Team

Dr. Kerry M. Dooley

Dr. Dooley received his B.S. and M.S. from Tulane University and PhD from the University of Delaware. He is a BASF professor and a Dr. Paul Horton Memorial Professor.

Resume

Graduate Students

Gabriel Otunsaya

Project: "Metal Alloy Catalysts for Methane Dry and Bireforming"

Ademola Akanbi

Project: "Chemical Synthesis and Process Development of the Nootkatone Family of Insect Repellents"

Muhamad Fouad

Project: "Minimization of Specific Energy of NH3 via Next-Generation NH3 Process"

Safayat Hossain

Project: “Development of Ketonization Catalysts for the Pyrolysis of Agricultural Residues,”

Toluwatobi Adeoye

Project: “Devolatilization of Agricultural Residues in a Novel RF-Induction Heating Reactor,”

Postdocs

Dr. Tiana Plaisance

Projects: "Dry Reforming of Methane, ALD Catalysts Characterization" and "Adsorption-based chemical looping process for production of H2 and SO2 from H2S"

Dr. Kazi Aurnob

Project: "Chemical Synthesis and Process Development of the Nootkatone Family of Insect Repellents"

Kazi is working on the scalable chemical synthesis of nootkatone from inexpensive naturally occurring sesquiterpenes using safer and more economical reaction systems. His research focuses on replacing hazardous and costly reagents in the key anionic oxy-Cope rearrangement step through solvent-controlled ion separation, while also designing recyclable heterogeneous catalysts with scalability and process practicality in mind.

Recent Alumni

Jonathan Lucas

Project: "The Role of Overlayers on Adsorbate Migration – Adsorbate Confinement and the Impact on Limiting Secondary Reactions in Methane Dry Reforming"

Ph.D., August. 2025.

Current employer: Rice Univ. (postdoc, Mike Wong group)