Prof. Matthias Thommes honored with Clarence (Larry) G. Gerhold Award
Honored for groundbreaking contributions to adsorption, porous materials characterization, and international standardization in chemical separations technology.
We are delighted to announce that Prof. Dr. Matthias Thommes, Full Professor and Head of the Institute for Separation Science and Technology (TVT) at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is the recipient of the prestigious 2025 Clarence (Larry) G. Gerhold Award by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).
The Clarence G. Gerhold Award, sponsored by Honeywell UOP, is one of the most significant accolades in the field of chemical separations. It is presented annually by the Separation Division of AIChE to recognize an individual’s outstanding contribution in research, development, or in the application of chemical separations technology.
Prof. Thommes, a world-renowned scientist in the areas of adsorption and porous materials, was selected for this high honor based on his decades of transformative work. He is highly decorated in his field, having previously been inducted as a Fellow of the International Adsorption Society (IAS) in 2021 and honored with a dedicated Honorary Session and the Plaque of Honor from the AIChE Separations Division in 2024. The 2025 Clarence (Larry) G. Gerhold Award specifically honors his contributions to adsorption fundamentals, porous materials characterization and international standardization, contributing to the development of nanoporous materials with customized properties for industrial applications.
Prof. Thommes’ work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how materials interact at the nanoscale, providing the necessary scientific foundation to engineer advanced porous materials essential for processes like gas separation, environmental protection, energy storage and catalysis. His dedication to establishing international standards ensures that research and industrial applications across the globe adhere to consistent, reliable methods. Prof. Thommes’ current work focuses on adsorption fundamentals, understanding the effect of confinement on the phase and wetting behavior of fluids in nanoporous materials coupled with the development of new methodologies for finding structure-property-performance relationships, resulting in advanced applications in many areas (e.g., in gas- and energy storage, separation and catalysis).
