Valarie Thomas
 Valarie Thomas MMPEI Faculty Affiliate |
- Assistant research scientist, Chemical Engineering.
Valarie Thomas is an assistant research scientist in the department of Chemical Engineering.
She received her undergraduate education at MIT and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Valarie has significant research expertise in both surface and thin film sciences as well as ultra-high vacuum system setup and operation. This expertise has been mostly applied to the development of novel gas sensors. She worked at NASA Glenn located in Cleveland, OH as a Senior Research Scientist developing high temperature CO/H2/hydrocarbon Schottky diode gas sensors before returning to U-M as an assistant research scientist.
Valarie is now applying her skills to energy related research such as using fuel cells to electrochemically achieve industrially relevant chemical reactions. One aspect of her research strives to engineer nanomaterials for specific applications, such as vegetable oil hydrogenation catalysts. These nanomaterials would be used in fuel cells or as novel chemical storage systems capable of storing hydrogen. A main focus of her energy related research agenda is to use trace elements to functionalize C-nanotubes so as to tailor novel electronic and chemical properties that trap /adsorb hydrogen.
Dr. Valarie Thomas is a MMPEI Faculty Affiliate.