Graduate student receives Gerondelis Fellowship

Chemical engineering PhD candidate Georgios Giannakakis was recently selected to receive a $5,000 Fellowship Grant from the Gerondelis Foundation for his research on copper- and gold- based single-atom alloys for selective transformation of alkanes and oxygenates. Giannakakis is a fifth-year PhD student advised by the late Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos and by Professor Charlie Sykes in the Nano Catalysis and Energy Laboratory.

The Gerondelis Fellowship will support Giannakakis in continuing his efforts in synthesizing, characterizing, and testing these novel catalytic materials in industrially significant reactions, such as non-oxidative alcohol and alkane dehydrogenations. He earned his five-year diploma from the School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

During his PhD studies at Tufts, Giannakakis has so far published five papers as first or joint-first author and presented his work at national and international conferences. His scientific achievements have been recognized with a series of awards that include the best poster award at the Catalysis Gordon Research Symposium, the Young Scientist Award from the International Association of Catalysis Societies, and the International Precious Metals Institute's Johnson Matthey Student Award.