Haotian Wang, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering (ChBE) at Rice, has been named to this year’s 35 Under 35 list of outstanding researchers by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).
He also received from AIChE a 2023 Young Investigator Award for Innovations in Green Process Engineering.
“Wang became a chemical engineer,” AIChE writes in its announcement, “to pursue his dream of building a clean factory that is based on classical electrochemistry. Thus, it is fitting that his research group focuses on developing novel nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications, including energy storage, chemical/fuel generation, and water treatment.”
Wang, 33, joined the Rice faculty in 2018 and has joint appointments as an associate professor in materials science and nanoengineering, and in chemistry.
“Haotian and his research team are making huge breakthroughs in electrified chemical engineering, for example, to do carbon capture directly from the air, and to make high-purity, high-value molecules that do not need a costly separation step,” said Michael Wong, the Tina and Sunit Patel Professor in Molecular Nanotechnology and chair of ChBE.
“It is wonderful,” Wong said, “to see AIChE shine a spotlight on the future leaders of our profession.”
Wang’s research focuses on renewable energy technologies, including novel electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction and CO2 thermal hydrogenation catalysis. The AIChE announcement says: “His goal is to be able to contribute to lowering the chemical process industry’s global carbon footprint.”
Wang earned his Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University in 2016. Before coming to Rice, he was a fellow of the Rowland Institute at Harvard. He was named a 2021 Sloan Fellow, 2020 Packard Fellow, 2019 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Azrieli Global Scholar and a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient.