Dionisios Vlachos

Vlachos' contributions to research, education and service have received numerous awards, many of which demonstrate his interests in catalysis, mathematics and the problems associated with energy and sustainability. In 2016, he was appointed director of the University of Delaware Energy Institute. His appointment was highlighted as:

Dionisios G. Vlachos is an American chemical engineer, the Allan & Myra Ferguson Endowed Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware and director of the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, a U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Frontiers Research Center. Throughout his career at University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota, he has advanced the study of catalysts and reaction engineering including catalytic applications in biomass utilization, alkane conversion and zeolites. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2009) and recipient of the Wilhelm Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2011).

Vlachos has served in leadership roles with national and international oversight of chemical engineering research. In 2008, he became the director of the University of Delaware Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST), which he held until 2011. In 2009, he led the formation of the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), a national Department of Energy research center with over 70 people from around the United States. In 2016, he was appointed the director of the Delaware Energy Institute (UDEI). He is also the fundamentals division leader within the Dept. of Energy RAPID Manufacturing Institute starting in 2017.

Dr. Vlachos joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Chemical Engineering in Amherst, MA in 1993 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998, after which he took a position as Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware in 2000. In 2003, he was promoted to the rank of Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 2009, he became the Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering, a position which he held until 2016. In 2015, he became a Professor (joint) of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware.

Dionisios was born in Greece and grew up on the island of Cephalonia, Greece in the Ionian Sea. In 1987, he earned a diploma in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He completed a master's degree in 1990 with thesis, "Step Dynamics for Modeling of Crystal Surfaces". He completed his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1992 with advisors Lanny D. Schmidt and Rutherford Aris on the topic of dynamic crystal surfaces as it pertains to catalysis. His thesis was published in 1992 with the title, "Structure and Dynamics of Adsorbed Phases and Crystal Surfaces". During his time in graduate school, Dionisios prepared thirteen journal publications with his advisor including: