Portfolio: Select Awards and Contracts

• Point of Contact and Relationship Management, University Appropriations, $39M, 2022-2024.
• Task Lead, Establishment of Industrial Consortium, Army Research Laboratory, $1,050,002, 2025.
• PI and Acting Project Manager, Micro-Credentials in Extractive Technologies, Defense Production Agency, $6,644,347 $6,644,347, 2024-2025.
• Campus Lead (during initiated), EDA-sponsored regional Headwaters Tech Hub
• Coach and Strategist, Department of Energy EPSCOR (critical metals), $700,804, 2022-2025.
• Coach and Editor, NSF Major Research Instrumentation, $924,815, 2022-2027.
• Coach and co-PI, NSF unsolicited (first grant; petroleum), $450,000, 2021-2023.
• Co-PI and Facilitator, NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) Planning Grant), (advanced manufacturing), $100,000, 2019. {Along with subsequent full proposal submission; unfunded.]
• Co-PI and Coach/Facilitator, NSF-sponsored workshop (critical minerals), $49,886, 2020-2022.
• Developer (1st PI), NSF ADVANCE Adaptation, $1M, 2022.
• Proposal strategy development: $41M Protoplex; Kummer Institute (KI) gift, Department naming gift
• Fundraiser, inaugural post-doctoral fellowship (energy).
• Agency point of contact, two NASEM studies impacting the discipline and the field. 
• Lead and Expert, NSF’s Re-entry to Active Research (RARE) initiative for midcareer faculty
• PI, Dept. Energy – Basic Energy Science (materials chemistry) $1,020,000, 9/1/2009-9/14/2015
• PI, Dept. Energy – Energy Efficiency (hydrogen) $1,512,922, 2008-2014
• Sr. Fellow, Marie Curie, European Commission, $147,500, 2012-2013
• Co-PI, NSF Education and Outreach, $2,847,750, 2010-2016
• Other activities: Interdisciplinary partnerships in manufacturing, workshops in energy; Established CRADA with the Navy, two Dept. of Defense Educational Partnerships Agreements

Research Experience & Key Performance Metrics

Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education, Montana Tech Univ., 2021-2025

• Raised $39M (3 years) in directed funding for three campus defense projects to grow defense funding (~4x), expenditures by 60% ($14.2 to $22.6M), and expand University partnerships
• Data-driven system-based expansion to increase graduate total enrollment (+12%), recruitment (+40%), and out-of-state graduate enrollment by 9% ($450 K)
• Strategic investment of $3.5 million (from $1.4M) per year to promote new initiatives and expand footprint

 Associate Dean, College of Engineering & Computing, Missouri S&T, 2018-2021

• Oversaw 27% increase in college research expenditures [$177 to $242 K/TTT (FY18 to FY20); to ~$25M]
• Overhauled research reporting to foster increase in U.S. News rankings by 23 spots (106 to 83).
• Developed workshops to yield highest CAREER awards in college history (see: testimonials)
• Proposals for philanthropic (Institute, department, fellowship) initiatives; state and federal appropriations

Program Director, Molecular/Process Separations, National Science Foundation, 2016-2018

• Managed $35M portfolio, initiated National Academies studies (separations and chemical engineering)
• Conceptualized initiative to reactivate midcareer faculty, lobbied to designate $1.2 million in funding

Professor (Assistant, Associate, Full), Energy & Mineral Engineering and Chemical Engineering (Joint Appointment), Pennsylvania State University, 2003-2018

• Led multidisciplinary research teams related to hydrogen storage and spillover, development of porous and catalytic materials, advanced in situ materials characterizations, and ab initio calculations with faculty teams from diverse backgrounds (chemical engineering, physics, chemistry, material science, fuel science)
• Leveraged a $338K startup to secure $6.8M of competitive research and education funding in twelve years with grants from the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and American Chemical Society
• Built and programmed an automated high-pressure, differential gas adsorption apparatus and quantified process improvement via extensive systems analysis
• Advised and mentored undergraduate (8), Masters (3), PhD (4), and post-doctoral researchers (6)
• Published peer-reviewed research articles (44), patents (2), book chapters (3), invited international (5) and domestic (26) presentations, technical reports (10), educational articles (5) and a Energy & Environment (562 pp) textbook. Work included cross-institutional, multi-national collaborations and student recognitions.
• Served various elected University (e.g. Research Protections, K-12 Outreach, University Graduate Council), College, Departmental committees, and peer-review of grants and journal articles
• Recognized for Research Excellence (Earth & Mineral Sciences Energy Institute, 2008), Research Initiation (Wilson, 2005; Deike Award, 2009) and Service (Commission for Adult Learners, 2014)

Fellowm Incoming Senior International Marie Curie, University of Crete, European Union, 2012-2013

• Selected as 1 of 25 American scientists (all disciplines/demographics)
• Competitively awarded fellowship, and published results, that reconciled dispute between experimental observations (adsorption and in situ characterization) vs. ab initio predictions of hydrogen spillover

Environmental Engineer, Paper Products Manufacturing Facility, Procter & Gamble, 1998-1999

• Participated in extensive corporate leadership training program
• Process improvement for chemical management and environmental permitting in manufacturing setting
• Delivered and updated chemical, safety, and environmental training

Education

• PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, August 2003
• MSE, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, May 1998
• MSE, Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, May 1998
• BS, Chemical Engineering, Distinction, University of Nebraska, May 1996
• Certificates: Systems Thinking, MIT XPro, 2021
• Leadership, Harvard Business School Online, 2019