News Article
Doraiswamy Honor Lecture addresses liquid transportation fuel options
James R. Katzer
Contact: Christi Patterson, Chemical and Biological Engineering, 515 294-7643
Related article: New CBE graduate fellowship focuses on energy research
James R. Katzer, retired former manager of strategic planning performance analysis for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, will present the lecture “Liquid Transportation Fuel Options” as part of the L. K. Doraiswamy Honor Lectureship at Iowa State University. This free lecture will be held Thursday, April 2, at 11 a.m. in 171 Durham Hall.
The Doraiswamy lecture series is named in honor of L. K. Doraiswamy, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University and a former director of India’s National Chemical Laboratory. The lecture series brings internationally recognized scientists and engineers to present lectures at both Iowa State and the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India. Katzer is the ninth speaker in the series.
Katzer, who earned his BS in chemical engineering at Iowa State and a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT, spent more than 20 years working in the oil industry. He first joined Mobil Oil Corporation in 1981 as manager of the catalyst section in the Central Research Laboratory and later served as vice president of technology with such responsibilities as developing forward-looking technology scenarios and identifying and analyzing technology and environmental developments and trends.
Prior to his work at Mobil, Katzer was a professor in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology.
Katzer is an energy consultant and has worked on several panel studies at the National Research Council, including “Resource Needs for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies” and “Alternative Liquid Transportation Fuels.” He also served as the executive director of the MIT study on “The Future of Coal in a Carbon Constrained World.”
A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Katzer has more than 80 publications in technical journals, holds several patents, and authored and co-authored numerous technical papers, presentations, and lectures. He is also co-author of Chemistry of Catalytic Processes.
