Yuan named Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor

Joshua S. Yuan, chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering at McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor Oct. 17, 2024.

Yuan is principal investigator for the Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB) Engineering Research Center (ERC), which is funded by a five-year, $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The award — one of only four the NSF awarded nationwide in 2024 — supports convergent projects that include research, education, commercialization, workforce development, and diversity and inclusion that will lead to societal change.

Yuan’s research focuses on four major areas, including renewable biomaterials, carbon capture and utilization (CCU), integrated biorefining, systems and synthetic biology. He has pioneered new chemical fractionation and manufacturing technologies along with feedstock design to process lignin into quality carbon fibers, bioplastics, biodiesel, nanoparticle, asphalt binder modifier, new coating materials, and other products. In addition, his team integrated artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to develop algal cultivation technologies achieving the highest reported outdoor productivity. The team is advancing novel CCU platforms with algal and electro-microbial conversion of carbon dioxide from flue gas and various other carbon dioxide emissions.

Yuan’s team designed novel biorefining procedures to synergistically derive more processable lignin and carbohydrate. Together with the biomaterial design and synthetic biology, these engineering technologies could potentially enable the integrated biorefinery with multiple product streams for profitability and sustainability. The research also empowered efficient biomass processing and algal biofuels and bioproduct manufacturing. His team’s research has led to the sustainable manufacturing platform for squalene, an essential vaccine adjuvant, cosmetic and nutraceutical product.

“Joshua Yuan has been a tremendous addition to the McKelvey Engineering faculty, bringing strengths in bioeconomy research, entrepreneurship and leadership,” said Aaron F. Bobick, dean and the James M. McKelvey Professor. “The Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering has grown significantly since he joined McKelvey Engineering and has now gained national recognition through the CURB Energy Research Center.”

To date, he has been awarded more than $45 million in funding as a principal investigator or as co-investigator from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and others. He joined the Washington University faculty in May 2022 from Texas A&M University, where he was a professor in the departments of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and of Chemical Engineering as well as in the Program of BioEnvironmental Sciences. In addition, he was director of the Synthetic and Systems Biology Innovation Hub and was appointed the Chair for Synthetic Biology and Renewable Products in 2018.

In addition to his academic research, Yuan also is an entrepreneur, serving as chief scientific adviser and co-founder of SynShark LLC, which produces and supplies high-quality terpene oils, such as tobacco-derived squalene, to be used as an adjuvant for vaccines or an emollient for cosmetics.

Yuan has been awarded four U.S. patents and has two pending. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, published in Joule, Chem, Matter, Nature Communications, Green Chemistry and Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA, among others. 

Yuan has won numerous awards and honors, including the Regional Solid Waste Planning Award and the Environmental Educator Award in 2018; the Excellence in Innovation Award from Texas A&M University System in 2017; and Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2007, among others. He has recently served on the National Academies’ Committee on Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, Research and Development, and has served on numerous other review panels over the past several years. 

Yuan earned a doctorate in plants, insects and soils with a focus on Functional Genomics and a minor in statistics from the University of Tennessee; a master’s degree in plant sciences from the University of Arizona; and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Lucy and Stanley Lopata

Longtime generous supporters of Washington University, Lucy and Stanley Lopata established this professorship in the engineering school in 1980. 

Stanley Lopata graduated from Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in 1935. Founding Carboline Co. in 1946, he built his coating and sealant company from a basement laboratory into a multimillion-dollar business with global reach before selling it to Sun Oil Refining and Marketing Co.

In 1986, he started Lopata Research and Development, which provides seed money for new chemical and technical products for industry. A trustee of the university, Stanley Lopata received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctor of laws degree. He died in 2000.

Lucy Mayer Lopata was born in Germany and attended school in Switzerland. For 60 years, she and her husband earned a reputation as two of the most generous and engaged people in the St. Louis area.

Touching the lives of many through her tireless efforts, she helped found the Miriam School for Learning Disabled Children and has directed her volunteer efforts to countless organizations.

From the Butterfly House and the Lopata Garden to the Missouri Botanical Garden or a sculpture garden at the Sheldon, Lucy Lopata has made the St. Louis community stronger in many ways. She died in 2013 at age 98. 

The Lopatas were dedicated supporters of Washington University. Their first major gift resulted in the construction of Lopata Hall, which was dedicated in 1981. Their name also adorns outdoor courtyards at the Olin Business School and the Brown School as well as Lucy and Stanley Lopata House in The Village housing community. They established the annual Lopata Basketball Classic, a well-known NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament held each fall at the university. For their support of the athletic program, the Lopatas were among the first inductees into Washington University’s Sports Hall of Fame. Students throughout the university have benefited from multiple scholarship funds set up by the Lopatas.

Along with her husband, Lucy Lopata was a recipient of the Dean’s Award from the Engineering school, the Dean’s Medal from the Brown School, and the Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award. She received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from the university in 2001 and the Robert S. Brookings Award in 2004.

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