UC Santa Barbara chemical engineering professor Michael Doherty, the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair in Process Systems Engineering, delivered the prestigious John M. Prausnitz Institute Lecture during the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The lecture, as well as the conference, took place virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

Doherty’s research focuses on process systems engineering, with particular interest on crystal engineering for product and process design, and separation with chemical reaction. His lecture was titled “Innovation at the Frontiers of Chemical Engineering Practice and Science.” Click here to watch the presentation.

The annual lectureship is awarded to a distinguished AIChE member who has made significant contributions to the chemical engineering sciences in his or her field of specialization. The lectureship is endowed by the AIChE Foundation and is named in honor of John M. Prausnitz, professor of chemical engineering at UC Berekeley, who pioneered the field of engineering-oriented molecular thermodynamics.

After teaching at the University of Minnesota and the University of Massachusetts, Doherty joined the faculty at UCSB in 2000 and served as department chair from 2008 to 2013. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Doherty was named by AIChE one of “One Hundred Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era,” and has received AIChE’s Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research. He holds six patents, published more than 200 technical papers and given more than 250 invited lectures.