Keith Searles
Assistant Professor
Research Focus
Our research is focused on the utilization and efficient conversion of globally abundant substrates, such as CO2, N2, CH4, natural/shale gas components and biofuels, which are related to energy and environmental concerns. The research focuses on the development of novel inorganic materials and molecules spanning the fields of both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. A major emphasis is centered on the development of well-defined heterogeneous catalysts using state-of-the-art surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC) techniques where a fundamental understanding of catalytic events and structure-activity relationships can be established for complex heterogeneous catalysts, all while utilizing principles of homogenous chemistry.
Education and Training
2015–2019: Postdoctoral Researcher, ETH Zürich
2010–2015: Ph.D. Chemistry, Indiana University
Selected Awards
ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator
Selected Publications
Rahul Koottanil Haridasan†, Shirley Hernandez†, Selena Kuenzig, Gabriela Tejeda, James H. P. Collins, Konstantin V. Bukhryakov*, Keith Searles.* Silica-Supported Vanadium-Oxo-Alkylidene for Self-Metathesis of Propene. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025.
Reece Johnson†, Peijie Hu†, James Pugh, Rahul Koottanil Haridasan, Keith Searles.* “Hydrogenation Utilizing Organometallic Early Transition Metal Precursors. Catal. Sci. Technol., 2025, 15, 41.
Giorgi, N., Haridasan, R. K., Abboud, K. A., Searles, K.*. Dinuclear cobalt(II) bis-dipyrromethane complexes: Synthesis via divergent transmetalation reactions. Inorg. Chem., 2024, 41, 19098.