Jens Nørskov wins Boudart award for catalysis

Jens Nørskov, The Leland T. Edwards Professor in the School of Engineering and director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis at SLAC, has won the Michel Boudart Award for the Advancement of Catalysis, an international award for scientific contributions to catalysts, which are integral to many important industrial and biological processes.

Specifically, Nørskov was recognized for developing computational methods and models of surface reactivity, introducing what is now a standard model of transition metal reactivity. Most recently, his research group developed the first database of surface chemical properties and an open-source software to access and mine thermodynamic and catalytic data, opening novel opportunities for discovering trends and for designing new catalysts and catalytic processes.

Nørskov was quick to direct attention to the entire SUNCAT group and its strength in theory, sophisticated computer modeling and experiments.

"It is a recognition of the team and what we’ve accomplished," Nørskov said. "It is by teaming up that you can really move things in a substantial way –  the combination of Stanford and SLAC  can really make a difference and attack the broader class of problems relating to energy conversion and sustainable chemistry.”

The Bourdart Award is named for the renowned catalysis expert, Michel Boudart, who died last year after a five-decade career at Stanford University. Presented by the European Federation of Catalysis Societies and North American Catalysis Society, it recognizes contributions within the past five years to the understanding and practice of catalysis and comes with a $6,000 prize.