Regents Professor Lanny Schmidt

Lanny Schmidt, Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, was named to the 2004 Scientific American 50, an annual list that recognizes outstanding acts of leadership in science and technology, for inventing the first reactor capable of producing hydrogen from a renewable fuel, namely ethanol from corn. He is a collaborative member of the University's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

Schmidt received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Wheaton College in Illinois and earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago. After a postdoctoral year at the University of Chicago, he joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1965.

Schmidt's research focuses on various aspects of the chemistry and engineering of chemical reactions on solid surfaces. He has published over 300 papers in refereed journals. He has supervised approximately 60 Ph.D. theses and 15 M.S. theses at Minnesota, and 11 of his former students hold university teaching positions.

In 1994, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received the Alexander von Humboldt Prize, Germany's highest research award for senior U.S. scientists and scholars.