Two University of Oklahoma engineering faculty members are recipients of the American Chemical Society’s 2021 Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Influential Researcher Award.
Bin Wang, associate professor, and Michele Galizia, assistant professor, in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering, were nominated as thought leaders in chemical engineering/applied chemistry whose work has been noteworthy, creative and significant.
“This award certifies something that all in our department know – specifically that Drs. Wang and Galizia are both excellent researchers. In fact, both are also very highly though of by the students as instructors as well. CBME at OU is very lucky to have both individuals on our faculty,” said Brian P. Grady, director of the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, Douglas and Hilda Bourne Chair in Chemical Engineering, and director of the Institute for Applied Surfactant Research.
Before joining OU in 2014, Wang was a postdoctoral research associate in Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship. He received the Young Scientist Prize at the 10th International Conference on Atomically Controlled Surfaces, Interfaces and Nanostructures conference, a Department of Energy Early Career Award, and an OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Computers in Chemistry. His research is focused on computational simulations of nanoscale materials and their applications in catalysis, optoelectronics and batteries.
“It’s great to be recognized together with my colleague, Dr. Galizia,” Wang said. “This recognition also shows the strength of the department and encourages us to improve further. The members in my research group have made this happen, which is further supported by my collaborators. I really appreciate all these great efforts and support and look forward to keep working with them.”
Galizia joined the OU chemical engineering faculty in 2017 after completing his post-doctoral training in the Benny Freeman-Don Paul Group at the University of Texas at Austin. He heads the Membrane Lab at OU, which exploits fundamental principles of physical chemistry and thermodynamics to design, characterize and simulate polymer membranes for gas separation, organic solvent reverse osmosis/nanofiltration and water purification exhibiting pre-assigned selectivity and stability.
He is co-author of 50 papers in high-impact journals and over 80 conference communications, which have raised 1,200 citations. His research has been recognized by the National Science Foundation and American Chemical Society. Galizia has received a number of awards, including the prestigious American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund New Doctoral Investigator and the Best Reviewer Award from the Journal of Membrane Science. In 2018, the journal Frontiers in Polymer Chemistry (Nature Publishing Group) highlighted him as a rising star in membrane science. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Polymer Engineering and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Membrane Science.
“My team and I are truly honored to receive this recognition,” Galizia said. “I am convinced that the actual recipient of this award are my students and post-docs, whose enthusiasm is the driving force of my work. Our main goal is to produce excellent human capital, without which there is no science nor progress.”
