Dibakar Bhattacharyya, University Alumni Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been selected to receive the 2020 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Separations Division Founders Award. This award is highly competitive with a global nomination pool. The AIChE annual meeting is scheduled for November 16, 2020, in San Francisco, California.
A UK staple for over 50 years, Bhattacharyya has received numerous awards for his accomplishments, including the 2009 Gerhold Award from the AIChE Separations Division for his outstanding contributions in Membrane Separations Technology Development and the Larry K. Cecil AIChE Environmental Division Award for outstanding membrane technology developments in the water-related field. In June 2018, he served as co-chair for the 2018 NAMS Annual Meeting hosted in Lexington, Kentucky. Bhattacharyya was formally recognized as a Fellow of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) at its 2019 Annual Meeting.
Bhattacharyya recently received a Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant from the NSF, which has called for immediate proposals that have the potential to address the spread of COVID-19. He and his team are developing a mask that can deactivate COVID-19 on contact.