Lester Kershenbaum

Lester Kershenbaum is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London's Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, where he has been since 1970. He progressed from Lecturer (1970–1979) to Reader (1979–1989) before becoming Professor in 1990. He holds visiting professorships at the University of Malaya (Malaysia), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain), and University of Sydney (Australia), and has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies (1999–2003) and Director of Postgraduate Studies (1994–1998).

Education includes:

• PhD in Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan (1960–1964)
• MS Mathematics, University of Michigan (1963)
• MSE Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan (1961)
• BChEE Chemical Engineering, The Cooper Union (1956–1960)

His research centers on applied catalysis and process systems engineering. Key areas include catalytic reactors governed by physical/chemical processes (e.g., fluid catalytic cracking), multifunctional reactors integrating reaction, energy, and separation (notably solid oxide fuel cells), and experimental implementation of advanced control algorithms (model-predictive, neural-network, and Lyapunov-based controllers) using PARSEX reactor configurations.