R. Tom Baker

After he earned his Ph.D in Inorganic Chemistry in 1980, he spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow with Philip S. Skell at Pennsylvania State University.

In 1996 he joined Inorganic Isotopes and Actinides Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to work as a research chemist.

Baker has made contributions to the development and application of inorganic transition metal-based catalysis in many areas of chemical industry and academia.

[8] Baker also works on utilizing copper and vanadium homogeneous catalysts to facilitate aerobic oxidation of lignocellulose to obtain small monomeric organic molecules which can produce more valuable chemicals and renewable biofuels.

[9][10] Baker’s recent research also includes the development of tandem catalytic system to convert ethanol to n-butanol with high selectivity.