Benny Freeman

Benny Freeman

Director, GAP B Co-Leader, GAP C Co-Investigator

Gap Attack Platform B Co-Leader:  Role of Hydration in Ion Transport and Separations

Gap Attack Platform C Co-Investigator:  Fundamental Science of Robust Membrane Manufacturing

William J. (Bill) Murray, Jr. Endowed Chair in Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.

The EFRC Director has ultimate responsibility for overall project management and direction, decisionmaking regarding project performance, M-WET progress towards its goals, reporting, and accountability to the Department of Energy.

The Director reports to the Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering (CSE) at UT Austin for grant oversight purposes. The Director will oversee M-WET operations and management processes to plan, perform, monitor, and review progress relative to the research described in this proposal, as further refined and defined at the M-WET annual meetings and leadership meetings.

The Director will: (a) be the primary contact with DOE management for M-WET; (b) ensure that DOE reporting requirements are satisfied; (c) lead the Research Coordination Committee (RCC), which is the core scientific governing body of the Center; (d) exercise executive authority over formal project reviews and consequent funding realignment; (e) actively facilitate information exchange among M-WET participants, including students and postdocs; (f) solicit ideas for and make awards of Director’s Discretionary Projects (DDPs); and (g) implement M-WET’s publication and intellectual property policy.

The director will assume major responsibility for efficient collaboration within and across the GAPs/Integrating Framework and institutions.