Atomistic modeling of catalytic processes for energy applications

Jean-Sabin McEwen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Office: 257 Wegner Hall 509-335-8580
js.mcewen AT wsu.edu
Website:Dr. McEwen’s Website
Twitter:@mcewen_group

School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering1505 Stadium Way, Room 105
P.O. Box 646515
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6515

Graduate Students

Ariel Whitten
Carrington Moore
Charles Umhey
Isaac Onyango
Naseeha Cardwell

Undergraduate Students

Eva Arm
Grace Miller
Maggie Rickman

Graduate Student Alumni

Prof. Alyssa Joy Rose Hensley
Prof. Fanglin Che
Dr. Greg Collinge
Dr. Michael Ayiania
Dr. Neeru Chaudhary
Dr. Nisa Ulumuddin
Kyle Groden
Ian de Joode
Breanna Wong

Postdoc Alumni

Prof. Alyssa Joy Rose Hensley
Dr. Dezhou Guo
Dr. Renqin Zhang

Research Interests

The depletion of natural resources, rising fuel costs, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations have created a need for new and diverse forms of energy. Heterogeneous catalysis has played and will continue to play an important role both in the generation and use of energy to ensure a sustainable future, but a number of open questions remain to exploit the full potential of such catalytic systems. In order to do this, one needs not only to understand, but also to control materials at the nanometer length scale and far away from thermodynamic equilibrium.

In my research group, we model such systems from an atomistic (using ab initio quantum chemistry tools) and macroscopic (using Monte Carlo and Transfer Matrix methods) point of view. We also link these methods with corresponding multi-scale models. Our work is done in close collaboration with experimentalists. Some areas of interest to me are listed below.

Heterogeneous Catalysis in High Electric Fields
Theory of Surface Processes

Biographical Information

Jean-Sabin McEwen earned his B. Sc. in Physics at McGill University, Canada. He then went on to earn his M. Sc. and his Ph.D. in Physics at Dalhousie University, Canada. He spent about two years as a postdoctoral fellow in Belgium at the ULB and three years in Belgium at the F.R.S.-FNRS. He went on to obtain a position as research assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame for two years. He is now an associate professor at Washington State University.

Education

Ph.D. Physics, Dalhousie University (Canada), 2005
M.Sc. Physics, Dalhousie University (Canada), 2002
B.Sc. Physics, McGill University (Canada), 2000

Selected Awards, Honors, and Societies

2023 Peter M. A. Sherwood Mid-Career Professional Award (American Vacuum Society Applied Surface Science Division)
Anjan Bose Outstanding Researcher Award (2022)
President, Pacific Coast Catalysis Society (2019-Present)
ACS Catalysis Early Career Advisory Board Member (2018-2019)
2018 Class of Influential Researchers (Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, ACS)
National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2017-2022)
Secretary, Pacific Coast Catalysis Society (2015-Present)

Professional Experience

Associate Professor – Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, 8/2018–present
Assistant Professor – Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, 1/2012–8/2018
Research Assistant Professor – Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 10/2010–12/2011
Honorary Postdoctoral Researcher – Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique F.R.S.-FNRS, ULB (Belgium), 10/2010–10/2011
Postdoctoral Researcher – Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique F.R.S.-FNRS, ULB (Belgium), 10/2007–10/2010
Postdoctoral Researcher – Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, ULB (Belgium), 01/2006–09/2007
Postdoctoral Researcher – Deparment of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University (Canada), 09/2005–12/2005

Collaborators

A. Alexandrova (University of California Los Angeles, USA)
C. Campbell (University of Washington, USA)
C. Chin (University of Toronto, Canada)
R. Denecke (Universität Leipzig, Germany)
F. Gao (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
M. Garcia-Perez (Washington State University, USA)
P. Gaspard (ULB, Belgium)
S. Ha (Washington State University, USA)
H. J. Kreuzer (Dalhousie University, Canada)
N. Kruse (Washington State University, USA)
F. Mittendorfer (Univesität Wien, Austria)
E. Nikolla (Wayne State University, USA)
F. H. Ribeiro (Purdue University, USA)
M. Saeys (Ghent University, Belgium)
J. Szanyi (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
W. F. Schneider (University of Notre Dame, USA)
S. Scott (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
D. Shantz (Tulane University, USA)
C. Stampfl (University of Sydney, Australia)
H.-P. Steinrück (Universität Erlangen-Nürenberg, Germany)
E. C. H. Sykes (Tufts University, USA)
Y. Wang (Washington State University/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
J. Wintterlin (Universität München, Germany)
D. Wu (Washington State University, USA)
Y. Xu (Lousiana State University, USA)

Selected Publications

J.-S. McEwen, T. Anggara, W. F. Schneider, V. F. Kispersky, J.T. Miller, W.N. Delgass, F. H. Ribeiro, Integrated operando X-ray and DFT charaterization of Cu-SSZ-13 exchange sites during the selective catalytic reduction of NO_x with NH₃ Catalysis Today 184(2012) 129.
J.-S. McEwen, P. Gaspard, T. Visart de Bocarmé and N.Kruse, Nanometric Chemical Clocks, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (2009) 3006–3010.
J.-S. McEwen, P. Gaspard, F. Mittendorfer, T. Visart de Bocarmé and N.Kruse, Field-assisted oxidation of rhodium, Chemical Physics Letters 452 (2008) 133–138.
J.-S. McEwen and A. Eichler, Phase diagram and adsorption-desorption kinetics of CO on Ru(0001) from first principles, Journal of Chemical Physics 126 (2007) 094701.
J.-S. McEwen, S.H. Payne, H.J. Kreuzer, M. Kinne, and R. Denecke, and H.-P. Steinrueck, Adsorption and desorption of CO on Pt(111): a comprehensive analysis, Surface Science 545 (2003) 47–69.
J.-S. McEwen, S.H. Payne and C. Stampfl, Phase diagram of O/Ru(0001) from first principles, Chemical Physics Letters 361 (2002) 317–320.