Leo Brody (MS ‘21, PhD ‘24) has been awarded a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington. The Moores established the Foundation in 2000 to create positive outcomes for future generations. In pursuit of that vision, the Foundation advances scientific discovery and environmental conservation. It is one of the nation’s leading philanthropies with an endowment of approximately $12 billion and annual grantmaking exceeding $500 million.

“Receiving this fellowship gives me the flexibility to explore a new class of materials that could dramatically lower the cost of turning waste plastics and biomass into useful fuels and chemicals,” Brody says, “I am especially excited about replacing rare, expensive catalysts with materials made from Earth-abundant elements like iron, aluminum and carbon. This support will help me prioritize making energy and chemical production cleaner, cheaper and more sustainable.”

In awarding the funds, officials with the Moore Foundation noted the “critical role postdoctoral fellows play in advancing scientific discovery and the importance of maintaining the talent pipeline for science.”

Brody joined the Rorrer Lab at the University of Washington in fall 2024 after completing his Ph.D. with Fanxing Li, the Thomas M. Clausi Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering. At UW, Brody works on developing an adaptive catalytic reactor scheme to convert mixed waste plastics streams into liquid organic hydrogen carriers and gasoline-range coproducts under variable gas environments. He has conducted an Aspen-based TEA of this hypothetical waste plastics to LOHC refinery, and has designed, constructed, and automated a flow reactor setup to rapidly test various model compounds.

Congratulations on the fellowship, Leo!

This post was originally published in Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.