Meet the Faculty

Ron C. Runnebaum, ’96 is associate professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science at UC Davis. He is also an assistant professor in their Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. His research program aims to combine his interests in sustainable winemaking with his research background in nanomaterials, adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis, and reaction engineering. Winemaking-related projects include developing materials to capture CO2 and volatile organic compounds, especially from fermentation; developing fundamental understanding for the production of chemicals from winery waste streams; and designing solid-state materials for the replacement of solution-based treatments, particularly those that could improve sustainability. In addition, Dr. Runnebaum continues to investigate fundamental structure-activity relationships in chemical adsorption and reaction by nanomaterials, including zeolites and supported organometallic clusters.