Chemistry - Emeritus Faculty

Coal combustion, emission control, nanocomposite, thermal characterization of polymers and materials  

Dr. Wei-Ping Pan, Assistant to the President, and Director of Combustion Science and Environmental Technology at Western Kentucky University, received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Chung Yuan University, Taiwan and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Michigan Technological University in1986. Dr. Pan has taught at Western Kentucky University since 1986. Dr. Pan was named the Sumpter Professor of Chemistry at Western in 1993 and was named a Fellow of the North American Thermal Analysis Society (NATAS) in 1997. He served as President of NATAS in 2001. He also received the Distinguished Service Award from NATAS in 2004. Dr. Pan has been selected as the 2008 recipient of the Mettler Award. The award is the NATAS’ highest honor and recognizes distinguished achievement in the field of thermal analysis. Dr. Pan has published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers in the last 20 years, the majority of which are related to coal combustion and emissions, and materials characterization. He has pioneered work in the area of clean coal technology, emission control, and thermal analysis involving effluent gas analysis and has used the TG/FTIR/MS technique extensively in the study of many different types of materials. Dr. Pan has been selected to receive the 2006 Distinguished College/University Scientist Superlative Award of the Kentucky Academy of Science. Dr. Pan has been the project director of more than 70 projects supported (more than $17,000,000 was awarded) by external agencies, including NSF, the US DOD, the US DOE, NASA, US EPA, EPRI, Illinois Clean Coal Institute, and several private industries. He also services as President of the Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association in 2010. Dr. Pan also has been appointed as a visiting professor for Zhijiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Southeast University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, North China Electric Power University, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Hefei University of Technology, China Ming University, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and Anhui University of Science and Technology.