OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 7, 2013 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher A. C. Buchanan III has been elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Buchanan, a member of ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division, was recognized for his contributions to the fundamental understanding of the thermochemical transformations of fossil and renewable fuels.
His research provides a deeper understanding of the individual steps and complex chemical reactions that convert fossil materials and other energy feedstocks such as biomass into usable fuels. Buchanan has also studied how the molecular structures of metal oxide supports can improve fuel processing toward the development of better catalysts.
He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Hampden-Sydney College, and his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. Buchanan is a co-author on more than 170 journal articles, book chapters and symposium proceedings. He has presented at 221 conferences, universities and workshops.
Buchanan received the 2013 Henry H. Storch Award in Fuel Science from the ACS Division of Energy & Fuels and Elsevier, three Richard A. Glenn Awards from the ACS Division of Fuel Chemistry and served on the ACS Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Energy & Fuels from 1996 to 2003.
He and his wife, Michelle Buchanan, who is associate laboratory director for physical sciences at ORNL and also a fellow of the ACS, reside in Knoxville. His daughter Lauren is completing her doctorate in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science. DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://energy.gov/science.