Enrique Iglesia receives 2021 NACS award

Jingguang Chen, President of the North American Catalysis Society, has announced that Enrique Iglesia, Theodore Vermeulen Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley has been named the recipient of the 2021 NACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Catalysis(link is external). This award is jointly sponsored by Clariant and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering and is administered by the North American Catalysis Society. Iglesia will be honored during a banquet at the 2021 North American Meeting of the Catalysis Society in New York City. 
 
The NACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Catalysis recognizes an individual who has advanced catalytic chemistry or engineering by significant service to the catalysis community in addition to technical accomplishments.
 
Dedication to catalysis through service and leadership has been a hallmark throughout the professional career of Enrique Iglesia, from his Princeton student days as President of AIChE and Tau Beta Pi local chapters, to Section Head for Catalysis Science at Exxon, and as the mentor of a prolific research group at Berkeley. Early on, he served ACS and AIChE in leadership positions, in which he championed the coalescence of catalysis within the Catalysis Secretariat (later a Division) at ACS and the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division at AIChE. He has served IACS as Program Co-Chair of the 11th ICC, as Vice-President and President-Elect, and as the 17th ICC Meeting Chair. He has served NACS as Vice President, President, and as Meeting Co-Chair for its NAM21. In each role, as well as in his tenure as NAE Section 3 Chair and Search Committee Chair, he has focused on broadening the membership and on encouraging, mentoring, and recognizing the achievements of young scientists and engineers.

Perhaps his most lasting legacy comes from his thirteen-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Catalysis. Anyone who interacted with him in that role, and in all others, knows his passion for excellence in the study and practice of catalysis. The award citation reads “For tireless dedication to the stewardship of catalysis and for encouraging, mentoring, and recognizing its practitioners”.

The College of Chemistry extends our congratulations to Professor Iglesia for this well deserved recognition.