UTA professor of chemistry and biochemistry named Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Szeged in Hungary
Krishnan Rajeshwar, UTA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington, has been named Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Szeged in Hungary, in recognition for his outstanding achievements in support of the mission of the University.
“It is a great honor to be awarded an honorary degree from such an outstanding internationally ranked university,” Rajeshwar said. “All of my collaborators at the University of Szeged have been top-tier researchers and we have been able to achieve international recognition for our work.”
Rajeshwar started collaborating with the University of Szeged more than five years ago through Csaba Janaky, then an assistant professor of chemistry, who worked in his UTA laboratory between 2011 and 2013 under a Marie Curie Fellowship.
Since then, their partnership has flourished, with more than 25 joint publications in international journals, including extensive review articles such as the cover article in ChemElectroChem in February 2016 on new high-performance materials for solar fuel generation.
Two Hungarian graduate students also spent considerable time in Rajeshwar’s laboratories at UTA learning advanced electrochemistry/photoelectrochemistry and solid-state chemical synthesis techniques which they then took back to Hungary to advance their own research.
Rajeshwar’s research on solar cell conversion and storage focuses on finding new materials that can harness sunlight to split carbon dioxide and water into useable fuels like methanol and hydrogen gas. He has received international recognition and was recently elected President of the Electrochemical Society. He also founded UTA’s Center for Renewable Energy Science and Technology.
Rajeshwar has also collaborated with many UTA faculty over the years. For example, he and Brian Dennis, a UTA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, recently worked on a project with NASA funding to improve methods for oxygen recovery and reuse aboard human spacecraft.
Frederick MacDonnell, chair of UTA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, underlined the importance of this honorary degree and Rajeshwar’s research in the context of UTA’s focus on high-impact research and scholarship and global engagement within the University’s Strategic Plan 2020 Bold Solutions|Global Impact.
“Dr. Rajeshwar’s ongoing leadership in research around new materials for solar cells, as well as his commitment toward building up global collaborations that benefit the University and our students, is justly rewarded with this Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Szeged,” he said.
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