Rate My Professor Robert Davis

Robert J. Davis is the William Stansfield Calcott Professor of Engineering and Applied Science in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, specializing in chemical engineering with a primary research focus on catalysis. He earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1985, an M.S. from Stanford University in 1987, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1989, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Namur in Belgium from 1989 to 1990. Davis joined the University of Virginia faculty as an assistant professor of chemical engineering in 1990, was promoted to associate professor in 1996, became a full professor in 2002, and served as department chair from 2002 to 2011.

Davis has authored or co-authored more than 170 peer-reviewed publications, one patent, and the textbook 'Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering.' Select publications include 'Cascade Reaction of Ethanol to Butadiene over Ag-Promoted, Silica or Zeolite Supported Ta, Y, Pr, or La Oxide Catalysts' (ACS Catalysis, 2023), 'CO-assisted Activation of O2 during CO Oxidation on Isolated Co Ions in N-doped Carbon' (ACS Catalysis, 2022), 'Cascade Reaction of Ethanol to Butadiene over Multifunctional Silica-Supported Ag and ZrO2 Catalysts' (ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2022), 'Steam Reforming Kinetics of Olefins and Aromatics over Mn-Cr-O Spinel Oxides' (Journal of Catalysis, 2021), and 'Effect of the Co-cation on Cu Speciation in Cu-exchanged Mordenite and ZSM-5 Catalysts for the Oxidation of Methane to Methanol' (ACS Catalysis, 2021). His contributions have had substantial impact in catalysis, demonstrated by over 100 invited lectures worldwide and more than 100 presentations at technical meetings. Davis has earned distinguished honors including the R.H. Wilhelm Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis from the North American Catalysis Society, the NSF Young Investigator Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, the Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award, and the University of Virginia Rodman Scholars Award for Excellence in Teaching. He also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Catalysis, Applied Catalysis A and B, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A, ChemCatChem, and ACS Catalysis.