Presidential honor
UD alumnus Kitchin selected to receive prestigious PECASE
John R. Kitchin, a UD alumnus and associate professor of chemical
engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, has been selected a
recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for
Scientists and Engineers.
CENG-ENGR, CENG-CHEG, UD-ALUMNI
John R. Kitchin, a University of Delaware alumnus and associate
professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, has
been selected a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career
Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on
scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent
research careers.
Kitchin is the one of two UD alumni to have been named PECASE
recipients in 2012. Also honored was Joshua S. Figueroa, an
assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of
California San Diego.
Kitchin, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon's Department of
Chemical Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering, was nominated for PECASE
by the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy for his
research efforts in collaboration with the National Energy Technology
Lab’s Regional University Alliance (NETL-RUA), an alliance of five
universities that conduct fully integrated basic and applied energy and
environmental research.
"I am honored to be selected as a PECASE recipient for our work in
electrochemical oxygen separation and carbon dioxide capture
technologies," Kitchin said. "I am especially grateful to the NETL
Regional University Alliance, which supported this work and
continues to provide a unique environment to develop carbon dioxide
capture enabling and clean energy technologies."
In this work, Kitchin and his team developed an electrochemical
separation method for separating oxygen from air at ambient
pressure and temperature. Cheap, efficient oxygen production is
critical for several clean energy and carbon dioxide capture
technologies of the future. Traditional air separation methods require
extreme refrigeration to turn air into liquid that can be distilled, which
is very energy intensive. Another alternative uses extremely high
temperatures and pressures to selectively drive oxygen through
ceramic membranes.
"Our approach uses electrochemistry to reversibly convert oxygen in
air to ions, transport the ions across a membrane, and convert the
ions back to pure oxygen on the other side of the membrane," Kitchin
said. "All this can be done at room temperature and ambient
pressure. We continue to develop catalysts to make this process
more efficient and economical."
He added that the technology has applications in other areas as well,
including electrochemical production of fuels and chemicals and small
scale oxygen production for medical applications.
About John R. Kitchin
John R. Kitchin received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from North
Carolina State University in 1996 then went to work as a chemist for
Lord Corp., developing new magnetorheological fluids and
applications.
Kitchin returned to academics and enrolled at the University of
Delaware, from which he received a master's degree in materials
science and engineering in 2002 and a doctorate in chemical
engineering in 2004.
Kitchin was selected as an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral
fellow at the Fritz Haber Institut der Max Planck Gesellschaft in Berlin
from 2004-05 and joined Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant
professor in 2006. He was a Resident Institute Fellow at the National
Energy Technology Laboratory in 2007 and the following year
became the leader of the carbon management thrust area for NETL.
An innovative researcher and educator, Kitchin received the Kun Li
Award for Excellence in Education in 2010 and won a five-year,
$750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2010 to
develop new materials for producing hydrogen and oxygen from
water using electrochemistry.
Kitchin returned to UD to present the Department of Chemical
Engineering's Allan P. Colburn Memorial Lecture, on "Oxygen
Evolution on Multicomponent Oxide Electrocatalysts," in March 2011.
"My time at UD uniquely prepared me for the work we currently do,"
Kitchin said. "My undergraduate degree is in chemistry. After
graduating, I wanted to change fields to engineering, and UD made
that possible. I transitioned from chemistry to materials science to
chemical engineering, and UD was the only school that would let me
do that.
"It has been the breadth of this education that enables our research,
which uses quantum chemistry calculations to predict the reactivity of
electrocatalysts as well as electrocatalyst synthesis and oxygen
separation device construction. We span basic science to
engineering analysis of the applications we study. The PECASE
award is a testament to the breadth and depth of education I got at
UD."
Comments from professors
While at UD, Kitchin was advised by Mark Barteau, senior vice
provost for research and strategic initiatives and Robert L. Pigford
Chair of Chemical Engineering, and Jingguang Chen, Claire D.
LeClaire Professor of Chemical Engineering.
"The PECASE is one of the most prestigious awards that a young
faculty member can receive – after all, how many others come with
an invitation to the White House?" Barteau said of the honor. "It
reflects excellence in research but also a commitment to education.
John’s trajectory was readily apparent in his student career – charting
with his degrees a path through chemistry, materials science and
chemical engineering; performing outstanding experimental and
theoretical research on new catalytic materials that continues to be
very highly cited; organizing grad student workshops on academic
career paths; and challenging the conventional wisdom -- including
that of his advisers -- as the very best do. It was an honor to be
associated with his formative years as a Ph.D. student, and I look
forward to even greater accomplishments and recognition for him in
the future."
Said Chen, "John was one of the most hard-working and creative
graduate students. He has brought his work ethic and creativity to
CMU and established a very successful research group. I am really
glad that his ground-breaking work is recognized by the PECASE
award."
Article by Neil Thomas