Dr. William Tarpeh, a MacArthur Fellowship awardee — often referred to as a “genius grant” — will deliver Missouri S&T’s 2026 Mathes Distinguished Lecture at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Innovation Lab Forum on the S&T campus.

The event is free and open to the public, and it will also be available via Zoom at umsystem.zoom.us/j/92033192597.

Tarpeh, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University, will present a talk titled “Designing Catalysts and Reactive Separations for Electrochemical Wastewater Refining.”

He will describe how new electrochemical approaches can treat polluted wastewater while recovering useful chemicals such as fertilizers. His work focuses on developing materials and processes that make water treatment more sustainable and more accessible for communities with limited resources.

Along with his MacArthur Fellowship, Tarpeh has been awarded the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, the Water Research Foundation’s Paul Busch Award and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ 35 Under 35 recognition, among other honors.

Tarpeh earned a Ph.D. and master’s degree in environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Stanford University. He also completed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan.

About the Mathes Distinguished Lecture

The Mathes Distinguished Lecture is supported through gifts from John Mathes, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at S&T in civil engineering in 1967 and 1968, and his wife, Susan, to bring nationally recognized scholars to the university to interact with students and faculty in civil, architectural and environmental engineering.

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.