User:Samy El-Shall

Samy El-Shall (Mohamed Samy El-Shall) is an Egyptian-American physical chemist and a researcher in nanoscience, heterogeneous catalysis, cluster, nucleation and ion mobility. He is the Mary Eugenia Kapp Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Commonwealth Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA.

Early life and academic career El-Shall was born in Cairo, Egypt and spent his early life in Cairo. He earned his BS in chemistry in 1976 and MS in physical chemistry in 1980 both from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. El-Shall earned his doctoral degree in physical chemistry from Georgetown University in December 1985. While attending graduate school he met and married Lisa Allerman El-Shall, his wife of 36 years. He spent time as a post-doctoral researcher at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) working with Professor Howard Reiss on vapor phase nucleation and with Professor Robert L. Whetten on molecular clusters and cluster ions, before joining the faculty of VCU in 1989. He and his wife raised three children (Sara, Noha and Sherif).

Research El-Shall and his research group have contributed to many important areas of physical and nanomaterials chemistry. El-Shall research interests include nanostructured materials, graphene and nanocatalysis for energy and environmental applications, gas phase clusters and nucleation. El-Shall is the architect of the concept of cluster polymerization, and intracluster polymerization was first demonstrated in his lab at VCU.[1-3] El-Shall was also the first to apply the Resonant Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization (REMPI) technique to selectively generate molecular ions within supersaturated host vapors and study the phenomena of ion-induced nucleation on well-defined ions.[4,5] El-Shall group has also been involved in the development of a novel technique: Laser Vaporization Controlled Condensation (LVCC) for the synthesis of a variety of semiconductor, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles.[6,7] A major focus of his lab is currently on the applications of graphene in heterogeneous catalysis and developed novel microwave and laser methods for the synthesis of nanoparticle catalysts supported on graphene.[8.9] The recent discovery of efficient photo-thermal energy conversion by graphene oxide-based materials by El-Shall’s group has resulted in the development of new materials for efficient solar water desalination and the removal of heavy metals from contaminated water.[10-12] As of 2021, El-hall has produced over 290 publications in refereed journals in the areas of physical chemistry, catalysis and nanoscience, with over 13,000 citations. El-Shall also holds 11 US patents on the synthesis of nanomaterials, nanoparticle catalysts, graphene, graphene-supported catalysts and graphene-based materials for the removal of pollutants from water.

Awards and honors El-Shall received the Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV), Virginia's highest faculty honor in 1999; the Distinguished Research Award from the Virginia Section of the American Chemical Society in 2009; the VCU Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2011, and the VCU Award of Excellence in 2016. He was selected as a Jefferson Science Fellow and worked as a Senior Science Advisor at the U.S. Department of State in 2012-2013. El-Shall received the Virginia Outstanding Scientist in 2018 awarded by the Governor of Virginia. He is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2012 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013.

References •	[1] El-Shall, M.S.; Marks, C. J. Phys. Chem. 1991, 95, 4932-4935. •	[2] Momoh, P.O.; Abrash, S.A.; Mabrouki, R.; El-Shall, M.S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 12408-12409. •	[3] El-Shall, M.S., Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, 41, 783-792. •	[4] Kane, D.B.; Daly, G.M.; El-Shall, M.S. J. Phys. Chem. 1995, 99, 7867-7870. •	[5] Fisenko, S.P.; Kane, D.B.; El-Shall, M.S. J. Chem. Phys. 2005, 123. 104704. •	[6] El-Shall, M.S.; Slack, W.; Vann, W.; Kane, D.B.; Hanley, D. J. Phys. Chem. 1994, 98, 3067-3070. •	[7] Li, S.; Silvers, S.J.; El-Shall, M.S. J. Phys. Chem. B. 1997, 101, 1794-1802. •	[8] Moussa, S.; Siamaki; Gupton, B.F.; El-Shall, M.S. ACS Catalysis 2012, 2, 145-154. •	[9] Moussa, S.; Panchakarla, L.S.; Ho, M.Q.; El-Shall, M.S. ACS Catalysis 2014, 4, 535-545. •	[10] Abdelsayed, V.; Moussa, S.; Hassan, H.M; Aluri, H.S.; Collinson, M.M.; El-Shall, M.S. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1, 2804-2809. •	[11] Kiriarachchi, K.D.; Awad, F.S.; Hassan, A.A.; Bobb, J.A.; Lin, A.; El-Shall, M.S. Nanoscale 2018, 18531-18539. •	[12] Awad, F.S.; AbouZeid, K.M.; Abou El-Maaty, W.M; El-Wakil, A.M; El-Shall, M.S. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 34230-34242.

External links •	‪Samy El-Shall‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ •	https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5BVf9fsAAAAJ&hl=en •	•	Jefferson Science Fellows 2012 •	https://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/Jefferson/PGA_070552 •	•	Virginia Outstanding Scientists 2018 •	https://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2018/02-feb15-gov.shtml •	•	APS Fellows 2012 •	https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=E&year=&unit_id=&institution= •	•	AAAS Fellows 2013 •	https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-council-elects-388-new-aaas-fellows •

Categories: •	Faculty - El-Shall - Virginia Commonwealth University (vcu.edu) •	Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science •	Fellows of the American Physical Society •	Cairo University alumni •	Georgetown University alumni •	Egyptian chemists •	American Muslims •	Muslim inventors •	Egyptian inventors •	Living people