Making a Difference: Perspectives on Being a Change Agent
Speaker
Levi Thompson
Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Delaware
Abstract
Making a Difference: Perspectives on Being a Change Agent
As far back as I can remember, my goal has been to make a difference. Early in my career my focus was on improving student outcomes and advancing research. More recently, my focus has been on organizational change. This talk will start with a brief description of my journey. I will then discuss strategies that I have used to accomplish change for impact while holding informal and formal leadership positions. I will close with an overview of our research aimed at making base metals perform like noble metals in catalytic and energy storage applications.
Bio
Dr. Levi T. Thompson is the Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). From 2018-2024 he served as Dean of the College of Engineering, leading its community of more than 3,500 students, more than 300 faculty and staff, 7 academic departments, and dozens of research centers to a rank of 22nd among colleges of engineering at public universities. Starting in August 2025, Thompson will join the faculty of the University of South Florida, serving as Dean of the College of Engineering.
Thompson is internationally recognized for his research on nanoscale materials with a focus on reaction engineering and energy storage applications. He is author/co-author on more than 150 publications and is co-inventor on more than a dozen patents, several of which have been licensed. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and is recipient of numerous awards including a 2006 Michiganian of the Year Award for his research, entrepreneurship, and teaching, National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, McBride Distinguished Lectureship, Union Carbide Innovation Recognition Award, and Dow Chemical Good Teaching Award. Thompson currently serves as an Associate Editor of PNAS Nexus and on the Editorial Board of the Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and served on the AIChE Board of Directors and as a consulting editor for the AIChE Journal.
Thompson earned his B.ChE. from the University of Delaware, and he holds M.S.E. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He and his wife Maria, an experienced entrepreneur, are the parents of two daughters, one a professor at Columbia University and the other an accomplished artist and designer.