Mark Edward Zappi,
Ph.D., P.E.
Dean of Engineering - ULL
Dr. Mark Zappi
is the Dean of Engineering at the University
of Louisiana at Lafayette and a
full professor of chemical engineering within the chemical engineering
department. Before arriving at UL, Dr. Zappi was a member of the Dave C. Swalm
School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi
State University
where he held the Texas Olefins Professorship of Chemical Engineering. Prior to his tenure at MSU, he served as the
head of the Bioprocessing and Chemical Oxidation
R&D research team at the US Army Corps of Engineer=s Waterways Experiment
Station in Vicksburg, MS.
Dr. Zappi
has a BS in Civil Engineering from the University
of Louisiana and a MS and PhD in
Chemical Engineering from Mississippi
State University.
Dr. Zappi=s research areas include development of
bioprocesses for the production of commodity and specialty chemicals, including
ethanol, acetic acid, biodiesel, fatty acids, proteins, and biogas. He is also actively involved in the
development of new bio-based products, such as cellulose-based adsorbents for
treatment of polluted waste streams.
Dr. Zappi holds three patents relating to bioprocessing and has two additional patents pending in the
same subject area.
Dr. Zappi
served as the founder and Director of the Mississippi University Research
Consortium for the Utilization of Biomass which was a DOE and State supported
consortium composed of researchers from Mississippi
State University,
Jackson State
University, University
of Mississippi, and University
of Southern Mississippi. This Consortium focused research toward the
production of fuels and chemicals from both waste and cultured biomass
products.
Since his arrival at UL Lafayette, Dr. Zappi
has been involved with the researching of innovative techniques for the
production of biofuels and other chemicals. He is currently organizing a world-class
R&D group at UL Lafayette to work with other institutions on the
commercialization of renewable chemicals and fuels manufacturing. He is also currently working with several
private companies on the commercialization of bio-based products and processes.