A Career in Catalysis: Mark E. Davis

Abstract

Mark E. Davis led an independent research program from 1981 to 2023, beginning at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI) and then transitioning to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His research program was marked by exceptional creativity, breadth, and depth. With classical training in reaction engineering, Davis developed expertise in experimental heterogeneous catalysis and led work in this discipline for more than 40 years. His name is synonymous with zeolites, and today, he is one of the most widely recognized experts in zeolite synthesis, characterization, and catalysis in the world. Early work at the VPI focused on zeolites and catalysis with supported metal coordination complexes. His creativity was evident at the earliest stages of his career, with the development of supported aqueous phase catalysts and the world’s first crystalline, extra-large pore molecular sieve, both reported in the late 1980s. A move to Caltech saw a significant expansion of his zeolite synthesis program and the rapid acceleration of a multidecade collaboration with Dr. Stacey I. Zones of Chevron. At Caltech, his work expanded to include studies of molecular recognition and catalysis with organic/inorganic hybrid materials, and he developed a large, parallel program in drug delivery. His work on catalysis heavily emphasized zeolite catalysis, including major thrusts on the conversion of sugars in the liquid phase and methanol in the gas phase. Numerous new zeolites and molecular sieves were discovered throughout the four decades of the Davis laboratory, highlighted by a successful, multidecade quest to prepare a chiral zeolite with enantioselective catalytic properties. Davis is one of the most decorated researchers of the last four decades. He is one of only 21 living people currently elected to all of the US National Academies (Engineering, Science, Medicine) and elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He was the first engineer to win the NSF’s Alan T. Waterman Award and is one of only two researchers (to date) to win the International Zeolite Association’s Donald Breck Award twice (1989, 2019). Awards from the ACS (Ipatieff, Murphree, and Somorjai Awards), AIChE (Colburn, Professional Progress Awards), and North American Catalysis Society (Emmett Award) are among his accolades.