About me
I am Professor S. K. Saxena, and I’ve been a practicing scientist all my adult life. I have over 55 years of research experience, and published over 400 papers in peer-reviewed journals. My expertise is in geochemistry and materials science.
Official Recognition
Recipient of La Laurea Ad Honorem in Scienze Geologiche, Padova University, Italy, honorary doctor 2001.
Recipient of the Rudbeck Medal for academic excellence, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, since 1994. The academy is the home of several committees which award many prestigious prizes, including the Nobel prize.
To see an extensive list of over 300 of my publications, please see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Surendra-Saxena
Selected Sample Publications
1. Saxena, S.K., Shen, G. and Lazor, P., Temperatures in the Earth’s core based on high pressure melting and phase transformation in iron; Science, 264, 405-407.
2. O.Fabrichnaya, S.K.Saxena, Pascal Richet and E. Westrum. Thermodynamic data on oxides in the Fe-Mg-Si-O system. Springer Verlag, 2004.
3. Saxena, S. K. Thermodynamics of rock-forming crystalline solutions. Springer-Verlag, 1973.
4. Ali Karbasi, Surendra K. Saxena, Rostislav Hrubiak, Thermodynamics of several elements at high pressures, Calphad, Vol. 35, 2011.
5. S. R. Kulkarni, M. Merlini, N. A. Phatak, S. K. Saxena, G. Artioli, S. Amini, M. W. Barsoum, Thermal Stability of Ti2SC in Air and Inert Atmospheres, J. Alloys. Compd., 469, 1 – 2, (2009)
6. Phatak, Nishad A.; Saxena, Surendra K.; Fei, Yingwei; Hu, Jingzhu. Synthesis of a new MAX compound (Cr0.5V0.5)2GeC and its compressive behavior up to 49GPa. Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2009), 475(1-2), 629-634
7. Phatak, Nishad A.; Saxena, Surendra K.; Fei, Yingwei; Hu, Jingzhu. Synthesis and structural stability of Ti2GeC. Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2009), 474(1-2), 174-179.
8. Belonoshko A. and Saxena, S. K. A molecular dynamics study of the pressure-volume temperature properties of supercritical fluids:II. CO2,CH4,CO,O2 and H2., Geochm. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 3191-3208, 1991
9. Dubrovinsky, L.S., Saxena, S.K., Lazor, P., Ahuja, R., Eriksson, O., Wills,.M. and Johansson, B. (1997), Experimental and theoretical identification of a new high pressure phase of silica; Nature, 388, 362-365.
10. R. Hrubiak, V. Drozd, A. Karbasi, S. K. Saxena, High P-T phase transition and P-V-T equation of state of hafnium. J. Appl. Phys., 111, 112612 (2012).
Ten other related papers:
1. Saxena, Surendra Kumar. Thermodynamics of rock-forming crystalline solutions. Vol. 8. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
2. Saxena, Surendra Kumar, and Alberto Dal Negro. “Petrogenetic application of Mg-Fe2+ order-disorder in orthopyroxene to the cooling history of rocks.” Bulletin de minéralogie 106, no. 4 (1983): 443-449.
3. Kumar, Sushant, and Surendra K. Saxena. “A comparative study of CO 2 sorption properties for different oxides.” Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy 3, no. 3 (2014): 30.
4. Saxena, Surendra Kumar. “A statistical approach to the study of phase equilibria in multicomponent systems.” Lithos 3, no. 1 (1970): 25-36.
5. Saxena, Surendra, Sushant Kumar, and Vadym Drozd. “A modified steam-methane-reformation reaction for hydrogen production.” International journal of hydrogen energy 36, no. 7 (2011): 4366-4369.
6. Kumar, S., Drozd, V., & Saxena, S. K. (2012). Catalytic studies of sodium hydroxide and carbon monoxide reaction. Catalysts, 2(4), 532-543.
7. George, Lyci, Vadym Drozd, Surendra K. Saxena, Elisa Gil Bardaji, and Maximilian Fichtner. “Structural phase transitions of Mg (BH4) 2 under pressure.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C113, no. 1 (2008): 486-492.
8. George, Lyci, Vadym Drozd, Helene Couvy, Jiuhua Chen, and Surendra K. Saxena. “An extended high pressure-temperature phase diagram of NaBH 4.” The Journal of chemical physics131, no. 7 (2009): 074505.
9. Vennila, R. Selva, Vadym Drozd, Lyci George, Surendra K. Saxena, Hanns-Peter Liermann, H. Z. Liu, Ashley C. Stowe, Polly Berseth, Donald Anton, and Ragaiy Zidan. “Structural study of ball-milled sodium alanate under high pressure.” Journal of Alloys and Compounds 473, no. 1-2 (2009): 576-578.
10. Saxena, Surendra K., and Rostislav Hrubiak. “Mapping the nebular condensates and the chemical composition of the terrestrial planets.” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 393 (2014): 113-119.
Other papers, books, and patents:
1. Mueller, Robert Francis, and Surendra Kumar Saxena. Chemical Petrology: with applications to the Terrestrial Planets and Meteorites. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
2. Aranovich, L. Ya. Kinetics and equilibrium in mineral reactions. Edited by Surendra Kumar Saxena. Springer-Verlag, 1983.
3. Kumar, Sushant, and Surendra K. Saxena. “Role of sodium hydroxide for hydrogen gas production and storage.” College of Engineering and Computing, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199 (2013).
4. Saxena, Surendra K., ed. Thermodynamic data: systematics and estimation. Vol. 10. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
5. Candela, P.A., Catti, M., Eriksson, G., Galimzyanov, R.F., Jeanloz, R., Khodakovsky, I.L., Knittle, E., Kuskov, O.L., Petaev, M.I., Safronov, V.S. and Saxena, S.K., 2012. Chemistry and physics of terrestrial planets (Vol. 6). Springer Science & Business Media.
6. Bhattacharji, Somdev, and Surendra Kumar Saxena. Energetics of Geological Processes. Springer-Verlag, 1977.
7. Kumar, Sushant, Vadym Drozd, Andriy Durygin, and Surendra K. Saxena. “Method and system for sequestering carbon dioxide and producing hydrogen gas.” U.S. Patent 9,719,417, issued August 1, 2017.
8. George, Lyci, Vadym Drozd, Surendra K. Saxena, Elisa Gil Bardaji, and Maximilian Fichtner. “High-pressure investigation on calcium borohydride.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 113, no. 33 (2009): 15087-15090.
9. Kumar, Sushant, Vadym Drozd, and Surendra K. Saxena. “A Catalytic Study of the Modified Coal Gasification Process to Produce Clean Hydrogen Gas.” CheM 1 (2012): 20-26.
10. Kumar, Sushant, Vadym Drozd, Andriy Durygin, and Surendra K. Saxena. “Capturing CO2 Emissions in the Iron Industries using a Magnetite–Iron Mixture.” Energy Technology 4, no. 5 (2016): 560-564.
Other related works:
1. Saxena, Surendra, Philip Spencer, and Vadym Drozd. “An alternative, environmentally friendly production process for refractory metal carbides and syngas using methane reduction of the oxide ores.” Monatshefte für Chemie-Chemical Monthly 149, no. 2 (2018): 411-422.
2. Fabrichnaya, Olga, Surendra K. Saxena, Pascal Richet, and Edgar F. Westrum. Thermodynamic data, models, and phase diagrams in multicomponent oxide systems: an assessment for materials and planetary scientists based on calorimetric, volumetric and phase equilibrium data. Springer Science & Business Media, 2004.
3. George, Lyci, Vadym Drozd, Surendra K. Saxena, Elisa Gil Bardaji, and Maximilian Fichtner. “High-pressure investigation on calcium borohydride.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C113, no. 33 (2009): 15087-15090.
4. Kumar, Sushant, Vadym Drozd, and Surendra K. Saxena. “A Catalytic Study of the Modified Coal Gasification Process to Produce Clean Hydrogen Gas.” CheM 1 (2012): 20-26.
5. Kumar, Sushant, Vadym Drozd, Andriy Durygin, and Surendra K. Saxena. “Capturing CO2 Emissions in the Iron Industries using a Magnetite–Iron Mixture.” Energy Technology 4, no. 5 (2016): 560-564.
6. Saxena, Surendra, Philip Spencer, and Vadym Drozd. “An alternative, environmentally friendly production process for refractory metal carbides and syngas using methane reduction of the oxide ores.” Monatshefte für Chemie-Chemical Monthly 149, no. 2 (2018): 411-422.
7. Fabrichnaya, Olga, Surendra K. Saxena, Pascal Richet, and Edgar F. Westrum. Thermodynamic data, models, and phase diagrams in multicomponent oxide systems: an assessment for materials and planetary scientists based on calorimetric, volumetric and phase equilibrium data. Springer Science & Business Media, 2004.
8. George, Lyci, and Surendra K. Saxena. “Structural stability of metal hydrides, alanates and borohydrides of alkali and alkali-earth elements: a review.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 35, no. 11 (2010): 5454-5470.
9. Saxena, Surendra Kumar, ed. Ferromagnesian Silicates: Melts, Fluids, and Solid-fluid Equilibria; Thermodynamic Methods and Data. Springer-Verlag, 1982.
General Professional Activities
Reviewer of articles for several journals (Solid State Chemistry, Applied Physics Letters, NSF proposals and books).
Chair and member of several tenure, promotion and search committees.
1980: U.N.D.P. TOKTEN Project Expert to India.
1981 Visiting Professor, University of Padova, Italy.
1982 Visiting Professor, University of Pavia, Italy.
1983 Visiting Professor, University of Umea, Sweden.
1989 Consultant, Dept. of Chemical Physics, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
1978-86 Secretary of the International Mineralogical Assoc. Working Group on Thermodynamics of minerals.
1991-95 Chairman of the CODATA Task Group on Geo-thermodynamic Data, Paris, France.
1979-96 Editor for the series Advances in Physical Geochemistry, Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Germany.
1996-99 Member of the Joint European Thermodynamic Database for Environmental Modeling committee
2004-2007, Member, French Nuclear Agency Technical Database.
My Employment History
2018-Current
Emeritus Professor, University of Uppsala, Sweden
2018-Current
Emeritus Professor, Florida International University, Miami, USA
1999- 2018
Professor, Florida International University, Miami, USA
1989- 2001
Professor, University of Uppsala, Sweden
1977- 1996
Professor, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
1973-1976
Associate Professor, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
1971-1972
Research associate, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
1969-1971
Senior Research Associate, National Academy of Science, at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
1968-1969
Research scientist, Institute of Mineralogy and Geology, Uppsala
1967-1968
Assistant Professor, Institute of Mineralogy and Geology, Uppsala
Collaborators
Marcelle Gaune-Escard: Ecole Polytechnique, Marsielles France
B. Sundmann: Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Arthur Pelton: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal Canada
Peter Lazor, Uppsala University, Sweden
R. Ahuja, Uppsala University, Sweden
G.Grimwall, Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden
Guilio Ottonello, University of Genoa, Italy
Gunnar Eriksson, GTT, Aachen, Germany
M. Krisch: ESRF, Grenoble, France
A. K. Singh, National Physical Lab, Bangalore, India
Josu M. Igartua Aldamiz, Fisika Aplikatua II Saila, Zientzi Fakultatea, Bilbao, Spain
Gonzalo Gutierrez, U.Santiago, Chile, W. Orellanaa, U. Santiago, Chile
M. Zinkevich, S. Geupel, F. Aldinger, Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung Stuttgart, Germany
M. Tkacz, Polish Academy of Sc., Warsaw, Poland.
Collaborators (NationaI):
A.Davydov (NIST),
M. Barsoum (Drexel),
H.K.Mao (CIW, DC and HPCAT, Argonne National Laboratory),
J. Ganguly, U. Arizona, Tucson,
Z. Wang, Cornell,
G. Shen, HPCAT,ArgonneNational Lab,
Jingzhu Hu, Brookhaven National Lab.,
Hans-Peter Liermann, HPCAT, Argonne National Lab.
Ph.D. Graduates (18):
Y. Fei, Geophysical Lab;
S. Rekhi, Brookhaven;
Z. Wang, CHESS, Cornell;
J.Zhang, Los Alamos;
G. Shen, Argonne National Lab.,
S. Kumar, IIT, Patna,
G.Subrahmanyam, Roorkee, S.Phatak, UK,
S. Srinivas,Pune, Julia Saks, Alexandria, Olga Fabrichnaya, (and some others)
Post-doctoral Fellows:
Leonid Dubrovinsky, 1995-1999. Senior Scientist, Bayreuth Geophysical Laboratory, Bayreuth, Germany.
A. Belonoshko, 1990-1995. Research Associate, Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Hans-Peter Liermann; 2001-2004. Scientist, Synchrotron beam line, HPCAT, Argonne National Lab., B. Manoun, Morocco.
F. Zhang, University of Michigan., A. Durygin, FIU., V. Drozd, FIU., S.V.Raju, FIU. J. Sowerby, Miami.
Hydrogen Production through Chemistry 