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General CAER News

Ari Geertsema

A breakfast gathering and send-off was held on August 31st for former CAER Director, Ari Geertsema and his wife Gina. It was attended by his colleagues, CAER Advisory Board Members, UK Faculty Associates, and CAER staff. Ari received a gift basket filled with Kentucky reminders. He is moving to Denver, CO to take a position with a new company that plans to build decentralized biomass-to-ethanol facilities using gasification.

Rodney Andrews, Associate Director of the CAER Carbon Group, will be the Acting Director while a search is conducted for a successor.

Rodney Andrews

Rodney Andrews
CAER Acting Director



The respected journal FUEL (publisher, Elsevier Press) has devoted an issue to papers that were presented at the 2005 World of Coal Ash Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. The conference is co-hosted by the University of Kentucky CAER and the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA). The publishing company has been a very strong supporter of the series of ash meetings that have taken place since the 1990s.

Meetings and Special Presentations

  • The International Carbon Conference that was held in Aberdeen, Scotland was well represented by CAER staff members (Rodney Andrews, Matt Weisenberger, Brock Marrs and Ari Geertsema). Rodney Andrews was involved in a workshop before the conference; Matt Weisenburger gave a poster presentation and Brock Marrs made an oral presentation which was well received.
  • Matt Weisenberger presented a 45 minute seminar about CAER to the University of Alicante putting forth our new joint effort for exchange student opportunities. The University of Alicante and UK are working on an agreement which will allow for doctoral students to study abroad for 3-6 months.

Staff Accolades

  • A US patent Application (Docket No. 434-309) entitled "Method for Hydraulically Separating Carbon and Classifying Coal Combustion Ash" was submitted by Tom Robl and Jack Groppo.
  • Rodney Andrews was recently elected as a new executive council member to The Consortium for Premium Carbon Products from Coal (CPCPC).This organization is focused on the development, commercialization, and promotion of technologies needed to produce high value-added carbon products from coal and coal-derived feedstocks. The consortium was established on June 1, 1998. CPCPC is an industry-driven consortium whose members propose research initiatives in areas they identify as being strategically important to the coal and carbon/graphite industries. CPCPC is currently comprised of 50 members whom represent a broad array of industries.

UK Interactions

The CAER is pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Meier, University of Kentucky Professor of Chemistry, will be a visiting scientist at the lab for one year and will serve as Acting Associate Director of the Carbon Materials Group. Mark has worked closely with this group for several years and this on-site sabbatical provides a greater opportunity to collaborate on a daily basis. His main research interests are in the chemistry of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. He has been a member of the university's faculty since 1990. Previous to that, Mark received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, which was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin.