Marco J. Castaldi
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, Earth System Science & Environmental Engineering
Director, Combustion and Catalysis Laboratory
The City College of New York (CUNY)
Marco J Castaldi is a professor of chemical engineering at The City College of New York. He is the director of the Earth Engineering Center at City College and the Head of the U.S. Waste-to-energy research technology (WTERT) council. His research areas are combustion and catalysis with a focus on thermal conversion of solid feedstocks, such as MSW, and developing and understanding catalytic processes focused on hydrocarbon chemistry. He has received the Fulbright Global Scholar Award and is a technical Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He is the past chair of the Catalysis Society of Metropolitan New York and currently serves as the NACS Representative.
Lucas Dorazio
BASF Corporation, Refinery Catalyst Research & Development
Adjunct Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Lucas Dorazio has been a practicing chemical engineer in industry for over 20 years working in a variety different engineering and research positions. He received his doctorate from Columbia University in New York City where his research was in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. He started working for BASF in year 2000, where most of that time has been spent at BASF’s catalyst research center in Iselin NJ. Currently, he leads a team developing fluid catalytic cracking catalysts to support the refining industry. In addition to his work in industrial research, he is also an adjunct professor at NJIT where he teaches two courses in the field of catalysis. He has authored several journal articles and been granted several patents in the field of catalysis, and recently co-authored a textbook on the topic of industrial catalysis. He is an active member of the local catalysis community where he serves as a Director for the New York Metropolitan Catalysis Society.
Israel E. Wachs
G. Whitney Snyder Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Director, Operando Molecular Spectroscopy and Catalysis Research Lab
In a career spanning three decades, Wachs has earned international renown for research into heterogeneous catalysis. His research focuses on the catalysis science of mixed metal oxides for numerous catalytic applications. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has honored Wachs with a Clean Air Excellence award for a catalytic process he invented that converts paper-mill pollutants into formaldehyde. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has given Wachs the George A. Olah Award for achievements in hydrocarbon and petroleum chemistry and the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) has honored Wachs with the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division Practice Award . He is the recipient of multiple awards from local catalysis societies (Michigan, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia). In 2011, he was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the highest honor bestowed by the society. In 2012, he was recognized by the German Alexander von Humbolt Foundation with a Humboldt Research Award and the International Vanadium Chemistry Organization with its Vanadis award.
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