Oct. 28: Ensor lecture focuses on upgrading carbon dioxide and biogas to value-added products

Jingguang Chen, the Thayer Lindsley Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University, will speak on upgrading carbon dioxide and biogas to value-added products at the Ensor Lecture on Oct. 28.

The event will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in the senior ballroom in the Compton Union Building on the Pullman campus. A reception will precede the lecture at 10:30 a.m.

Converting carbon dioxide to value-added products is one of the most practical routes for reducing carbon dioxide emissions while fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy sector in the foreseeable future. Thermochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into value-added products, such as olefins, oxygenates and carbon nanofibers, requires the use of hydrogen.

To achieve a net-negative carbon dioxide footprint, the hydrogen needs to be produced from water electrolysis instead of from hydrocarbon sources. However, large-scale deployment of water electrolysis is hindered by the high cost of precious metal electrocatalysts, such as platinum for the hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode and iridium for the oxygen evolution reaction at the anode.

In the lecture, Chen will discuss their group's recent efforts in developing cost-effective electrocatalysts as well as the conversion of carbon dioxide or biogas using tandem thermochemical and electrochemical reactors to produce carbon nanofibers.

Chen, who holds a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is the co-authorof over 500 journal publications and over 20 United States patents. His research interests include fundamental understanding of carbides, nitrides, and bimetallic catalysts for applications in thermocatalysis and electrocatalysis. He has served in many leadership positions, including chair of the Catalysis Division of the American Chemical Society, president of the North American Catalysis Society, and chair of Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis. He was a co-founderand the director of the Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium, which was established in 2025 with support from the Department of Energy to assist catalysis researchers to utilize synchrotron techniques. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Ensor Lectureship was established through the generosity of David Ensor and his wife, Sara, as a reflection of their deep interest in higher education and their belief in the empowerment that education provides for one's life. After graduating with a bachelor's in chemical engineering from WSU in 1963, David Ensor received his master's and PhD at the University of Washington. He is an expert in aerosol and air pollution science, applying his aerosol expertise to nanotechnology research and international standards development as a U.S. delegate to the International Organization for Standardization. Ensor worked for Meteorology Research, Inc., and retired from a long career at RTI International. He is one of the founding editors of Aerosol Science and Technology and has received several awards, including the White House's Hammer Award and the Meritorious Service Award from the American National Standards Institute.