About

Penn State Catalysis & Engineering umbrellas the extensive catalysis-related work across the University. This encompasses a broad range of technologies and science that facilitates the discovery, development, and application of low-energy reaction pathways to affect molecular changes. Researchers use a wide range of materials characterization tools, and Penn State’s Materials Research Institute provides access to one of the most well-equipped materials characterization facilities in the world.

Penn State offers a highly collaborative and supportive environment where faculty and students undertake ground-breaking research on the most important technical problems facing our society. Our faculty and student-centered mission and vision are grounded in a set of core values that guide our continued growth and development.

Mission

Build a resourceful research culture that employs integrated cross-disciplinary approaches to high-impact problems in catalysis and develops students with the skill sets and abilities required to apply foundational catalysis principles to twenty-first century science and engineering challenges.

Vision

Build Penn State into an international leader in catalysis science and engineering, where tomorrow’s industrial and environmental challenges are being addressed today.

Core Values

Holistic student and faculty development. We value excellence in student training through a broad range of opportunities and the development of the cross-disciplinary skills that will be necessary to apply catalysis to the significant scientific, environmental, and sustainability challenges facing our society. This includes learning and training opportunities in the science and engineering of catalytic systems, including homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, enzymology, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, materials science, chemistry, and engineering, and reactor design and development.

Camaraderie and collaboration among students, faculty, and staff. We value a friendly, inclusive, collaborative, and supportive research environment for all members of the University community. We seek to establish fertile ground the development and growth of ideas that span disciplines and address key societal, industrial, and environmental problems.

Superior fundamental and applied science and engineering. We value depth of science that builds fundamental insight into the phenomenon of catalysis and uses this insight to develop new catalytic materials and systems. The contextualization of new discoveries into broader scientific and socio-economic problems, as well as the adaptation of discovery to practical solutions to these problems, are important and valued aspects of catalysis science research.

Scientific and intellectual creativity. We value collective efforts to consider catalysis problems from multiple viewpoints, particularly as they stimulate new ideas that bridge disparate fields and length scales. This includes the creative application of scientific discoveries to engineer new solutions to pressing problems in catalysis science and bringing the tools of catalysis to bear on fields beyond the traditional disciplines of catalysis science.

Broad scientific outreach/impact. We value broad outreach within our scientific and local communities as an important component of leading our field to identify emerging catalysis problems and opportunities. This includes developing new catalytic systems to address emerging problems industrial, environmental, and sustainable chemistries.