Norman Li
President
NL Chemical Technology, Inc.

Norman N. Li, PhD, president of NL Chemical Technology, Inc. in Mount Prospect, Illinois, has made major technical contributions to the advancement of separation science and technology in general and membrane science and technology in particular. He invented the liquid membrane and mixed matrix membrane for effective separation and purification of gas and liquid phases. He also invented a low-energy consumption reverse osmosis membranes for desalination applications.

Dr. Li has a distinguished career of 40 years in the American chemical and petroleum industries. He was a senior scientist with Exxon Research and Engineering Co. and the director of research at UOP Co. and AlliedSignal Co. (now Honeywell). He also served as a consultant for the U.S. Apollo Moon Landing Project. Recognizing the critical needs of clean water in many parts of the world, he founded NL Chemical Technology, Inc. in 1995, focusing on the development of advanced membrane technologies for water purification. He has made significant contributions to the worldwide implementation of industrial separation processes, which include membrane processes, continuous adsorption processes and applications for the manufacture of ozone-friendly fluorocarbons.

He was elected to the National Academy of Engineers in 1990 and was also elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academia Sinica. He received the prestigious Perkin Medal from the Society of Chemical Industry in 2000, the highest honor in the American chemical industry. He was the recipient of the Founders Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in2006, the highest honor conferred by AIChE. In addition, he received the American Chemical Society Award of Separation Science and Technology, and the inaugural Award for Lifetime Achievements from theWorld Congress of Chemical Engineers in 2001. Dr. Li was an AIChE board director (1992-1994) and a director of the Division of Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering. He also served as the chair of the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (1980), and as the president of North American Membrane Society (1991-1993). He has more than 100 technical publications, 44 U.S. patents, and 13 books edited—all in the field of separation science and technology. He has givenlectures at 80 universities and industrial laboratories.

Dr. Li and his wife, Jane, reside in Chicago. His wife is a PhD mathematician and an expert in quality management and they have a daughter and a son, both of whom are chemical engineers. He received his BS in chemical engineering from the National Taiwan University and his PhD in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1963.While pursuing his doctoral study (1960-1963), he was a full-time lecturer of chemistry at Newark College of Engineering.

In recognition of his outstanding career as an internationally renowned industrial scientist and engineer, New Jersey Institute of Technology is pleased to confer the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, upon Norman N. Li.