Keynote Speakers – Gulf Chemistry Association

Dr. Ghassan Saeed

Professor of Gynecologic Oncology

Professor. Luis Echegoyen

ACS President

Mr. Takashiro Muroi

President of Industrial Catalysts Laboratory

Prof. Stefan Iglauer

Professor at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia

Gérard de Nazelle

Head of Technology at R&DC, Saudi Aramco

Dr. Thomas Blanton

Executive Director International Center for Diffraction Data, USA

Dr. rer.nat. Klaudia Hradil

Senior Principal Scientist Technischen Universität Wien, Austria

Professor Omar M. Yaghi

James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California

Prof. Martin Tangney OBE

Founder and President of Celtic Renewables

Prof. Kuo-Wei Huang

Professor of chemical sciences at KAUST

Prof. Reuben Jih-Ru Hwu

Chair professor at National Tsing Hua University

Prof. Christopher Brett

President of IUPAC

Prof. Mohamed Kheireddine

Head of the Centre for CCDCU at Sunway University

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Dr. Ghassan Saeed

Professor of Gynecologic Oncology

Director of Ovarian Cancer Research Departments of OB/GYN and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit MI, USA
Member of Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Program

Professor. Luis Echegoyen

ACS President

Luis Echegoyen has been the Robert A. Welch Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso since August, 2010. He was the Director of the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation from August, 2006 until August, 2010 where he was instrumental in establishing new funding programs and research centers. He was simultaneously a Professor of Chemistry at Clemson University in South Carolina, where he maintained a very active research program with interests in fullerene electrochemistry, monolayer films, supramolecular chemistry, endohedral fullerene chemistry and electrochemistry; and carbon nanoonions, synthesis, derivatization and fractionation. He served as Chair for the Department of Chemistry at Clemson from 2002 until his NSF appointment. Luis has published 385 research articles and 47 book chapters and his current h index is 70. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003 and has been the recipient of many awards, including the 1996 Florida ACS Award, the 1997 University of Miami Provost Award for Excellence in Research, the 2007 Herty Medal Award from the ACS Georgia Section, the 2007 Clemson University Presidential Award for Excellence in Research, and the 2007 University of Puerto Rico Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was also selected as an ACS Fellow in 2011 and was the first recipient of the ACS Award for Recognizing Underrepresented Minorities in Chemistry for Excellence in Research & Development, also in 2011. Luis is a coveted speaker who has to his record over 410 scientific invited lectures and presentations. He has delivered several named lectureships in places like Northwestern University, Georgia Tech., UC-Riverside and is a member of several international advisory boards, such as the IMDEA-Nanoscience Center in Madrid and Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces (PCOSS) Center at Xiamen University in China. He has been the editor in chief of the Journal of Physical Organic Chemsitry, a Wiley publication, since 2010.

Mr. Takashiro Muroi

President of Industrial Catalysts Laboratory

Mr. Takashiro Muroi is a president of Industrial Catalysts Laboratory, consulting company, and a visiting fellow of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan, and a part-time teacher of Kanagawa University.

After graduating from the section of Applied Chemistry at National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College, he joined central laboratory of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. from 1968 to 1970. Then he was seconded to NE Chemcat Corp. a joint venture with Engelhard (now BASF Catalysts LLC). He engaged in sales and marketing of industrial catalysts from 1971 to 1997. During the working, he handled not only development of petrochemical catalysts, fine chemical catalyst, but also licensing of refinery, environmental catalysts including auto exhaust catalyst, fuel cell catalyst and polyolefin catalyst.

He was assigned general manager of chemical catalysts from 1998 to 2004, vice president from 2004 to 2007. He was vice chairman of Catalysis Society of Japan from 2005 to 2007. And an invited researcher of Inovation laboratory of Waseda University.

After retirement of the company, he joined BASF Japan as senior consultant to 2010. He has consistently contributed to the development of industrial catalysts and petrochemical industry in East Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Japan for over 50 years. He was awarded the Distinguished Contribution Award in 2004 by the Catalysis Society of Japan.

Prof. Stefan Iglauer

Professor at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia

Stefan Iglauer joined Edith Cowan University (ECU) in 2018 as a Professor to lead the developments in the Petroleum Engineering discipline. His research interests are in petro-physics and interfacial phenomena, mainly at pore-scale with a focus on CO₂ geo-sequestration and improved hydrocarbon recovery. Stefan has authored more than 230 technical publications. He holds a PhD degree in material science from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and a MSc degree from the University of Paderborn (Germany).

Gérard de Nazelle

Head of Technology at R&DC, Saudi Aramco

Gérard de Nazelle joined Saudi Aramco end Sep 2019 from Reliance Industries, where he was Head of Technology from 2014 to 2019.

From 2010 to 2014, as an entrepreneur, Gerard de Nazelle was the CEO of Polygenta Technologies in India: Polygenta won the Financial Times – International Finance Corporation Award (FT-IFC) of the “Sustainable Investment of the Year 2012”.

Before joining Polygenta, he was a Director at the European Commission, and served as the first Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), to contribute to the improvement of Europe’s innovation performances.

He joined Shell in 1990 and was Global Manager Innovation & Research, responsible for the development of new technology options for all Shell businesses and clean energy futures, until he joined the EIT in 2009. In 1994, he moved to Japan, then to Singapore, where he participated in the construction and start-up of two large petrochemical projects (1996 – 2003). He held the position of Technology Manager of Shell (Singapore), before becoming Chief Technologist of the multi-billion CNOOC-Shell project in China (2004-2007).

Dr. de Nazelle has been a member of the “Chemical and Environmental Engineering Consultative Committee” of the National University of Singapore (2001-2003), and a member of the Expert Panel on Carbon Capture and Utilization at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A* Star) in Singapore. Other involvement into Joined Industry Partnerships includes his participation (representing Shell) to the CO2 Capture and Storage Committee of the Energy Technology Institute (ETI, UK). An entrepreneur in creating both profitable and sustainable businesses, Gerard de Nazelle has presented the success story of Polygenta at various conferences as a (modest) example of innovation driven growth.

He holds an MSc degree (Chem. Eng.) from ENSIC (France) and a PhD (Physics) from Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands).

Dr. Thomas Blanton

Executive Director International Center for Diffraction Data, USA

Dr. Blanton is a superb X-ray diffraction and microscope specialist and known world-widely for his significant contributions in this field. He is a great scientist, administrator, speaker, and pleasant professional to work with.

Dr. Blanton is a scientific manager leading a team of 40 scientists. Results-driven research and development scientist with success in leading materials development from benchtop R&D to commercialization. Expert in materials characterization, establishing structure-property relationships. Coordinates technical team activities with business research, commercialization, corporate legal, health and safety, intellectual property, and program management teams. Collaborates with universities and industrial partners taking advantage of external resources to perform novel materials analyses and reduce product development cycle time.

Proven track record of innovation with U.S. (46) and international (57) patents; and >100 journal papers. Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Dr. rer.nat. Klaudia Hradil

Senior Principal Scientist Technischen Universität Wien, Austria

Dr. rer.nat. Klaudia Hradil is Head of the X-ray Center of the Vienna University of Technology; application of scattering methods (X-rays and neutrons) to investigate structural and physical properties of technological materials. She has published many papers and patents. Also, she has supervised students who are doing their advanced degree program, trained scientists, and provided consultation works to the industry.

Professor Omar M. Yaghi

James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California

Professor Omar M. Yaghi accomplishments in the design and synthesis of new materials have been honored by the Solid-State Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society and Exxon Co. (1998) and the Sacconi Medal of the Italian Chemical Society (2004). His work on hydrogen storage was recognized by Popular Science Magazine which listed him among the ‘Brilliant 10’ scientists and engineers in USA (2006), and the US Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Award for outstanding contributions to hydrogen storage (2007). He was the sole recipient of the Materials Research Society Medal for pioneering work in the theory, design, synthesis and applications of metal-organic frameworks and the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for the best paper published in Science (2007). He is also the recipient of the American Chemical Society Chemistry of Materials Award (2009), Izatt-Christensen International Award (2009), United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize (2010), China Nano Award (2013), King Faisal International Prize in Science (2015), Mustafa Prize in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2015), TÜBA Academy Prize in Basic and Engineering Sciences (2016), Royal Society of Chemistry Spiers Memorial Award (2017), King Abdullah II Order of Distinction of the First Class (2017), Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry International Award (2017), Bailar Medal in Inorganic Chemistry (2017), Kuwait Prize in Fundamental Sciences (2017), Albert Einstein World Award of Science conferred by the World Cultural Council (2017), BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences (2018), and Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2018). He published >250 articles.

Prof. Martin Tangney OBE

Founder and President of Celtic Renewables

Internationally recognised expert in microbial biofuel production, particularly biobutanol. Professor Tangney is Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, which conducted the innovative research to develop the fermentation technology being commercialised by Celtic Renewables. Martin advises the Scottish Government on biofuels, and represents the government on its MOU with India on Renewable Energy. Martin is a prominent international speaker in the biofuel area and regularly features in the media, and his international profile, domain expertise and connections will be hugely beneficial to Celtic Renewables Ltd.

Prof. Kuo-Wei Huang

Professor of chemical sciences at KAUST

Kuo-Wei Huang is currently Professor of Chemical Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He received his B.S. from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Prior to joining KAUST as a founding faculty member in 2009, he had been an Assistant Professor in National University of Singapore and a Goldhaber Distinguished Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has coauthored over 230 publications and is a co-inventor of 20 patents and patent applications. The research interests of his group include CO₂ utilization, hydrogen storage, small molecules activation (particularly on the PN³(P) ligand platform his group has developed) and kinetic and DFT studies of transition metal and organocatalysis. He has received numerous awards, including Appreciation of distinguished teaching contribution, Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia (2017), Rising Stars Lectureship, 41^st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (2014), and Asian Rising Stars Lectureship, the 15^th Asian Chemical Congress (2013).

Prof. Reuben Jih-Ru Hwu

Chair professor at National Tsing Hua University

EDUCATION:

9/78–6/82 – Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.A.

Ph.D. Chemistry, June 1982

9/72–6/76 – National Taiwan University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

B.S. Chemistry, June 1976

EXPERIENCE:

2/15–present

Tsing Hua Distinguished Chair Professor

National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

12/19–09/21

President

Federation of Asian Chemical Societies

8/06–1/15

Chair Professor

National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

1/13–12/13

Chairman

The 9^th AFMC International Medicinal Chemistry Symposium 2013

7/00–present

Regional Editor

Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry

1/06–present

Editorial Advisory Board Member

Anti-Infective Agents in Medicinal Chemistry

7/10–present

Editorial Board Member

Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

1/13–present

Ex Officio, Editorial Advisory Board Member

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

1/14–present

Editorial Advisory Board Member

European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

7/02–present

National Representative of Chemical Society Located in Taipei

Asian Federation for Medicinal Chemistry

1/04–present

National Representative of Chemical Society Located in Taipei

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry,

Chemistry and Human Health Division Committee

5/10–7/12

Founding Director, Preparatory Office for College of Biomedical Science and Engineering, National Central University

Jhongli City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan

8/07–7/10

Dean, College of Science, National Central University

Jhongli City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan

4/92–6/99

Curriculum Director (4/96–6/99) and Principal Lecturer

The International Scientific Instrument Technology Workshops, International Foundation for Sciences (Headquarters at Sweden) and National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

1/91–1/93

President

Chinese American Chemical Society, U.S.A.

9/89–12/97

Associate Member

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Commission on Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry

7/82–6/91

Sssociate and Assistant Professor of Chemistry

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

AWARDS:

Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)

Marquis Who’s Who

Award for Outstanding Achievement and Contribution (2017),

Asia Pacific Society for Materials Research

National Academic Research Innovation Award (2017, co-inventor),

Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry, Taiwan

National Chair Professorship (2015–2018),

Ministry of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Taiwan Conference & Exhibition Award: Convention A Class (2014), Ministry of Economy, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Distinguished Service Award (2014)

The Chemical Society Located in Taipei

Nano Industrial Technology Excellence Award (2013),

(co-principal investigator), Ministry of Economy, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Book Prize of ChemMedChem Wiley–VCH at AIMECS (2013)

Outstanding Scholar Award (2007–12),

Foundation for Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship, Taiwan

Asian Core Program Lectureship Award of China (2010),

Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia

Award for an Outstanding Achievement (2008),

International Journal of Molecular Medicine and

International Journal of Oncology

Honorable Research Fellow Award (2008),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

National Innovation Award (2007),

Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry, Taiwan, R.O.C.

National Biotech. and Medical Care Quality Award (2007, co-inventor),

Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Senior Distinguished Research Fellow (2005–07),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Service Medal (2004),

The Executive Yuan, Republic of China

Distinguished Research Fellow (2001–04),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Distinguished Research Award (1999–2001),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

The 1997 Third World Academy of Sciences Award (in Chemistry),

The Third World Academy of Sciences

Distinguished Research Award (1995–97),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

The Outstanding Young Persons of the World for 1994

(in Scientific and/or Technological Development),

Junior Chamber International

Outstanding Research Award (1994–95),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Federation of Asian Chemical Societies 1992 and 1993 Distinguished Young Chemist Award,

Federation of Asian Chemical Societies

Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan, R.O.C. (1993),

(in Scientific and/or Technological Development),

Taiwan, R.O.C. Junior Chamber

Distinguished Research Award (1992–94),

National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1986–1988 and 1988–1990),

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, U.S.A.

Stuart Pharmaceuticals Achievement Award (1986),

ICI Americas Inc.

HONORS:

Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts

(2019–present)

Co-principal Investigator of Higher Education Sprout Project:

Enhance International Competitiveness (2018–2023),

Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C.

President-elect, Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (2017–2019)

Bentham Ambassador (2016–2017), Bentham Science Publishers

Representative of Chemical Society Located in Taipei for bidding with success on hosting the 2019 Asian Chemical Congress in Taipei (2016)

Fellow of Asian Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (2013–present)

President of Asian Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (2012, 2013)

Consortium Partner of FP7 SILVER Project, European Commission

(2010–2014)

Vice-Chairman of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Association of

Taiwan, R.O.C. (2010–2013)

Guest Professor of Peking University, China (2007–2009)

Honorary Visiting Professor of Zhengzhou University, China (2007–2009)

Honorary Professor of Henan Normal University (2007–)

Guest Researcher of Institute of Chemistry,

Henan Academy of Sciences, China (2007–)

Honorary President of Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs Association (2007–)

Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry (2005–present)

Visiting Chair Professor of Peking University, China (2005)

Senior Superior Educationist, Ministry of Education, R.O.C. (2002)

Visiting Scholar of Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst for

Six Universities and Institutes of Germany (2001):

Universities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Göttingen, Hamburg, and Osnabrück, as well as Bayer AG, Pharma Research

Fellow of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2000–present)

Visiting Professor of Royal Society of Chemistry for Five Universities of United Kingdom (2000): Universities of Cambridge, Glasgow, Manchester, and Nottingham, as well as Imperial College

Fellow of The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World

(1999–present)

Visiting Professor of Universite Louis Pasteur and C.N.R.S.,

France (1998)

Biographee of Asia/Pacific-Who’s Who (1998)

Glory of the Association for Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan, R.O.C. (1997)

Binational Exchange Visiting Professor and Academic Consultant (1997) Foundation for Research Development, South Africa and

University of Cape Town

ACHIEVEMENT:

Invented >14 new biochemical products as merchandize being sold on the

market, including AquaClean, BB King, CleanMite, FluFree, FungiFree, Happy, HappyToe, K99, MaxFresh, PetClean, SmoKiller, TickleFree, VegClean, WELLAST, etc.

RESEARCH AREAS:

Drug Design and Synthesis, DNA-cleaving Agents, Nano-biomaterials, Natural Product Synthesis, Organosilicon Chemistry, New Reactions and New Reagents, Synthetic Methods

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS:

More than 220 scientific papers in international journals,

more than 50 patents, and more than 443 presentations worldwide

Prof. Christopher Brett

President of IUPAC

Christopher Brett is a professor of chemistry at the University of Coimbra, Portugal and is President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) 2020-21.

After his MA and DPhil in electrochemistry at the University of Oxford, he spent a year at British Petroleum, London before moving to Coimbra in 1981. His research interests have focused on the development of new materials in electrochemistry and their application in different areas, particularly in sensing. This has included new nanostructured electrode materials and nanomaterials on modified electrodes, the use of electroactive and redox polymers, corrosion and its inhibition, electrochemical aspects of green chemistry, electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Most recently, he has been exploring deep eutectic solvents for the preparation of nanostructured materials with different properties than those made in aqueous media and room temperature ionic liquids for electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Applications have been in the environmental, food and pharmaceutical areas, the subject of over 300 publications.

He is Director of the Electroanalysis and Corrosion Laboratory, Instituto Pedro Nunes, Coimbra, the technological innovation link between the University of Coimbra and the industrial sector and which provides services in analytical electrochemistry, environmental chemistry, and evaluation of corrosion.

He was President of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) from 2007-8 and is President of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society 2018-20.

Prof. Mohamed Kheireddine

Head of the Centre for CCDCU at Sunway University

Professor Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua holds a Degree in Chemical Engineering from Tunisia and a Master in Material Sciences and Engineering from the University of Nancy 1, France. He obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1992 from the University of Nancy I, France.

He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering, the University of Malaya in 1993 as a lecturer and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002, then to a Professor in 2007 and to a senior Professor in 2010.

He was appointed as the Deputy Dean of the Institute of Graduate Studies from May 2009 until July 2016 and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering from 2016 to 2017. In addition, he has been the Head of the Center for Separation Science and Technology (CSST) from 2012 to 2017.

Currently, he is a Professor with Sunway University, Malaysia and Lancaster University in the UK and was appointed as Honorary Professor at the University of Malaya since January 2018. He is also the Associate Dean (Research) at the School of Science and Technology and Head of the Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization (CCDCU) at Sunway University.

He is very active in postgraduate student supervision. So far 27 Ph.D. including 2 Dual Ph.D. and 20 Master students successfully graduated under his supervision and currently he is supervising 7 Ph.D. and 3 Master students.

His research focuses on three challenges facing mankind namely water security, energy security, and environment and climate change. More specifically, he is leading research in fundamental and applied separation processes such as CO₂ capture using alkanolamine technology, membrane processes, adsorption, and electrochemical processes using activated carbon and modified activated carbon produced from agriculture waste. He is also active in research related to biodiesel from various feedstocks such as Jatropha seeds and oil, the development of super-adsorbent materials produced from agriculture waste by physical and chemical modifications, CO₂ separation using ionic liquids, and membrane processes for drinking water supply during disasters and to remote villagers.

Professor Mohamed Kheireddine outstanding scientific research generated more than 200 scientific articles in ISI journals and his work was cited more than 8000 times. With an h-index of 44, his work has impacted significantly the field of his research. He has 2 granted patents and 2 patent applications. He was listed by Clarivate Analytics as Top Cited Researcher 2018 and 2019.

Recently his team developed a solar-powered self-cleaning mobile Ultrafiltration (UF) system. The innovative self-cleaning system has already touched and impacted the lives of many people. It was used during the recent severe floods that hit Malaysia to treat flood and river water to produce clean water to flood victims and 6 units were recently installed in remote villages (without access to clean water) in the states of Kelantan, Sarawak, and Perak in Malaysia to produce drinking quality water. This work made him the winner of the 2016 University of Malaya’s award of outstanding achievement in the category of community engagement and the project was a winner at the IChemE Global Awards 2018 in Water category.

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