Philip K. Hopke of Clarkson University was recently selected to receive one of five multi-year grants from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for a project titled “The Empirical Kinetics of New Phase Embryo Formation and Materials Design at Subcritical and Near Critical Conditions.”

Hopke was at a conference in the Netherland when he received word about the grant.

Hopke, the Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor Emeritus, is a researcher in atmospheric and aerosol science who routinely travels the world to do scientific and consulting projects, according to a press release from Clarkson.

This newest project will reunite him with an old friend and fellow researcher, Michael Anisimov of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia. They will work with a research team in western Russia.

“Prof. Anisimov and I worked together in the late 1990s and early 2000s, studying how new particles form in the air,” Hopke says. “We got a National Science Foundation grant to study particle formation and completed some good work but didn't finish all we had wanted to do. So we have corresponded back and forth over the years. He recently mentioned the opportunity to apply for a grant and needed someone with a good international reputation to work with him. I agreed to join him.”

The project won't begin until the new year, but Hopke expects to spend at least six weeks a year in Russia doing basic studies on how vapors form liquid droplets, the release said.

It's the basis for important atmospheric processes that changes the nature of particles in the air.

“I can provide leadership to the project,” he said.

During his more than 28 years at Clarkson University, Hopke served in multiple leadership roles, including as chair of the chemistry department, dean of the graduate school, founder and director of the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES) and, most recently, founder and first director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE).

In addition, he has provided professional service and research contributions in the field of air quality and air resources.