Dionisios G. Vlachos

Dionisios G. Vlachos is an American chemical engineer, the Allan & Myra Ferguson Endowed Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and director of the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, a U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Frontiers Research Center. Throughout his career at University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota, he has advanced the study of catalysts and reaction engineering including catalytic applications in biomass utilization, alkane conversion and zeolites. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2009) and recipient of the Wilhelm Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2011). Early life and education Dionisios was born in Greece and grew up on the island of Cephalonia, Greece in the Ionian Sea. In 1987, he earned a diploma in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He completed a master's degree in 1990 with thesis, "Step Dynamics for Modeling of Crystal Surfaces". He completed his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1992 with advisors Lanny D. Schmidt and Rutherford Aris on the topic of dynamic crystal surfaces as it pertains to catalysis. His thesis was published in 1992 with the title, "Structure and Dynamics of Adsorbed Phases and Crystal Surfaces". During his time in graduate school, Dionisios prepared thirteen journal publications with his advisor including: D. G. Vlachos, L. D. Schmidt, and R. Aris, The Effect of Phase Transitions, Surface Diffusion, and Defects on Surface Reactions: Fluctuations and Oscillations, J. Chem. Phys. 93, 8306-8313 (1990). D.G. Vlachos, L.D. Schmidt, R. Aris Structures of Small Metal Clusters: Isomerization and Phase Transitions, Journal of Chemical Physics 96, 6891 (1992). D.G. Vlachos, F. Schuth, R. Aris, L.D. Schmidt "Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Catalytic Oscillations", Physics A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 188(1-3), 302-321 (1992). Professor of chemical engineering Dr. Vlachos joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Chemical Engineering in Amherst, MA in 1993 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1998, after which he took a position as associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware in 2000. In 2003, he was promoted to the rank of professor of chemical engineering.