Prof. Lourdes F. Vega is a Full Professor in Chemical Engineering, Acting Senior Director of the Petroluem Institute, devoted to Sustainable Fuels, from a broad perspective, and Director and Founder of the Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and hydrogen (RICH Center), focused on decarbonization, hydrogen and clean energy, at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Prof. Vega has developed her career between academia and industry. She obtained her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Seville, Spain (1992), in collaboration with the Chemical Engineering Department, University of Southern California, USA where she was a visiting scholar (1990-1992), from where she moved to Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Fellow (1992-1995), before joining Universitat Rovira I Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, where she held several positions in the Chemical Engineering Department and School of Chemical Engineering (1995-2003). In 2003 she moved to the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC), Materials Science Institute of Barcelona, as a Senior Research Scientist, until she joined Air Products in 2007, as the General Director of MATGAS, R&D Director of Carburos Metálicos and Technology Manager of Air Products and Chemicals for CO2, food and water treatment, also leading several projects related to hydrogen. She is the Founder and COE of Alya Technology & Innovation (Alyatech). In 2016 she joined the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, now part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology.
With more than 240 publications, 5 patents under exploitation and the launch of several commercial products, she is an internationally recognized expert in molecular thermodynamics, clean energy and sustainable products, focused on CO2 capture and utilization, hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization, sustainable cooling systems, and water treatment. She is listed top 2{eca436d86c222ab3e9dab4c32851a5f0e8b92f21bb36ef315e982b8f746c99ed} most cited scientist in Chemical Engineering (both career-long scientist and single year) Mendeley, DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.2
The impact of her work on bridging fundamental science to industrial applications focused on environmental applications, has been acknowledged by the reception of several prestigious awards, including, among others: the 2010 Physicist of Excellence Award, from Collegiate of Physicists of Spain, highlighting the work of physicists who have reached a level of excellence in their profession, the 2013 Award of the BBVA Foundation and Spanish Royal Society of Physics, in Physics, Innovation and Technology, granted by “the outstanding and original manner that she managed to bring physics to the industrial world”, the highly reputed Mohammed Bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinguishment received in 2020 for her contributions in clean energy and sustainable products, and the election as a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in 2021, awarded to members in recognition of significant professional accomplishments and contributions in engineering.
Prof. Vega is a Member of the Emirates Scientist Council, and the Lead of the Advisory Board on Engineering and Technology in the UAE. She is an Independent Member of the Board of Directors of ERCROS, SA (chemical company), and Canal de Isabel II, SA (water company) in Spain, as well as a Member of the Scientific Board of the EPSRC "Frontier Engineering" Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE), in London, UK and of the Catalan Institute for Energy Research (IREC), in Barcelona, Spain. She served as the Coordinator of the Scientific Committee designing the strategic plan for the newly created National Center for Research in Energy Storage, (Cáceres, Spain).
She is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Molecular Liquids (Elsevier, IF 6.7) and serves in the advisory board of several other journals. Prof. Vega is also the President and Founder of the Association of Spanish Scientists and Researchers in the UAE (ACIEAU).
