George Bollas

George Bollas is a Professor at the University of Connecticut's College of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He serves as Director of the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering and Associate Dean for Research.

• Ph.D. from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2006)
• Postdoc at MIT (2009)
• Current research spans chemical looping combustion, biomass catalytic processing, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and advanced energy systems
• Collaborations with Aspen Technology, W.R. Grace & Co., United Technologies Corporation

His research focuses on energy systems addressing climate challenges through chemical looping combustion for carbon capture, biomass pyrolysis with novel catalysts, and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in structured reactors. Key projects include hierarchical zeolite catalysts for tar upgrading, CO2-to-carbon nanofiber processes, and dynamic modeling of aerospace thermal systems.

Recent publications reveal trends in chemical looping technologies, biomass conversion, and advanced catalyst design. Specific subfields include oxygen carrier optimization, bifunctional catalyst development, and multi-scale reactor modeling.

• ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award (2013)
• NSF CAREER Award (2011)

Bollas has mentored numerous students across career stages, including undergraduate awardees in AIChE competitions. His work involves industrial-scale process simulation and model predictive control for energy systems, with grants from NSF, ACS-PRF, UTC, and DoE.

Research teams operate through the UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering, focusing on equation-oriented dynamic modeling environments and experimental validation of energy processes.