Dr. Levi Thompson

Professor
Richard E Balzhiser Collegiate
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Director
Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory

ltt@umich.edu

Professor Thompson earned his B.ChE. from the University of Delaware, and M.S.E. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. After working for two years at KMS Fusion, he joined the faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering and was promoted to Professor in 2000. From 2001 to 2005, he served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. In that capacity, Professor Thompson led the College of Engineering s efforts to recruit an excellent and diverse undergraduate student body and provide them with a high quality educational experience and environment. He is presently Director of the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, a $5 million, National Science Foundation funded program that teams the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Michigan State University and Wayne State University in an effort to significantly increase the number students earning science, technology, engineering and mathematics baccalaureate degrees. Professor Thompson has taught a variety of courses including Introduction to Engineering (Eng 100), a course for first year engineering students, and an short course entitled Applied Reaction Engineering and Catalysis  with Professor Phillip Savage.

Research in Professor Thompson s group focuses primarily on the design and development of high-performance catalytic, electrocatalytic and adsorbent materials, and defining relationships between the structure, composition and function of nanostructured catalytic and electrocatalytic materials. In addition, his group is working on the use of micromachining and self-assembly methods to fabricate hydrogen production systems and fuel cells. Professor Thompson s publications include an invited contribution on batteries for the World Book Encyclopedia and review articles on carbide and nitride catalysts, and hydrogen production. He has also been awarded 10 patents. Recently, he was appointed founding Director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory, a unit of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute. This laboratory was established to support multidisciplinary hydrogen production, storage and conversion research, and will be housed in the Phoenix Memorial Laboratory.

Earlier this year Professor Thompson was recognized as one of 12 recipients of the Michiganian of the Year Award for his research and entrepreneurship, and recruiting and mentoring minority students. In April 2006, he was appointed as the Richard E. Balzhiser Professor of Chemical Engineering. Professor Thompson holds appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics Programs. Other honors and awards include the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, Engineering Society of Detroit Gold Award, Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award, Dow Chemical Good Teaching Award, College of Engineering Service Excellence Award, and Harold Johnson Diversity Award. He is co-founder, with his wife Maria, of T/J Technologies, a developer of nanomaterials for advanced batteries and recently founded Inmatech to commercialize catalytic materials and processes discovered and developed in his UM laboratories. Professor Thompson is Consulting Editor for the AIChE Journal, and a member of the External Advisory Committee for the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems (NSF Science and Technology Center at the University of Illinois), National Academy s Committee on the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives Programs, AIChE Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council and National Academy s Chemical Sciences Roundtable.