Program

Tier 1: Rhodium Sponsor

Tier 2: Gold Sponsor

Tier 3: Platinum Sponsors

Tier 4: Palladium Sponsors

General Program

Saturday, September 12th, 2026

AM: Check in, poster-set up and breakfast at the Johnson Hall Room 102 (West Entrance, off SW 26th Street), Oregon State University

8:30 AM - 9:20 AM: Check-In

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast Provided

9:20 AM - 9:30 AM: Welcome & Opening Program

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM: Prof. Yong Wang (Keynote), Washington State Universitiy & Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Waking Up “Sleepy” Single Atoms: Unconventional Pretreatments for Enhanced Reactivity."

10:30 AM - 10:50 AM: Prof. David Chester Upham, University of British Columbia, "From Fleeting Sites to Lasting Carbon: The Molecular Catalysis of Liquid Metal Alloys."

10:50 AM - 11:10 AM: Dr. Haitling Cai, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Mechanistic Insights into Facet-Dependent Water Impact on Alkanol Dehydration on TiO2."

11:10 AM - 11:30 AM: Break, Coffee & Tea Provided

11:30 AM - 11:50 AM: Prof. Neil Razdan, University of Califoria - Berkeley, "Cooperative Heterogeneous–Homogeneous Catalysis Enables Aprotic H2O2 Synthesis and Tandem Organic Oxidations."

11:50 AM - 12:10 PM: Prof. Juye Kim, Oregon State University, "Bringing Acid Catalysis into Electrocatalysis: How Acid Sites Promote Glycerol Oxidation on Pt."

12:10 PM - 12:30 PM: Prof. Eric Lees, University of British Columbia, "Electrocatalytic Interfaces in CO2 Capture and Conversion."

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM: Lunch Provided

1:15 PM - 1:30 PM: Group Photo

1:30 PM - 1:50 PM: Prof. Julie Rorrer, University of Washington, "The Impact of Water on Zeolite-Catalyzed Hydrocracking of Polyolefins."

1:50 PM - 2:10 PM: Dr. Udishnu Sanyal, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Ethanol Upgrading to Ketone Intermediates – A Platform for Synthetic Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Chemicals."

2:10 PM - 2:30 PM: Dr. Dimitri Gatzios, Oregon State University, "The Influence of Hydrogen Atom Availability in Heterogeneous Olefin Metathesis Site Creation." Withdrawn.

2:30 PM - 2:50 PM: Break & PCCS Elections, Coffee & Tea Provided

2:50 PM - 3:10 PM: Prof. Steven Chavez, University of California - Los Angeles, "Support-Induced Charge Redistribution Governs Restructuring Trajectories in Bimetallic Pt Oxidation Catalysts."

3:10 PM - 3:30 PM: Prof. Melissa Santala, Oregon State University, "Characterizing the atomic-level structure and stability of interfaces between Pt nanoparticles and transition aluminas."

3:30 PM - 3:50 PM: Dr. Adam Hoffman, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, "In-Situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Sheds Light into the Dynamic Nature of Mo Species in Mo/MFI Catalysts."

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Poster Session in Johnson Hall Attrium. Hors-d'-oeuvres, drinks, and ice cream provided. (Ice cream provided by Beaver Classic Creamery!)

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Dinner banquet at the Vue Corvallis, 517 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97330.

Oral Symposium Location: Johnson Hall, Room 102

105 SW 26th Street, Corvallis, OR 97331

Poster Session Location: Johnson Hall Attrium

105 SW 26th Street, Corvallis, OR 97331

Dinner Banquet: Vue Corvallis

517 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97330

Catalysis Workshop (Optional for Trainees)

Sunday, September 13th, 2026

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows who register for the PCCS meeting are invited to join us for a free "Catalysis Workshop" held on the Oregon State Univeristy the day after the PCCS meeting. This course will be targeted towards students and trainees who are interested in learning the basics of catalysis and catalyst characterization.

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM: Check in and breakfast provided in the Johnson Hall, Room 221, Oregon State University

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Sponsored presentation by Clayton Williams Anton Parr, 30 minutes

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Sponsored presentation by Julian Hungerford, Malvern-Panalytical, 30 minutes

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Dr. Heath Kersell (Keynote Workshop), Science Discovery Systems LLC, "Seeing Active Catalyst States: A Hands-On Introduction to Ambient Pressure XPS."

1:00 - 2:00 PM: Lunch (Provided)

2:00 PM: Depart

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Clayton Williams, Sponsored Presentation by Anton-Parr

Unraveling Catalyst Deactivation via Cycled Physisorption and Chemisorption

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Julian Hugerford, Application Scientist, Sponsored Presentation by Malvern-Panalytical (via Zoom)

The Effect of Pressure on the Dispersion of NiAl2O3 Catalysts and its Correlation with Catalytic Performance in the Sabatier Reaction

Simon Yunes1, Navid Etebari Alamdari1, Phong Vuong1, Antonio Gi2

1 MalvernPanalytical, USA

3 Universidad Publica de Navarra, Pamplona, Espana

Catalytic reactions are typically conducted at elevated temperatures and pressures to overcome diffusion limitations and allow reactant molecules to penetrate the pores of the catalyst where active species reside. For this reason, any analytical technique intended to quantify the number of accessible active sites must also be performed under high-pressure conditions. Conducting techniques such as pulse chemisorption analysis at ambient pressure will only provide limited insight into the true number of active sites available under reaction conditions. In this work, two nominal metal loadings of nickel oxide (4.6% and 11.3%) catalysts supported on γ-alumina were prepared and tested for carbon dioxide methanation via the Sabatier reaction. The catalysts were characterized by pulse chemisorption analysis at ambient and elevated pressures to more accurately probe the number of active sites available on the catalyst at reaction relevant conditions. The result is a substantially higher dispersion of active sites measured at high-pressure which coincides with higher formation rates of methane in the Sabatier reaction.

Dr. Heath Kersell

Science Discovery Systems LLC

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Dr. Heath Kersell, Keynote Workshop

Seeing Active Catalyst States: A Hands-On Introduction to Ambient Pressure XPS

In catalytic environments, reaction pathways are shaped by exposed active sites on catalyst surfaces, directly influencing activity, selectivity, and deactivation mechanisms. However, the active chemical state and structure often transform under reaction conditions, yielding new active sites or phases and altering relevant reaction pathways. As such, rational catalyst design demands operando understanding of the catalyst state as it evolves during a reaction. Conventional surface spectroscopies require ultrahigh vacuum conditions under which these states may not persist, often obscuring active catalyst states. Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (APXPS) enables in situ or operando measurement of catalyst states and compositions, adsorbate identities, and adsorbed transient reaction intermediates and products in gas phase environments. Such capabilities yield crucial insights into mechanisms underlying catalytic processes which are unavailable to conventional spectroscopic techniques.

This hands-on session will present an introduction to APXPS along with practical considerations for experiment planning, execution, and interpretation. A survey of frontier methodologies will cover multimodal measurement approaches and technique modifications that enable the study of novel sample environments such as solid-liquid interfaces. Participants will analyze real APXPS data to learn data analysis software, work through fitting considerations and challenges, and explore spectroscopic phenomena introduced by the reactant gas environment. Time permitting, a laboratory tour will further provide participants a first-hand look at one such ambient pressure system. The goal of the session is to provide a holistic introduction to APXPS, a technique that has enabled critical insights into catalyst behavior since its inception.

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