Professor Daniel Resasco holds the Inaugural Gallogly Chair of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He is also George Lynn Cross Professor, the highest research honor bestowed by the University. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina (1975) and his Ph.D. from Yale University (1984). He has received the 2004 Oklahoma Chemist of the Year from the American Chemical Society, the Yale Award for Advancement of Basic and Applied Science from the Yale Science and Engineering Association, Yale University, the Regents Award for Superior Research, University of Oklahoma (1999), the Sam A. Wilson Professorship, and the J. and K. Smalley Presidential Professorship (1996). He received the Big XII Rising Star Award from the Big XII Center for Economic Development, Innovation, and Commercialization and was finalist for the Small Times US Innovator of the Year in 2007. In 1987 he received the B. Houssay Award for Scientific Achievement from the National Research Council of Argentina. He has also served as a Chairman in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (1987-88). From 1991 to 1993 he was appointed Senior Scientist at Sun Company, Inc., Pennsylvania. He has been member of the Executive Committee of the International Congress on Catalysis (1996) and Associate Editor of the Journal of Catalysis, for which he is now a member of the Editorial Board.
The goal of Resasco’s research is to understand the relationship between the catalytic performance and the microscopic structure and composition of the material, in addition to the links between the synthesis process and the final catalyst. Achieving this goal requires a combination of studies involving materials synthesis, characterization of materials under reaction conditions, and precise measurement of the catalytic behavior (detailed kinetics, obtained under carefully controlled reaction conditions to properly account for parasitic effects, such as mass transfer limitations) . In this interdisciplinary effort, a variety of techniques is employed, including surface spectroscopies (DRUV-VIS, FTIR), x-ray absorption (EXAFS, XANES), X-ray diffraction, microcalorimetry, electron microscopy, resonance techniques, and temperature programmed methods (TPD, TPR, TPO), "in situ" Raman spectroscopy, together with steady-state and transient catalytic activity measurements. A closely collaboration with experts in theoretical model allows Resasco’s group to develop atomistic reaction mechanisms based in the combination of theory and experiments.
