Bert Weckhuysen has been awarded the 2025 Vladimir Haensel Award, organized and sponsored by Honeywell-UOP. This biennial award, which includes a monetary prize and an art object, recognizes Bert for his groundbreaking contributions to the fundamental understanding of catalytic processes. The lectureship honors the legacy of Dr. Vladimir Haensel, a former UOP research chemist who invented the platforming process, a platinum-based catalytic process for reforming hydrocarbons into gasoline that significantly reduced air pollution. Bert delivered his lecture at the Honeywell-UOP research center in Des Plaines, Illinois, titled “Operando Spectroscopy of Heterogeneous Catalysts to Make Fuels and Chemicals from Renewable Resources.”

The two previous award recipients are Professor Gabor Somorjai (2019) and Professor Alexis Bell (2023), both from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to his visit to Honeywell-UOP, Bert also presented lectures at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

In the picture: Bert Weckhuysen with Dr. Chris Keturakis, representative of Honeywell-UOP and president of the Catalysis Club of Chicago.