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Texas A&M University at Qatar hosts green chemistry and engineering conference

Published Jan 10, 2013

Texas A&M University at Qatar hosted the QAFCO-Texas A&M at Qatar Chemistry Conference 2013 on Thursday at the University’s Engineering Building at the Education City campus. The conference explored green chemistry and its application to environmental challenges as its main focus. This was the sixth installment of this annual event with QAFCO that began in 2007.

The conference featured an impressive technical program and sessions showcased opinions and research from some of the industry’s most respected names in green chemistry and engineering. It provided a forum for an exchange of ideas that benefit academia, as well as industry.

Texas A&M at Qatar Dean and CEO, Dr. Mark H. Weichold, noted the importance of collaborations between industry and academia such as the chemistry conference, saying, “Thank you to QAFCO for its unwavering support of Texas A&M at Qatar. This generous support is a wise investment, as the opportunities it creates through the free flow of ideas between scholars and industry practitioners work to solve complex global challenges. The ideas shared here are at the forefront of research in chemistry and work to facilitate important cooperation between industry and academia as both work to integrate these new concepts and solutions.”

Dr. Paul T. Anastas, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University, delivered the conference’s keynote address, “Green Chemistry: Current Status and Future Challenges.” Anastas is credited with establishing the field of green chemistry during his time working for the US Environmental Protection Agency as the Chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch and as the Director of the US Green Chemistry Program. He has been widely published on topics of science through sustainability. He is currently the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment at Yale.

QAFCO Vice Chairman and CEO, Mr. Khalifa Al Sowaidi emphasized the importance of academic and industrial cooperation, and said, “I am proud that QAFCO has been associated with this noble venture for so long and will continue to support similar ventures in future, as we are aware of our higher role on the global platform.” He commended on the role of academic institutions saying, “Prestigious institutions like Texas A&M play a leading role by investing their resources to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that will lessen the impact of industrial development on the environment.”

Featured speaker experts include Dr. Tobin J. Marks of Northwestern University, US; Dr. Shu Kobayashi of the University of Tokyo, Japan; Dr. Peter Licence of the University of Nottingham, UK; Dr. David E. Bergbreiter of Texas A&M University, US; Dr. Philip G. Jessop of Queens University, Canada; Dr. Terrence J. Collins of Carnegie Mellon University, US; Dr. Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, Canada; Dr. Jurgen Klankermayer of RWTH Aachen University, Germany and Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Wahab of Texas A&M at Qatar.

Dr. Hassan Bazzi, chair of the Texas A&M at Qatar Science Program and associate professor of chemistry, noted, “This conference comes as the University celebrates its tenth anniversary, a great milestone for us. A few weeks ago, the UN climate conference concluded its historical summit in Doha, and this goes very well with the theme that we chose for the conference, Green Chemistry & Green Engineering. We are very honored to have Prof. Paul Anastas, the father of Green Chemistry, as keynote speaker, in addition to an impressive lineup of world-renowned chemists dedicated to making chemical processes more environmentally friendly. We thank QAFCO for the continuous support of this very successful conference series that has been running since 2007."