School of Engineering’s Annual Dana M. Dourdeville Lecture on Engineering in Service to Society

Imagining a Fully Sustainable Carbon Future of Materials and Energy
Paul Dauenhauer (Lanny & Charlotte Schmidt Professor at University of Minnesota)
Monday, October 25, 2021
Salomon Center – Room 001
4:30 pm
Registration is required.

This year we are pleased to welcome MacArthur Fellow and University of Minnesota Professor Paul Dauenhauer. He is a chemical engineer who is developing new technologies for converting biomass—materials derived from organic, renewable sources—into the chemical building blocks of products that are currently sourced from fossil fuels.

Most consumer products contain petroleum-based plastics, rubber, detergents, and other chemicals that harm the environment in several ways: from the extraction of the petroleum, to the energy inputs and waste materials associated with the production process, to the limited biodegradability of the resulting products.

Dauenhauer will describe an approach to handling and storing carbon via closed loop chemical processes that result in net zero emissions to the atmosphere and the potential for complete recycling of plastics necessary for food, clothing, and medical applications.  Come hear Paul talk about the design of catalyst nanomaterials to control the use of carbon in the atmosphere, water, soil, and society.