Richard I. Masel, distinguished emeritus professor of chemical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, passed away on December 14, 2024, in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 73 years old.
Masel joined ChBE Illinois after earning his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, in 1977. He became a leader in surface catalysis, unravelling mechanistic aspects of reactions such as methanol oxidation and associated CO poisoning on platinum. Over the years, he also pursued various more applied directions, ranging from microscale gas chromatography for homeland security applications and microscale burners for fuel reforming, to formic acid fuel cells and electrocatalysis for the conversion of CO2 to chemicals.
While at Illinois, Masel started several companies including Tekion, a developer of fuel cells for portable electronics; Cbana Laboratories, developer of microanalysis applications; and Dioxide Materials, developer of CO2 electrolysis and sensor technologies. He had a distinguished publication record with over 250 peer reviewed journal publications, 400 conference papers, two textbooks, and over 50 patents. His two textbooks “Principles of adsorption and reaction on solid surfaces” (1996) and “Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis” (2001) continue to be major references for the chemical engineering/catalysis community. Throughout his 32 years at Illinois, Masel trained over 50 graduate students, several postdocs, as well as many undergraduate student researchers. Among his honors, Masel was named to the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list in 2015.
Upon his retirement from Illinois in 2011, Masel focused fully on Dioxide Materials as its Chief Executive Officer. Dioxide Materials, a thriving company in Boca Raton, Fla., became a major developer of electrolysis cells and stacks for water and CO2 electrolysis.
Masel is survived by his wife, Sharon. An obituary is available at https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/richard-masel.