JoaquinResasco
- resasco@utexas.edu
- 512-471-5238
- EER 5.612
Understanding the structure and properties of catalysts to enable next-generation sustainable technologies
About
Catalysis is central to today’s society. It is the key to producing fertilizers that support nearly half of the world’s population, converting oil into gasoline that fuels our cars, and cleaning pollutants from the air we breathe. Going forward, catalysis will also certainly be critical to transitioning to a more environmentally sustainable world.
The Resasco Lab is interested in advancing the understanding of catalysis to guide the design of new, more efficient materials. To develop this understanding, they combine principles of chemical engineering, materials science, and physical chemistry. They employ a range of experimental tools to gain insights about the catalytic materials we make and the chemistry that happens on their surfaces.
Some of the questions they think about are:
- How does catalyst structure and composition evolve during reactions, and what effect does that have on performance?
- How can we design not only a catalytic site, but the environment surrounding it, to control selectivity and activity?
- What new opportunities do electrocatalytic reactions that run on renewable electricity provide for controlling chemistry?
Educational Qualifications
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara (2018-2020)
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (2018)
B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Oklahoma (2012)
Select Awards & Honors
- Early Career Award – DOE (2025)
- Pioneers of Catalysis Reaction Engineering – CRE Division, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) (2025)
- CAREER Award – National Science Foundation (NSF) (2024)
- 35 Under 35 – AIChE (2023)
- Young Investigator Award – Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) (2023)
- New Investigator Award – American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) Doctoral (2021)
- 30 Under 30 in Science – Forbes (2020)
- Chancellor’s Fellow – UC Berkeley (2012)
- Research Fellow – NSF Graduate (2012)