About this conference series

This conference series was initiated by Dr. Hassan S. Bazzi, then-chair of the Science Program at Texas A&M at Qatar, who chaired and organized the pilot edition in January 2007 (TAMUQ Chemistry Conference 2007) that showcased speakers from Qatar and the USA.

QAFCO, Qatar’s first large-scale venture in the petrochemical sector, was the exclusive sponsor of the conference. Building on the success of the first edition and the large audience of chemists and engineers it attracted, QAFCO and Texas A&M at Qatar signed an agreement in February 2007 wherein QAFCO would become the exclusive sponsor of the conference series for 5 years and the event was renamed to “QAFCO-Texas A&M at Qatar Chemistry Conference.” Between 2008 and 2013, the event grew to become a regional point of attraction for scientists and engineers and it covered different thematic areas, such as:

• 2008: Polymers and Materials

  keynote speaker: Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

• 2009: Organometallic Chemistry, Synthesis and Mechanisms

  keynote speaker: Dr. Robert G. Bergman, University of California, Berkeley, USA

• 2010: Synthetic Methodologies in Organic Chemistry

  keynote speaker: Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2005, California Institute of Technology, USA

• 2011: Computational Chemistry

  keynote speaker: Dr. Krishnan Raghavachari, Indiana University, USA

• 2013: Green Chemistry and Green Engineering

  keynote speaker: Dr. Paul T. Anastas, Yale University, USA

Keynote speakers and invited speakers came from different countries all over the globe. The event kept collecting momentum in the local academic and industrial sectors, and the attendance increased over the years.

In order to closely align the event with the needs of Qatar and its industrial sector, the organizers decided to widen the scope and call the series “QAFCO-Texas A&M University at Qatar at Conference,” QAFCO generously renewed its exclusive support with a $500,000 sponsorship agreement for another five years (2014-2018). Starting in 2014, the conference showcased parallel sessions in chemical engineering and chemistry. Topics ranged from:

• 2014: Nanotechnology and Energy

  keynote speaker: Dr. Paul Alivisatos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

• 2015: Sustainable Chemical Processes

  keynote speaker: Dr. Peter Wasserscheid, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

• 2016: CO₂ Management and Renewable Energy

  keynote speaker: Dr. Michael Graetzel, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

• 2017: Water, Energy and Food Nexus

  keynote speaker: Dr. Michael Ladisch, Purdue University, USA

• 2018: Emerging Frontiers in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

  keynote speakers: Dr. Fraser Stoddart, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2016, Northwestern University, USA, and Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2005, California Institute of Technology, USA