The Reactor Engineering and Catalyst Testing (REACT) core facility at Northwestern University is an open access user facility dedicated to helping investigators interrogate the interactions of fluid phases with surfaces. While our instrumentation provides users with the necessary tools to characterize the physical and chemical properties of powders, measure catalytic reaction rates, and study surface mechanisms in-situ, our value to the Northwestern research community extends well beyond our instrumentation. We also provide educational services such as instrument training and lab-based courses for new students. This starts from a very fundamental level of teaching students about tubing, fittings, valves, thermocouples, etc. before exploring fundamentals of specific instrumentation such as GC’s and physisorption instruments. Additionally, we provide design and construction services that enable students to perform advanced measurements. The focus of these designs is on safety and ease of use for the end users, areas that graduate students themselves may not have basic knowledge.<br/>Although core facilities are ubiquitous in academic research, facilities dedicated to catalysis research are rare. In this talk, I will discuss how core facilities can be used by universities, departments, or research centers to support unique instrumentation and acquire expert personnel as shared resources. Additionally, because the role and incentive structure of core facility personnel differs from tenure track faculty, core facility scientists can take a lead role in important issues in our field that tenure faculty are not incentivized to pursue, like issues pertaining to rigor and reproducibility. I’ll argue that our community would greatly benefit from the establishment of catalysis-based core facilities at more universities.

Reactor engineering and catalyst testing core facility, a unique resource for the catalysis research community

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