative process ideas were implemented in hundreds of gas separation and liquefaction plants worldwide. He holds 131 U.S. patents and several hundred non-U.S. patents, and is a recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Agrawal has served AIChE for nearly three decades: Board of Directors (2006–2008); Separations Div. Chair (1994); Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council (CTOC, 1999–2007, including Chair); Awards Committee (1999–2003); Publications Quality Team (1995–1996); Energy Commission (2005–2007); International Committee (2008–2009); AIChE Foundation Board of Trustees (2011); and Chair of the 2nd Topical Conference on Separations (1995). His distinguished contributions led to his receiving AIChE’s Founders Award (2011) and delivery of the 2005 Institute Lecture. A Fellow of AIChE, Agrawal was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. He has served on the technical advisory boards of seven major companies, advisory committees of six chemical engineering departments, and several journal editorial boards including AIChE Journal and CEP. He received chemical engineering degrees from IIT Kanpur, the Univ. of Delaware, and MIT.