William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Associate Professor Praveen Bollini has been named as the recipient of the 2025 Rutherford Aris Award of the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE).
This award recognizes outstanding contributions in experimental and theoretical reaction engineering research of investigators in the early stages of their career.
The award is supported by Honeywell UOP and is presented every three years at a North American ISCRE (NASCRE) meeting. It consists of a plaque, an honorarium of $3,000, and up to $2,000 in travel funds to present a lecture at the conference.
Bollini was surprised to learn of his recognition with this award.
“Looking at the list of past awardees, the winners have all been from very prestigious institutions, including MIT, Purdue, and the University of Minnesota, which has a very storied department of chemical engineering. So, I was pleasantly surprised and humbled to receive for this award,” he said.
He continued, “I was reminded of the journey of learning and creating knowledge that started under the guidance of my graduate and postdoctoral mentors and continues at UH with my students and UH colleagues. My students helped me build my research lab at UH, and together we have overcome many obstacles along this path.”
Bollini’s research focuses on improving the ways we currently use and convert hydrocarbons pulled out from the earth into more useful products, and for capturing and converting CO2 from the air to value-added chemicals.
“A lot of the materials that we use in our everyday lives are chemical products that are manufactured from basic hydrocarbons,” he said. “An example of that would be natural gas, which is converted through a catalytic process into polymers, which we all use. My group’s research focuses primarily on improving the way that we use these chemicals and convert them into more useful products by developing catalysts and reactors to render these processes more efficient and sustainable.”
Bollini cited his “fascination and obsession with molecules” and how they behave at a small scale in nanoporous materials as a primary factor in his decision to pursue this research.
“It’s really trying to understand the chemical and physical behavior of these molecules in very confined spaces — the behavior of reaction and interaction to produce something more valuable that naturally pulled me in this direction of study,” he said.
He also expressed gratitude to his graduate mentor at Georgia Tech, Christopher Jones, and his postdoctoral advisor at the University of Minnesota, Aditya Bhan.
“When I first moved to the U.S. and enrolled as a graduate student at Georgia Tech, a career in academia was not something that was really on my radar,” Bollini said. “It was my graduate advisor who suggested to me that this might be a suitable career path for me. He connected me with my postdoctoral advisor, who was also an excellent mentor. My graduate and postdoctoral mentors helped me prepare for and encouraged me to pursue a career in academia.
“Historically, our chemical engineering department at UH has been very strong in my particular research area. There’s a tradition of excellence in catalysis and reaction engineering in this department, and I think that played a huge role in me winning this award as well.”
The tradition continues today, with professors such as Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Chair Vemuri Balakotaiah, William A. Brookshire Department Chair Triantafillos J. (Lakis) Mountziaris, and Cullen Engineering Professor Michael P. Harold offering lectures in advanced graduate courses that still enchant him.
“I’ve sat in on their graduate reaction engineering courses,” Bollini said. “When I was going through the pressures of being on the tenure track as an assistant professor, no matter what constraints I was operating within personally or what pressures I was under in my professional life, I would always sit in on their courses and make sure that I was learning what I needed to learn.”
Bollini said that this recognition “gives [him] a much-needed dose of confidence.”
“It gives me validation that I’m on the right track — that I have original ideas about studying how molecules behave that resonate with the broader community. It gives me confidence that the research projects I’ve been interested in pursuing out of pure curiosity are also valued by the research community in addition to me and my research group.
“It also sets expectations of high standards and future achievements, which is a weight that I am happy to carry. This is just the beginning.
“I would like to dedicate this award to my mentors and collaborators, who shaped my future with their advice, and to my students who entrusted their professional development in me and with whom I share the excitement for discovery. At the end of the day, this award belongs to all of them and to my colleagues who have created an outstanding department at UH for young faculty like me to thrive. I am indebted to all of them,” Bollini said.