Leeds welcome Fulbright Scholars

The University has announced that Wayne Seames, the University of North Dakota Chester Fritz Professor of Chemical Engineering, will spend a sabbatical year here as a 2014-15 Fulbright Distinguished C

The Distinguished Chair Awards are designed for eminent scholars with substantial experience and publications, and are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments offered by the Fulbright Commission.

One of only three distinguished chairs sponsored in the UK each year, the Fulbright Foundation makes one award to a US citizen who will contribute to the intellectual life of the University through seminars, public lectures and curriculum development.

While at Leeds, Professor Seames will work on both teaching- and research-related projects in the School of Process, Materials and Environmental Engineering (SPEME).

“I have designed a series of activities to establish a long-term, multi-investigator research collaboration, identify best educational practices in chemical engineering, and disseminate both research and educational concepts through workshops and lectures in university and community forums at Leeds, in the surrounding communities and, to a more limited extent, at other locations throughout Britain,” says Professor Seames.

“The project is broad by design, given the intent to use this as a springboard to a long-term, multifaceted collaboration, rather than focusing on a single aspect in depth. It will have roughly 60% research-related activities and 40% teaching related activities. I’ll be plenty busy!”

Professor Seames will endeavour to build a sustainable collaboration between two research centres - the Sustainable Energy Research Initiative and Supporting Education (SUNRISE) program at UND and the Energy Research Institute (ERI) at Leeds – as well as an educational bridge between the two school’s chemical engineering programmes.

“ERI is one of the few research centres that focuses on both renewable fuels and the long-term sustainable use of coal, which are the two largest focus areas in SUNRISE,” says Professor Seames. “It just looks like a perfect fit of two research centres.”

Mark Levenstein from Old Dominion University has been selected for a 2014-15 Fulbright U.S. Student Award for Research and Study in the School of Mechanical Engineering. Find out more...