IChemE announces 2021 Medals and Prizes recipients

ICHEME has announced that it is recognising more than 30 chemical engineers with prizes and medals for their exceptional contributions to the profession within research and academia.

The Medals and Prizes Committee has released a list of the recipients, who will be presented with their awards during virtual webinars throughout the year.

John Grace, a Chartered Member of IChemE and Professor Emeritus at the University of British Colombia (UBC), Canada, will receive the Geldart Medal, for his significant contribution to research in particle technology. Grace is a pioneering researcher in fluidisation whose work on circulating fluidised beds has been critical to the development and scaleup of fluidised bed reactors for industrial applications, including gasification and clean energy production.

Having gained eight international nominations, Grace was recognised as a “unique star” by the Medals and Prizes Committee.

Grace, an alumnus of UBC, was also recently awarded the Hall of Fame Award by UBC in recognition of his exceptional lasting contribution to society, the university, and the department through his engineering scholarship. Other recognition Grace has received include Officer of the Order of Canada for contributions as a chemical engineer, and both the Shell Thomas Baron Award in Fluid-Particle Systems, and the Particle Technology Forum Award for Lifetime Achievements from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

For the first time ever, the Junior Moulton Medal will be given as a joint award as the judges were highly impressed by the contributions of two entrants. Moulton Medals are given to the author, or authors, of the most meritorious papers published by IChemE in the last year, with the Junior medal recognising early career achievement.

Joint recipients of the Junior Moulton Medal include David Danaci, Mai Bui, and Niall Mac Dowell of Imperial College London, UK for their paper, Exploring the limits of absorption-based CO₂ capture using MOFs with PVSA – from molecular design to process economics. Danaci is a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Bui is a Senior Research Associate at the university’s Centre for Environmental Policy in the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Both are Associate Members of IChemE. Mac Dowell is an IChemE Fellow and Professor of Energy Systems Engineering, and is involved in the Centre for Environmental Policy.

Doctoral student Luke Forster, postgraduate student (at the time) Le Yu, and lecturer Carmine D’Agostino from the University of Manchester, UK, are also being recognised. Their paper is entitled Tailoring morphology of hierarchical catalysts for tuning pore diffusion behaviour: a rational guideline exploiting bench-top pulsed-field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). D’Agostino is an Associate Member of IChemE.

Both papers were published in Molecular Systems Design and Engineering 2020.

Paula Mendes will receive the Sharma Medal, which is awarded for sustained outstanding research contributions in chemical engineering across an individual’s career. Mendes is Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is additionally an IChemE Fellow and is a member of IChemE’s Research and Innovation Community of Practice.

The Greene Medal, which acknowledges individuals that have made the most commendable long-term contributions to IChemE’s progress, goes to IChemE Fellow Michael Cloke.

Cloke’s contribution to IChemE spans more than 30 years and his input has been integral to the core membership function. Currently retired, he still participates in various roles in IChemE, including sitting as a member of the Qualifications Committee, the Professional Formation Forum, the newly-formed Individual Case Procedure Panel, and on the Board of IChemE Malaysia. He is also involved in several interview and review activities, including acting as Lead Reviewer for IChemE’s university accreditation procedure.

Jarka Glassey, Vice President of IChemE’s Learned Society and Chair of the Medals and Prizes Committee, said: “Huge congratulations to all of the 2021 winners of the IChemE medals and prizes. It’s even more impressive to see, in these troubled times, all of these chemical and process engineers demonstrating their outstanding technical expertise and excellent contributions towards making this world a better place for this and future generations.”

A list of 2021 prize winners is available.

Award webinars will be advertised on the IChemE website.