National News
UTEP Welcomes Internationally Renowned Scholar as Welch Chair in Chemistry
By
May 4, 2010, 15:41

The University of Texas at El Paso has announced that Luis Echegoyen, an internationally recognized researcher and scholar, will join the UTEP faculty as the Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry. Echegoyen, Ph.D., is the director of the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation .

"After an extensive national search process that lasted more than 18 months, we believe that Dr. Luis Echegoyen meets all of the characteristics and possesses the research portfolio and international recognition expected of a Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry," said Anny Morrobel-Sosa, Ph.D., dean of UTEP's College of Science. “We believe that he will have a significant impact on our quest for national recognition as the first U.S. research university with a 21st century demographic through his intellectual contributions in all scientific arenas and with his strong academic leadership skills.”
 
Echegoyen is well-regarded around the world for his work on supramolecular and materials chemistry. His current research focuses on carbon materials and their potential application in solar energy conversion. He is also one of two candidates for president-elect of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest professional organization with more than 160,000 members. The election will take place in the fall.
 
Echegoyen has served in his current position at the NSF since 2006, while maintaining a very productive and visible research group as a professor of chemistry at Clemson University in South Carolina. He has been a member of editorial boards for scientific journals and other national and international scientific committees. Over the last 10 years, Echegoyen has received more than $2.3 million in grants. With more than 270 refereed journal publications, 35 book chapters and monographs and more than 260 invited presentations at scientific meetings, Echegoyen has established himself as one of the top research-scholars in his field.
 
“[UTEP President] Diana Natalicio has a very clear and very compelling vision for where she wants to take UTEP, and that was particularly attractive to me,” Echegoyen said. “Everyone seems to be behind her and very excited. Her vision to make a 21st century demographic institution into a top research university by providing both access and excellence is a tall order, and it’s not going to be easy, but I think it can be accomplished. It will certainly be exciting and challenging at the same time.”

The Robert A. Welch Chair is an endowed chair supported by the Welch Foundation, a Houston-based organization that funds chemistry research. Robert Alonzo Welch was a self-made man who came to Houston as a youth and later made his fortune in oil and minerals. Over the course of his career, he became convinced of the importance of chemistry for the betterment of the world.
 
Echegoyen has a similar philosophy.
 
"I’m a passionate scientist who’s looking for what can we can do to keep the U.S. competitive globally and to improve our world," he said.
 
"I’m a firm believer in collaborations across frontiers and borders. In my own research, I collaborate with quite a few people all over the world, and I hope to help UTEP become more engaged in the global world of science and technology."
 
Echegoyen received his B.S. in chemistry in 1971 and his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974 from the University of Puerto Rico. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975. He has been a professor and researcher at the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Maryland-College Park and the University of Miami.
 
A native of Cuba, Echegoyen moved to the United States with his family as a young child and relocated in Puerto Rico.
 
He is expected to start at UTEP in August.