Prof. Francois Fajula

After a PhD in physical chemistry prepared in Strasbourg (1978) and a post-doctoral stay at Texas A & M University (1980) Francois Fajula joined the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie of the University of Montpellier in 1981 where he established a research group working in the fields of the synthesis and modification of zeolites and their uses in catalysis. He addresses several processes dealing with refining and petrochemistry, in close collaboration with major industrial groups.From 1994 to 2002 he headed the laboratory of Catalytic Materials and Catalysis in Organic Chemistry (a join CNRS/University research unit), which activities cover the synthesis of porous materials and nano-particles by self-assembly, heterogeneous catalysis applied to refining, fine chemicals production, environment protection and remediation, biocatalysis, theoretical chemistry modeling, immobilization and delivery of drugs. In 2007 he becomes the director of the Institute for Molecular and Materials Chemistry, an Institution dedicated to, research and education gathering 230 staff and 200 PhD students and post-docs, created under the auspices of the French Ministery of Research and CNRS to reinforce and strengthen chemistry on the site of Montpellier.

Fran?ois Fajula is 65 years old. He is CNRS Emeritus Research Director. He is the author of 270 scientific papers and 35 original patents, several of which were brought to the industrial stage. From 2004 to 2010 he was the president of the International Zeolite Association (IZA). He has received several awards, such as the CNRS Bronze Medal, the AIChE Award, the Award of the French Chemical Society and, more recently in 2013, the Award of the International Zeolite Association. This Award gives to Francois Fajula the title of Ambassador of IZA for a period of three years.