McGee Lecture Series
The Henry A. McGee Lectures in Chemical and Life Science Engineering honor the founding dean of VCU’s College of Engineering, Henry A. McGee, who is also a distinguished Emeritus professor in the Chemical and Life Science Engineering department. The lecture series is made possible by the Betty Rose and Henry McGee Endowment for Chemical Engineering. Learn more about Dr. Henry McGee.
Event Details
Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
Time: 4–5 p.m.
Location: Engineering West Hall, Room 101
Lecture title
Direct Air Capture of CO2: Chemistry & Engineering Combine for Climate Stabilization
Bio
Professor Jones is the John F. Brock III School Chair and Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. He joined Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor in 2000 and previously served as Associate Vice President for Research from 2013-2019.
Dr. Jones leads a research group that works on materials, catalysis and adsorption. He is known for his extensive work on materials that extract CO2 from ultra-dilute mixtures such as ambient air, which are key components of direct air capture (DAC) technologies. He served on the National Academies Consensus Study on Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration in 2017-2018, focusing on DAC, and more recently on the National Academies Consensus Study on Atmospheric Methane Removal: Development of a Research Agenda, from 2023-2024.
Jones also has produced an extensive body of work in catalysis. Dr. Jones was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal, ACS Catalysis, and was Vice-President of the North American Catalysis Society from 2017-2025. Today he leads the open access, multidisciplinary journal, JACS Au.
Jones’ work in both catalysis and CO2 separation has been recognized with awards from numerous organizations including the ACS, ASEE, AIChE and North American Catalysis Society. Jones was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2022 and the US National Academy of Inventors in 2023. He will serve as President of the International Adsorption Society from 2025-2028.
Abstract
Most current climate models suggest that limiting warming to <2°C will require large scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. CDR may be natural or technological, with one of the most scalable technological approaches being the direct capture of CO2 from the air, or “direct air capture” (DAC) coupled with geologic storage. Because of the ultra-dilute nature of air, the separation of CO2 from this mixture presents a significant engineering challenge. Today, DAC technologies are very expensive ($500-1000/tCO2).
In this lecture, I will describe the unique challenges associated with designing molecules, materials, devices and ultimately processes for DAC. Specifically, I will describe the design and synthesis, characterization and application of porous oxide-supported amine materials that we have developed as cornerstones of new technologies for the removal of CO2 from air. These materials are incorporated into customized air/solid contactors designed specifically as key components of DAC technologies. DAC offers an interesting case study for the parallel and integrated design of materials, unit operations, and processes in chemistry and chemical engineering.
Past Speakers
- 2025 – Gary Wnek, Ph.D.
- 2024 – LaShanda Korley, Ph.D.
- 2023 – Carol K. Hall, Ph.D.
- 2022 – Piero Baglioni, Ph.D.
- 2021 – Dong-Pyo Kim, Ph.D.
- 2020 – Monty Alger, Ph.D.
- 2019 – Klavs Jensen, Ph.D.
- 2018 – Babatunde Ogunnaike, Ph.D.
- 2017 – Robert Prud'homme, Ph.D.
- 2016 – Gregory Stephanopoulos, Ph.D.
- 2015 – Vicki L. Colvin, Ph.D.
- 2014 – Benny D. Freeman, Ph.D.
- 2013 – Mark E. Davis, Ph.D.
- 2012 – Jay Keasling, Ph.D.
- 2011 – Joseph M. DeSimone, Ph.D.
- 2010 – Charles Liotta, Ph.D.