Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient
College of Science and Engineering, March 17, 2023
Franklin Orr received a PhD in chemical engineering in 1976 from the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He holds the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor in Petroleum Engineering at Stanford University. He has dedicated his life to researching and solving problems related to energy, fuels, and sustainability. His distinguished career in academia includes faculty positions at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1978-85) and Stanford University (1985-2014). While at Stanford, Orr served as dean of the School of Earth Sciences (1994-2002). He left academia to serve in the public sector as undersecretary of science and energy at the Department of Energy (2014-17) under the Obama administration. Orr’s scholarly contributions and leadership in energy issues earned his election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2000. He serves on many boards, including the boards of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the ClimateWorks Foundation. Orr is the recipient of several notable honors and awards, including Honorary Membership, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2019), Aurel Stodola Medal and Lecture, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (2017), and the Secretary’s Exceptional Service Award, US Department of Energy (2017), to name a few. Dr. Orr is an exemplary leader and public servant whose services to his university and our nation have strengthened collective efforts to reduce environmental impact while preserving human welfare.
Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.