The Eleventh Annual Gaden Memorial Lecture

The department held its Eleventh Annual Gaden Lecture, named after the late Elmer L. Gaden Jr, who is widely known as the “Father of Biochemical Engineering”. The Gaden Memorial Lecture is an annual event examining the changing interface between chemical engineering, cognate sciences, and society.

Our speaker was Mark Verbrugge who started his career in 1986 with the GM Research Labs after receiving his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.  Mark’s research efforts resulted in his receiving the Norman Hackerman Young Author Award and the Energy Technology Award from the Electrochemical Society as well as GM internal awards, including the John M. Campbell Award for research accomplishments, the Charles L. McCuen Award (twice) for inventions substantially influencing GM products, and the Boss Kettering Award (twice), the highest technical award given by GM. Mark received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Council for Automotive Research, is a fellow of the Electrochemical Society, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.