October 2, 2025
Prof. T. Alan Hatton has transitioned to Professor Post-Tenure effective July 1, 2024.
Alan Hatton obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and worked at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria for three years before attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to obtain his PhD. He joined the MIT Chemical Engineering faculty in 1982 as an assistant professor. Among his many campus activities, he has been actively involved with the MIT Energy Initiative, where he has served as faculty lead on Carbon Management in the Future Energy Systems Center and previously served as co-chair of its Center on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage. Hatton’s early commitment to our undergraduates is symbolized in his service as a junior faculty housemaster (now known as associate head of house) in the undergraduate dorm MacGregor House from June 1983 to June 1986. His excellence in teaching was recognized through the Everett Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the only Institute-wide teaching award “in which the nomination and selection of the recipients is done entirely by the students,” in 1983.
For many in the MIT ChemE community, Hatton is synonymous with the MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice. He was named its director in 1989, and was appointed the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering Practice in 1996. When Hatton took on the role of director, a few major chemical industries hosted stations. He realized that focusing on one industry segment was not sustainable and did not reflect the breadth of a chemical engineering education, so he worked tirelessly to modernize the experience for students and have it reflect the many ways chemical engineers practice in the modern world. In addition to the diversity of technologies, working in worldwide locations has enriched students’ experiences. Hatton’s tenacity in recruiting diverse, global companies and his concept of having sponsor companies host one group of students annually enabled the participation of a wider variety of companies and made operations more sustainable by spreading the cost over more companies. He has further enriched students’ Practice School experience by sponsoring the creation of an intensive, hands-on course at MIT on project management. Students have found this intensive two-week class offered over IAP helpful beyond stations, when they return to their PhD projects and jobs.
Hatton’s research interests have encompassed self-assembly of surfactants and block copolymers, synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles, and the exploitation of these stimuli-responsive materials for chemical, environmental and pharmaceutical processing applications. More recently, his group has pioneered a number of electrochemically mediated operations for water treatment and resource recovery, as well as for carbon dioxide removal from point sources, ambient air, and ocean waters. In addition, his laboratory has spun out two start-up companies: Verdox (2019), which is developing electrochemical swing processes for CO2 capture from point sources and ambient air, was recently awarded a $1 million Elon Musk XPrize, while Mantel Capture (2022) is focused on exploiting molten salts for CO2 capture at the high temperatures at which it is produced in many chemical industries. Alan is co-author of over 450 publications and the inventor of over 45 patents.
In honor of Hatton’s birthday and recent retirement, his former students and colleagues are honoring him during a symposium at the 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting. [am session | pm session]
The Department is grateful for Hatton’s enthusiasm and passion for education, combined with his creativity and leadership, that have specifically enabled him to continuously modernize and adapt the Practice School, giving our students a unique and transformative education fitting our modern society.
For more information on the Practice School and its new director, Fikile Brushett, click here.