Ruckenstein Receives Highest Award from American Institute of Chemical Engineers

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Eli Ruckenstein, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Chemical Engineering and winner of the National Medal of Science -- the highest honor awarded in the U.S. for scientific achievement -- has received the Founder's Award for outstanding contributions to the field of chemical engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Ruckenstein received the award recently at the AIChE's annual meeting.

The Founder's Award is presented each year to an engineer who has had a profound impact on the way that chemical engineering is practiced, and whose achievements have advanced the profession in any of its aspects.

"There is virtually no aspect of modern chemical engineering that has not been profoundly influenced by Eli Ruckenstein," according the text of the awards luncheon.

"Dr. Ruckenstein has made a major impact -- both fundamental and practical -- on nearly all important chemical engineering fields by introducing modern ideas and integrating many branches of chemistry, physics, materials science and biology into them. With more than 800 publications, his prodigious contributions to chemical engineering literature have helped define the state of the art in catalysis, transport phenomena, and colloid and interface science. And his unique ability to innovate in a seeming boundless scientific arena sets him apart from the rest of the scientific community.

"We present this award to Dr. Eli Ruckenstein for his pioneering and continuing contributions in many areas of chemical engineering and inspiring education spanning over 50 years, and significant contributions to industry," the citation added.

Ruckenstein, a UB faculty member since 1973 and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, is the first UB professor to receive the coveted National Medal of Science, considered the U.S. equivalent to the Nobel Prize. It is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to knowledge in the chemical, physical, biological, mathematical, engineering or social sciences.

The AIChE previously honored Ruckenstein with two of its most prestigious awards: the Alpha Chi Sigma Award in 1977 for excellence in chemical engineering research and the Walker Award for excellence in contributions to chemical-engineering literature in 1988.

He received the 1986 Kendall Award of the American Chemical Society for creative theories and experiments in colloid and surface science and, in 1994, he received the society's Langmuir Lecture Award.

In 1996, he was awarded the American Chemical Society's E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

He received the Senior Humboldt Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in West Germany in 1985 for his work related to detergents and the Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation for his work on protein separation.

Ruckenstein received the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB's highest tribute, at the university's 153rd commencement ceremony in 1999.

Before joining the UB faculty, he was a professor at Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest, the University of Delaware and Clarkson University.

He has held visiting professorships at the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium; Technion in Haifa, Israel; Bayreuth University in West Germany, and Carnegie-Mellon University.

Ruckenstein received bachelor's and doctoral degrees in engineering from Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest.