Bert Weckhuysen
Bert Weckhuysen (born July 27, 1968 in Aarschot ) is a Belgian chemist who specializes in catalysis . He is a professor at Utrecht University .
Weckhuysen studied chemical engineering and agricultural engineering at the KU Löwen with a diploma in 1991 and a doctorate in 1995 with Robert Schoonheydt on heterogeneous catalysis ( summa cum laude ). As a post-doctoral student he was in the US with Israel Wachs at Lehigh University and Jack Lunsford at Texas A&M University and then back to Leuven. Since 2000 he has been Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at the University of Utrecht . He has been a Distinguished Professor there since 2013.
In 2012 he was visiting professor at Stanford University .
He is known for the in-situ characterization of catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis using various spectroscopic methods, from Raman to X-ray spectroscopy and including atomic force microscopy . This provided three-dimensional images of the catalysts in action and enabled new insights into how exactly catalysts fulfill their function and how they are deactivated. Weckhuysen himself applied the methods, for example, to the development of catalysts for converting cellulose in biomass into bio-fuel and is concerned with catalysts in green chemistry . He is Scientific Director of the Dutch research program CATCHBIO for biomass catalysis.
In 2006 he received the gold medal from the Dutch Chemical Society, in 2011 the Emmett Award from the North American Catalysis Society, in 2012 he received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and in 2013 he received the Spinoza Prize . He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2014 . He is director of the Dutch Institute for Catalysis Research (NIOK).
Fonts
- with Pascal Voort, Gabriela Catana (editor): Spectroscopy of transition metal ions on surfaces. Leuven University Press, 2000
- therein Voort, Weckhuysen, Catana: Spectroscopic characterization of heterogeneous catalysts, Weckhuysen, Schoonheydt: General principles of electron spin resonance, General principles of vibrational spectroscopies and Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy
- In-situ spectroscopy of catalysts, San Diego: American Scientific Publ., 2004
- Editor: Themed issue: In-situ characterization of heterogeneous catalysts, Cambridge, RSC Publ. 2010
- Editor with MAR Meier, PCA Bruijnincx: Organometallics and Renewables, Springer 2012
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weckhuysen, Bert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 27, 1968 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aarschot |