CARE-O-SENE PhD student Enrico Sireci garners coveted “summa cum laude”

After three and a half years, Enrico Sireci is one important step closer to adding two letters to his name: The soon-to-be Dr. Sireci (pending final publication of his thesis) successfully defended his PhD thesis on the “Theoretical Investigation of Co Nanoparticles Structures an Mn Promotion for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis” in late April, receiving the highest possible academic distinction of “summa cum laude”.

Enrico is one of several PhD students working on the CARE-O-SENE project developing a catalyst to improve the yield of sustainable aviation fuel production. In the course of his work on this milestone project in the decarbonization of aviation, Enrico has also authored three papers as first author, as well as two more as a co-author, with three more papers of varying involvement currently in preparation.

The CARE-O-SENE project is close to the young scientist’s heart for several reasons: “Carrying out my PhD as part of the COS project has been a privilege that has greatly enriched the overall experience, shaping me not only as a scientist but also as a communicator capable of working in a multidisciplinary environment. This was to a large extent enabled by the mentoring I received throughout the years by the experts in the consortium, both from distinguished academic institutions and our industrial partners from Sasol.”

At present, there are seven PhD students working on the CARE-O-SENE project in varying stages of their academic journey. To them and may to follow, Enrico has demonstrated that it is possible to excel academically while also pushing the envelope in industrially focused applied research.