UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Chunshan Song, distinguished professor of fuel science in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) and director of the EMS Energy Institute, was named an honorary professor by Tianjin University in China. He also was selected as a Global Alumni Fellow by Osaka University in Japan.
“Receiving the honorary professorship is a great honor for me, my research group and for Penn State,” Song said. “Tianjin University is one of the oldest universities and one of the strongest national universities in engineering and science in China and has always been the top chemical engineering school in the nation.”
Song was granted the Tianjin University honorary professorship on Oct. 19. He was invited to give a plenary lecture at the 18th Chinese National Conference on Catalysis held Oct. 16-20 in Tianjin and said he was surprised with the honor.
“I’ve been honored by the American Chemical Society and North American Catalysis Society as well as with guest or visiting professorships at universities in the United Kingdom, France and China, but this is the first time I’ve been given an honorary professorship,” Song said. “I’m grateful for being honored for contributions to both energy and chemical engineering.”
Osaka University, one of the top national universities in Japan, established the Global Alumni Fellow to promote international collaboration in education and research. It is awarded to alumni who are academically active overseas. Song earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in applied chemistry from Osaka University.
Song, also a professor of chemical engineering and associate director of Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment, is a world leader in clean fuels and catalysis and is currently working toward solutions for carbon dioxide capture and methods for CO2 utilization. Both honors are in recognition of his scientific contributions and research impact. He has published over 320 refereed journal articles and delivered over 60 invited plenary or keynote lectures at international conferences.
Song, who has worked in Japan, China, London and Paris, is known for his international scientific collaborations. In 2011, he was appointed the founding director at Penn State for the Joint Center for Energy Research (JCER) established between Penn State and China’s Dalian University of Technology. Since then, the JCER faculty members have collaborated on many research projects at the two universities resulting in more than 100 jointly authored journal articles. Song received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology.
Song also is the principal investigator and director of the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER), which is funded by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. Through the six-year, $20 million project, the coalition is exploring research in coal, natural gas and oil, including carbon dioxide capture, storage and utilization, with the goal of reducing environmental impacts, minimizing carbon dioxide emissions and increasing the efficiency of energy utilization.