Mallouk Named Vagelos Professor in Energy Research
Thomas Mallouk has been named Vagelos Professor in Energy Research. Mallouk comes to Penn from Penn State University, where he was the Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Physics, and Engineering Science and Mechanics. He is a materials chemist who uses nanoscale assembly techniques to make complex materials for specific functions in solar and electrochemical energy conversion.
Mallouk has been recognized with many prestigious fellowships and awards for his groundbreaking work leading to fundamental advances in our understanding of materials chemistry and nanoscience, including several Penn State teaching awards and membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Vagelos Professorship in Energy Research was one of two established by P. Roy Vagelos, C’50, PAR’90, HON’99, and Diana T. Vagelos, PAR’90.
P. Roy Vagelos, a chemistry major who graduated from Penn in 1950 before going on to receive a medical degree from Columbia University, is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merck & Co. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Vagelos served as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1999, and he is a former member of the Penn Arts & Sciences’ Board of Overseers and the founding Chair of the Committee for Undergraduate Financial Aid. Diana T. Vagelos is a former Overseer of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
The Vageloses’ longtime support of Penn Arts & Sciences includes the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, the Vagelos Professorships in Energy Research, the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER), and several other science-related programs, undergraduate scholarships, and endowed professorships. Their most recent gift—the largest in the School’s history—will create a new energy science and technology building to house researchers focused on energy science.
