Illinois Tech's Armour College of Engineering adjunct faculty member, Bipin V. Vora, has been honored with the American Chemical Society's annual George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry. The accolade acknowledges his "successful development and commercialization of technologies for catalytic dehydrogenation, the conversion of methanol to olefins, and the production of biodegradable detergents."
Vora is part of Illinois Tech’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He completed his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Mumbai in 1963. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 1966 and 1967, respectively.
Throughout his career, Vora has been credited with 95 patents, 22 of which he is the sole inventor. Notably, Vora recounted that working on the Honeywell UOP Oleflex process, the catalytic dehydrogenation process for propane and isobutane, was particularly significant. “I led the project from concept to commercialization, which took more than a decade of great teamwork," he stated.
His achievements have also led to his induction as a fellow of several prestigious academies: the National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering as a foreign fellow, and the National Academy of Inventors.
A photo from the award ceremony in San Diego shows Adjunct Faculty Bipin Vora (middle) holding the George A. Olah Award on stage.