ChE Seminar: Dr. Bob Maughon

Event Date: October 31, 2023
Speaker: Dr. Bob Maughon
Speaker Affiliation: SABIC
Time: 3:00-4:15 p.m.
Location: FRNY G140
Contact Name: Joshua Gonzalez
Contact Phone: 765-494-4365
Contact Email: jgonzal@purdue.edu
Open To: Attendance required for ChE PhD students
Priority: No
School or Program: Chemical Engineering
College Calendar: Show
 
Dr. Bob Maughon
Executive Vice President, Sustainability,
Technology & Innovation
Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer
SABIC
 
Host:  Dr. Fabio Ribeiro
 

Bio:

Dr. Bob Maughon is the Executive Vice President, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at SABIC. He oversees a global organization with 19 research centers around the world and a talented team focused on driving process, product and application innovation to support SABIC’s growth. Additionally, Maughon has responsibility for Corporate Sustainability, Product Stewardship, Technology Licensing, Technology Ventures, and Chairs the ESG Steering Committee.

Dr. Maughon joined SABIC after a 21-year career at Dow, where he served from 2013-2019 as the R&D vice president for Packaging & Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons.

He serves as a board member of the University of Michigan Engineering Leadership Advisory Board, American Chemical Society Sustainable Development Advisory Council, Alliance to End Plastic Waste Board, AspenTech Executive Advisory Board, and Value Balancing Alliance Steering Committee.

He holds nine U.S. patents and has numerous publications and presentations at various conferences. Dr. Maughon was recently awarded the 2023 R&D100 Sustainability Innovator of the Year.

Dr. Maughon earned his BA degree in chemistry from Rice University and his PhD in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.
 

"A Rapidly Transforming Chemical Industry: How Embracing Innovation, Risk, and Collaboration Will be Essential to Thrive and Deliver on a Sustainable Future"

Abstract:

The petrochemical sector is undergoing a significant transformation driven by factors such as (de-)globalization, China’s industry transformation, sustainability, the energy transition, and the emergence of disruptive exponential technologies.  For ex., societal concern over plastic end-of-life and carbon emissions is placing unprecedented pressure on the sector from NGOs, governments/regulatory bodies, brands, retailers, and the consumers.  The value plastics bring to many applications like packaging, PPE, hygiene and medical applications is clear and even reaffirmed during COVID-19, but this must be balanced with their environmental impact - circular and low-carbon solutions are essential to address these challenges.  This requires a renewed focus on innovation, an openness to work together in new ways across the industry and the new evolving value chain, and a willingness to embrace risk in testing new technology solutions and business models; all of these in an industry that has seen limited disruption in core technologies and processes for decades.  Although there are challenges, the opportunity here to innovate, collaborate, and transform the industry is enormous.  Key developments at SABIC and within the industry and value chain, key challenges, and the needs in science and technology, infrastructure, policy and finance to overcome these will be discussed.