May 4, 2015

Gintaras “Rex” Reklaitis, Burton and Kathryn Gedge Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, was recently selected as the recipient of the 2015 Malcolm E. Pruitt Award by the Council of Chemical Research.

The award, named in honor of council Founder Malcolm Pruitt, recognizes outstanding contributions to the progress of chemistry and chemical engineering research by promotion of mutually beneficial interactions among universities, government laboratories, and chemical industry.

Professor Reklaitis is the Purdue PI and Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Structured Organic Particulate Systems. His research involves the application of computing, information and systems technology to support the complex decisions inherent to the design and operation of processing systems. Areas of recent emphasis include the investigation of approaches to support batch and semi-continuous operations as well as methodology for plant- and enterprise-wide planning and optimization with applications in the pharmaceutical industry and in integrated energy systems.

Professor Reklaitis completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1969 and joined the faculty of the School of Chemical Engineering in 1970. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of AIChE. He has served on the Board of Directors of AIChE, the Council for Chemical Research and the CACHE Corporation and continues to serve on the editorial boards of several journals. He has published over 240 papers and book chapters and edited/authored eight books.

The Council for Chemical Research is a nonprofit organization that brings together industry, academia and government laboratories that conduct research in chemistry-related science and engineering in the United States. The council was formed in 1979.