Rate My Professor Paul Gannon

Paul Gannon is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Montana State University’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. An alumnus of the university, he earned his B.S. in chemical engineering in 2002 and Ph.D. in engineering in 2007. Gannon joined the MSU faculty as an assistant professor of chemical engineering in 2008 and advanced to full professor. Since January 2017, he has been serving as Associate Director of the Montana Engineering Education Research Center (MEERC), where his scholarly interests include material science and engineering education research.

Gannon's research specializations are energy conversion, high-temperature materials, and engineering education. His contributions focus on material science for energy applications, including corrosion-resistant coatings for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) interconnects, oxidation resistance of stainless steels in air and dual atmospheres, chromium volatility, area-specific resistance of coatings, and advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) technologies such as Cr-Al-N multilayers and nanocomposite functional coatings on ferritic stainless steels. Key publications include “Oxidation behavior of stainless steel 430 and 441 at 800 °C in single (air/air) and dual atmosphere (air/hydrogen) exposures” (International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2008), “ASR evaluation of different kinds of coatings on a ferritic stainless steel as SOFC interconnects” (Surface and Coatings Technology, 2007), “Chromium volatility of coated and uncoated steel interconnects for SOFCs” (Surface and Coatings Technology, 2006), “High-temperature oxidation resistance and surface electrical conductivity of stainless steels with filtered arc Cr–Al–N multilayer and/or superlattice coatings” (Surface and Coatings Technology, 2004), and “Deposition and evaluation of protective PVD coatings on ferritic stainless steel SOFC interconnects” (Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2006). Gannon authored the textbook “Introduction to Energy, Environment and Sustainability” in 2012, now part of MSU’s core curriculum. In 2020, he was named a Montana University System Teaching Scholar for developing an energy and sustainability course for engineering students.