The School of Chemical Engineering recently named Dr. Rajamani "Raj" Gounder as the Larry and Virginia Faith Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering. At Purdue University, named professorship titles recognize outstanding contributions of faculty members to their academic disciplines.

Dr. Gounder received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011. He joined the School of Chemical Engineering in 2013 as an assistant professor.

Dr. Gounder's research focuses on the fundamentals and applications of heterogeneous catalysis and the targeted synthesis of inorganic solids and molecular sieves. He combines approaches in materials synthesis, characterization, and kinetic and mechanistic studies to probe the site requirements, reactive intermediates and elementary steps that constitute reaction mechanisms. Even though he is still early in his career, Dr. Gounder has published almost 30 articles and has one patent. He has made almost 40 presentations at university and industry seminars and mentored eight graduate students and eight undergraduate students.

In external recognition, Dr. Gounder is the recipient of an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award, a Young Scientist Prize from the International Congress on Catalysis, a 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award and an ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award. Internally he received the Ralph M. and Grace W. Showalter Research Trust Award, the inaugural Outstanding Mentor of Engineering Graduate Students, and the R. Norris Shreve Award for Outstanding Teaching in Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Gounder is director of the CRE Division of the AIChE and on the advisory board of Reaction Engineering and Chemistry. He is, or has been a reviewer for more than 20 journals and a proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the American Chemical Society and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Dr. Gounder also is active in outreach activities through the Purdue Catalysis Center, Women in Engineering, the Duke Energy Academy and ChemE Kids Day.

The Larry and Virginia Faith Associate Professorship was created thanks to a donation by Larry (BSChE '59) and Virginia Faith.