Principal investigator
Rajamani Gounder
R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, Purdue Catalysis Center
Charles Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University
CV | Faculty Profile | Google Scholar | rgounder@purdue.edu
Postdoctoral, California Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering, 2013
Ph. D., University of California-Berkeley, Chemical Engineering, 2011
B. S., University of Wisconsin, Chemical Engineering, 2006
Leadership and Service
Treasurer, International Zeolite Conference, Philadelphia, 2028
Co-organizer, Telluride Science Workshop: The Theory and Practice of Catalysis, 2025
Director, Catalysis Club of Chicago, 2022-2025
Programming Chair, Area 20A: Catalysis, AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) Division, 2020-2021
Posters, Workshops and Satellite Conferences Co-Chair, 17th International Congress on Catalysis, San Diego, 2020
President and Program Chair (Vice-President), Catalysis Club of Chicago, 2020-2022
Technical Program Co-Chair, 26th North American Catalysis Society Meeting, Chicago, 2019
Director, Area 20, AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) Division, 2016-2019
Purdue University
Director, Purdue Catalysis Center, 2023-present
NSF ERC Thrust Leader, Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR), 2017-present
Journal Editorial and Advisory Boards
Editorships
Associate Editor, Science Advances, 2021-present
Associate Editor, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, 2023-present
Advisory Boards
Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2024-present
Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Catalysis, 2022-present
Editorial Board, Catalysis Reviews, 2022-present
Advisory Boards (Past)
Guest Committee Member, Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2022-2023
Advisory Board (Early Career), ACS Catalysis, 2017-2019
Advisory Board, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, 2016-2023
Honors and Awards
Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023
ISCRE Rutherford Aris Award, 2023
Eastman Lectureship, UC-Berkeley College of Chemistry, 2022
ACS CATL Early Career in Catalysis Award, 2021
DOE Early Career Award, 2018
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2018
AIChE 35 Under 35 Award, 2017
NSF CAREER Award, 2016
IACS Young Scientist Prize, 2016
3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, 2015
ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2014
ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, 2014
Purdue University
R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Endowed Professorship in ChE, 2023
College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award for Early Career Research, 2019
R. Norris Shreve Award for Outstanding Teaching in Chemical Engineering, 2016, 2019, 2022
Phillip C. Wankat Graduate Teaching Award in Chemical Engineering, 2017
Outstanding Mentor of Engineering Graduate Students Award (ChE), 2017, 2021
Larry and Virginia Faith Endowed Professorship in ChE, 2016-2023
Biography
Raj Gounder was born in Milwaukee, WI in 1984. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering with a double major in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in 2006, where his interest in catalysis was sparked while performing research under Jim Dumesic. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC-Berkeley in 2011, completing his dissertation research under Enrique Iglesia on acid strength and confinement effects in zeolite catalysis. He then completed a postdoctoral stay at Caltech with Mark Davis to research zeolite synthesis and catalysis in liquid media. He started his independent scientific career at Purdue in 2013, and received early promotion both to the ranks of associate professor with tenure in 2018 and full professor in 2021. He currently holds the R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Chair in Chemical Engineering, and serves as Director of the Purdue Catalysis Center.
He leads a research group that is recognized for studying the kinetic and mechanistic details of catalytic reactions, for synthesizing and designing zeolites and porous materials with tailored site and surface properties, and for developing methods to characterize and titrate active sites in catalytic surfaces. His group studies the fundamental science of catalysis, and its practical applications to help protect our environment and to develop sustainable, lower-carbon footprint routes to synthesize chemicals and fuels needed for society.
His research has been recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the ACS CATL Division Early Career in Catalysis Award, the ISCRE Rutherford Aris Award, the NSF and DOE Early Career Awards, and Purdue's College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award for Early Career Research. His teaching has been recognized by Purdue ChE's Shreve (undergraduate) and Wankat (graduate) awards for teaching excellence, and his mentoring by Purdue ChE's Outstanding Mentoring of Engineering Graduate Students award.Â
He has served as president and director of the Catalysis Club of Chicago, and has organized the technical programs for the North American Catalysis Society Meeting (NAM26 Chicago, 2019), the AIChE CRE Division Area 20A in catalysis (2020, 2021), the Catalysis Club of Chicago (2020), and the 17th International Catalysis in Congress (ICC San Diego, 2020). He is an Associate Editor for Science Advances and Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, and serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, ACS Catalysis, and Catalysis Reviews.