/archived news/08-09

Professor Gellman receives $2M from DOE for study of surfaces

Chemical Engineering Head Andrew J. Gellman has received a $2 million research grant from the Department of Energy. The grant supports the development of atomically and molecularly structured surfaces that will improve the efficiency of catalysts used to create products for the specialty chemical and petroleum industries. Gellman also leads a research team developing new solid enantioselective surfaces, materials that can be used to select between the "left-handed" and "right-handed" versions of complex molecules. In all typical respects the molecules are identical but the handedness confers on them the potential for having very different chemical effects in living organisms.