COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 5, 2008 – Lauding his efforts in developing sustainable technologies that benefit and enhance the human condition, the Bryan Rotary Club Wednesday presented Texas A&M University Professor Mark T. Holtzapple with the 2008 Research Valley Commercialization Rising Star Award.
Holtzapple, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, is a distinguished scholar and inventor who with colleagues at Texas A&M has developed several pioneering technologies. Among them are the StarRotor engine, which has the potential to be three times more efficient than the conventional internal combustion engine, and the MixAlco process, a method of converting biomass into fuel.
Introduced in 2007, the Bryan Rotary Club/Research Valley Commercialization Rising Star Award recognizes an individual for demonstrating business innovation and involvement in technology commercialization. The Research Valley Partnership is the underwriter for the award, which was presented to Holtzapple at the annual Bryan Rotary Newman 10 Business Performance Awards luncheon.
“Through his ties with Terrabon, StarRotor Corporation and the Texas A&M University System, Dr. Holtzapple is allowing the Research Valley to become a focal point for the development of sustainable technologies that provide economic growth for our state, nation and the world,” stated a news release by the Research Valley Partnership that announced Holtzapple’s selection.
Holtzapple joined Texas A&M in 1986. He completed his undergraduate work at Cornell University before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his career, he has authored nearly 100 technical articles and reports as well as a widely used engineering textbook.
His research interests include bio-based fuels and chemicals, food and feed processing, water desalination, air conditioning, high-efficiency engines, jet engines, and vertical-lift aircraft. Holtzapple’s work has resulted in more than 80 U.S. and foreign patents, and he has developed a wide variety of technologies, including production of alcohol fuels from biodegradable wastes, protein processing, and sugar recovery from energy cane.
A former captain in the U.S. Army, Holtzapple has consistently and successfully melded his academic research at Texas A&M with entrepreneurial endeavors that include co-founding the StarRotor Corporation as well as licensing several of his technologies to Terrabon.
For his work, Holtzapple has received numerous national awards, including the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the McGraw-Hill Environmental Champion Award and the Walston Chubb Award for Innovation.
-30-
