W. Nicholas Delgass, Maxine Spencer Nichols Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering, is the recipient of the 2013 Herman Pines Award in Catalysis. This award is given to recognize Professor Delgass’ outstanding contributions to catalyst characterization, reaction and catalyst chemistry, and advanced catalyst design. Professor Delgass first introduced the applications of Mössbauer spectra and XPS to the catalysis community. Professor Delgass will receive this award during the Catalysis Club of Chicago Spring Symposium on May 7, 2013 at BP Research Center (Naperville, IL) and will deliver the award address at the Symposium.

The Herman Pines Award is given by the Catalysis Club of Chicago for outstanding research in the field of catalysis. Herman Pines was an outstanding research scientist, and his work revolutionized the general understanding of organic chemistry, particularly the chemistry of hydrocarbons interacting with strong acids. The award in his honor is sponsored by UOP where he began his industrial career in 1930 and amassed 145 US patents over a 23 year period. The award is being co-sponsored by the Catalysis Club of Chicago of which Dr. Pines was a founding member.

Professor Delgass has been a faculty member in the School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue since 1974 and was named the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor in 2007. He retired in May 2012 and is now continuing his contributions to the School as the Maxine Spencer Nichols Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering. He has served on the editorial boards of leading catalysis journals such as Journal of Catalysis and as chair for international catalysis conferences. He is a gifted teacher, winning the Purdue School of Chemical Engineering Shreve Teaching Awarding for seven times. He has published over 160 research articles.