Houston Technology Center honors Barron

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Andrew Barron, Rice University’s Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science, was honored last week with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Houston Technology Center (HTC), an incubator for businesses.

	PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSTON TECHNOLOGY CENTER
	Rice Professor Andrew Barron, center, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Houston Technology Center’s “Celebration of Entrepreneurs” May 12. With Barron are J. Downey Bridgwater, left, chairman of the HTC board, and Walter Ulrich, right, HTC president and CEO.

Barron was one of six honored at the organization’s “Celebration of Entrepreneurs” held May 12 at the Omni Houston Hotel.

”With the Rice Alliance and organizations such as HTC, there is a unique vibrance about Houston that makes it an excellent location to foster entrepreneurship,” he said.

Barron, who has described himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” specializes in the application of nano-based materials. He has founded companies based upon his Rice research to commercialize breakthroughs in solar-cell manufacturing, proppant materials for natural gas and oil production and water purification for both the oil industry and drinking water. He was named the first Prince of Wales Visiting Innovator by Prince Charles last year to bring his expertise in materials science to students and faculty in the United Kingdom.

Barron’s other recent research involves molecular keys to halting the spread of HIV, a supercharged disinfectant and treatment of neuroblastoma tumors in children.