2026 GPCS Awardee Announcement

The GPCS is pleased to announce that Dr. Ron Abbott (Lyon­dell­Basell) has been select­ed to receive the 2026 GPCS Award in recog­ni­tion of his out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to catal­y­sis in the refin­ing and petro­chem­i­cal indus­tries over sev­er­al decades, span­ning inven­tor­ship, orga­ni­za­tion­al lead­er­ship, and tech­nol­o­gy commercialization.

Dr. Abbott’s more than 25 patents, tech­ni­cal con­tri­bu­tions to the HF alky­la­tion process, and lead­er­ship in the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of CPChem’s 1‑hexene tech­nol­o­gy and Mar­lex® Anew™ cir­cu­lar poly­eth­yl­ene demon­strate the breadth and last­ing impact of his work, which con­tin­ues today through efforts to advance a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my for plas­tics. He has also been a strong sup­port­er of aca­d­e­m­ic insti­tu­tions through engage­ment with GPCS, industry–academia col­lab­o­ra­tions, and men­tor­ship of the next gen­er­a­tion of sci­en­tists and engineers. 

Dr. Abbott will present a ple­nary lec­ture at the GPCS 2026 Fall Sym­po­sium on August 10 in Man­hat­tan, Kansas. We encour­age you to join us in cel­e­brat­ing his achievements.