Prof. Dr. Randall Q. Snurr has been awarded a Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The researcher at Northwestern University (Evanston, USA) is a Corresponding Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (SAW). The award and the 80,000 euros associated with it will bring him back closer to his academy colleagues and their joint research on diffusion in nanoporous materials.
The Humboldt Research Award honours internationally renowned researchers in recognition of their entire academic record to date. Along with a monetary prize of € 80,000, winners are invited to pursue research projects of their choosing in collaboration with colleagues in Germany.
“I am very much looking forward to spending an extended time in Germany and interacting with the world-class researchers,” Snurr says. "Part of my plans for the time in Germany is to work with both Matthias Thommes in Erlangen and Jörg Kärger, Roger Gläser and others in Leipzig." After completing his doctorate, Snurr worked as a Humboldt Research Fellow at the former Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences of the University of Leipzig under Prof. Dr. Jörg Kärger, who presently chairs the academy commission "Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society".
Snurr is the John G. Searle Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering. In his research he focuses on developing new nanoporous materials to solve important problems related to energy and sustainability. Snurr and his group have contributed to materials for hydrogen storage, CO₂ capture, energy-efficient separations, atmospheric water harvesting, and the capture of PFAS and other pollutants from water.
"In Erlangen and Leipzig, our goal is to improve our understanding of diffusion in 'hierarchical' porous materials, that is, porous materials having a hierarchy of both large and small pores", he explains. "These systems are important in a variety of industrial applications, including petroleum refining, and also in emerging applications".
Snurr has also made significant contributions to the development of computational tools for molecular-level modeling of adsorption and diffusion in nanoporous materials, including the creation of open-source software and databases used worldwide.
He has been named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics from 2014 to 2025. His work has been reported in approximately 350 publications with over 60,000 citations. He is currently on the advisory boards of several journals and will join the AIChE Journal as an associate editor in 2026.
Snurr recently served as the chair of the biannual international conference Diffusion Fundamentals which brings together specialists from all over the world and co-edited an issue of the peer-reviewed, open access journal Diffusion Fundamentals associated with the conference.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supports outstanding international scientists and scholars, regardless of discipline or nationality, fostering a global network of academic collaboration and trust. Since 1972, its research awards have been a cornerstone of this support, with many recipients later receiving Nobel Prizes. Snurr said, "I am very grateful to the Humboldt Foundation for this honour and for the opportunities that the award provides."
(Northwestern University / SAW)
Prof. Dr. Snurr’s Profile at the Humboldt Foundation
Humboldt Research Award
Diffusion fundamentals conference series
Diffusion fundamentals journal (open acces)