U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz recently appointed Iowa State alum Maohong Fan (PhDME’00) to serve as a member of the National Coal Council – a federal advisory group that provides recommendations and guidance on policy issues pertaining to coal.
“I am appointing you to represent the viewpoints of universities with curricula in chemical engineering, as applied to energy production and environmental protection,” Moniz wrote to Fan. “In the coming months, the work of the council will be extremely important to the nation; I am certain you will find your association with this organization both challenging and productive.”
Fan, who has been at the University of Wyoming since 2008, leads UW’s research cluster on energy conversion technologies, including conversion of coal to value-added fuels and chemicals such as diesel, gasoline and ethylene glycol. Most recently, he received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project aimed at converting Wyoming’s Powder River Basin coal into synthesis gas that can be used in chemical production.
“I am delighted to receive this appointment to help provide the secretary of energy with information and recommendations related to coal and the coal industry,” Fan says. “Finding uses for coal in a carbon-constrained future is important for Wyoming and the nation, and I intend to work diligently to advance technologies to make that possible.”
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