Professors Velev and Westmoreland Honored by the AIChE

Professors Orlin Velev and Phil Westmoreland have received two of the highest awards bestowed by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Professor Velev is the recipient of the 2017 Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering. The Award recognizes an individual’s outstanding accomplishments in fundamental or applied chemical engineering research.

He has established a record of innovative research in the area of nanostructures with electrical and photonic functionality, biosensors, microfluidics and nanomanufacturing. He’s the first researcher to synthesize “inverse opals”, one of the most widely studied types of photonic materials today. He also pioneered techniques for making novel nanoparticle materials, Janus particles, rod-like particles and responsive foams.

He has the distinction of being named a Fellow in two professional societies: the Materials Research Society and the American Chemical Society. Only small percentages of engineers and scientists are selected as Fellows of one technical society.

Professor Velev is the INVISTA Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and the 33rd recipient of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension Award. The Award is the most prestigious honor the College of Engineering bestows upon a faculty member.

Technologies based on Professor Velev’s research have formed the basis of two Research Triangle Area startup companies, Xanofi and Benanova.

Professor Westmoreland is this year’s recipient of the AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology.

The Award, sponsored by Praxair, Inc., recognizes an individual’s sustained excellence in contributing to the advancement of technology in the production, distribution, and application of industrial gases. The contributions may be characterized by “a sustained record of important fundamental research, innovation, technological development or the novel application of technology, either fostering or leading to important commercial results.”

A CBE B.S. degree graduate (’73), Professor Westmoreland has a long history of professional accomplishments and service to the chemical engineering profession. To wit, he served as the 2013 AIChE President and is currently a trustee of the educational nonprofit Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering (CACHE) Corporation, having served as its president in 2004-06. He’s a Fellow of the AIChE and he received the David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Professor Westmoreland’s academic awards include having received the Outstanding Senior Faculty Award and the General Electric Outstanding Teaching Award from the UMass Amherst College of Engineering (he was a UM-A faculty member during 1986-2009), and the William H. Corcoran Award from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He’s been a visiting professor at two European universities and he’s an Honorary Professor at the Nanjing University of Technology.

Congratulations to Professors Velev and Westmoreland for these awards and your outstanding accomplishments!