Dr. Ruckenstein, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has enjoyed an extraordinary career. Dr. Ruckenstein's research interests have covered nearly every aspect of chemical engineering, a breadth rarely seen in the work of a single individual. He attributes the remarkable breadth of his scientific work to his own interest in new and exciting things. “What counts in science is novelty,” he said. “I am interested mainly in new ideas, which I try to develop and, if possible, find useful applications. However, I don't squeeze them forever.”
Dr. Ruckenstein conducts both theoretical and experimental research that not only has changed our understanding of the fundamental phenomena of chemical processes, but also has led to the development of enhanced research methods and new materials. He has made groundbreaking contributions in most areas of chemical engineering, including transport phenomena, catalysis, surface phenomena, nucleation, colloids, emulsions, and materials.
“Scientists see his work in one field and think it is outstanding in and of itself, not realizing he has made equally significant contributions in several others as well,” remarked Carl Lund, professor and chair of the UB Department of Chemical Engineering.
Dr. Ruckenstein has performed pioneering work on transport phenomena, the chemistry of supported metal catalysts, catalytic combustion and detergents. He pioneered thermodynamic theories of microemulsions and liquid crystals that explain their stability and was one of the first to propose models for the aggregation of surfactant molecules in solution, which he later extended to other complex fluids. His theories regarding the interaction forces between colloidal particles in colloidal dispersions led him to develop new materials with interesting thermal and rheological properties. In 1992, he was awarded a patent for some of these materials, which IBM has licensed and is using in its mainframe computers.
In addition, he has developed new protein-separation methods and new technologies to prepare membranes for separation processes that have high selectivity for aromatics, very useful as industrial solvents.
Dr. Ruckenstein, a UB faculty member since 1973 and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, is the first UB professor to receive the National Medal of Science, the highest honor awarded in our country for scientific achievement.
President Clinton cited the recipients for “their creativity, resolve, and a restless spirit of innovation to ensure continues U.S. leadership across the frontiers of scientific knowledge.” Considered the U.S. equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the award is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to knowledge in the chemical, physical, biological, mathematical, engineering or social sciences.
“This is one of the most prestigious honors ever received by a faculty member in the history of the University at Buffalo, and a well-deserved honor for Eli,” said UB President William R. Greiner. “He has had and extraordinary career. We are extremely proud of Eli and thank him for his outstanding service to the university.”
The Medal of Science Award is the most recent in a lifetime of prestigious awards. Dr. Ruckenstein has been honored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers with its most prestigious awards: the Alpha Chi Sigma Award in 1977 for excellence in chemical engineering research and the Walker Award for excellence in contributions to chemical engineering literature in 1988. He received the 1986 Kendall Award of the American Chemical Society for creative theories and experiments in colloid and surface science and, in 1994, he received the society's Langmuir Distinguished Lecturer Award. In 1996, he was awarded the American Chemical Society's E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, and in 1991, he received the Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal from the Western New York Chapter of the American Chemical Society. In 1985, he received the Senior Humboldt Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in West Germany for his work related to detergents and the Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation for his work in protein separation.
Dr. Ruckenstein has been a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and the University of Missouri at Rolla; a Fair Memorial Lecturer at the University of Oklahoma; a Gulf Lecturer at Carnegie-Mellon University; a Colburn Symposium Lecturer at the University of Delaware; a Van Winkle Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin; a Merck Distinguished Lecturer at Rutgers University; a Berkeley Lecturer; a Robert A. Welch Foundation Lecturer; and a Barnett F. Dodge Lecturer at Yale University.
Dr. Ruckenstein received bachelor and doctoral degrees in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute at Bucharest as well as an Honorary Doctoral Degree in 1992 from his alma mater. His curriculum vitae includes professorships at the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest, the University of Delaware and Clarkson University. He has held visiting professorships at the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium; Technion in Haifa, Israel; Bayreuth University in West Germany, and Carnegie-Mellon University.
He and his wife, Velina, who is a chemist, reside in Amherst. They have two children: a son, Andrei, a theoretical physicist and full professor at Rutgers University, and Lelia, a graduate of Yale in English Literature and a literary agent.