Franklin M. Orr Jr. Named NAE Arthur M. Bueche Award Recipient

Franklin M. (Lynn) Orr Jr. has been named recipient of the 2024 Arthur M. Bueche Award by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) “for government, academic and industrial service in promoting clean energy policy, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and developments in carbon sequestration.” He will be presented with the award at the 2024 NAE Annual Meeting and 60^th Anniversary Celebration being held Sept. 29 in Washington, D.C.

Established in 1982, the Arthur M. Bueche Award honors an engineer who has shown dedication in science and technology, as well as active involvement in determining U.S. science and technology policy, promoting technological development, and contributing to the enhancement of the relationship between industries, government, and universities.

Orr is affectionately known as “the rare triple threat who combines research contributions, academic and industry leadership, and government service” to propel the nation to a new and climate-safe energy future. His work on enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and on CO2 sequestration, for which he earned election to the NAE in 2000, have contributed greatly to advances in clean energy innovation. According to the nominations team, “Dr. Orr has made significant and far-reaching contributions to the understanding of the physical mechanisms that govern multiphase and multicomponent flow in porous media using a combination of experiments and theory, all elegantly summarized in his book ‘Theory of Gas Injection Processes’ (2007). Application of Dr. Orr’s contributions allows designing significantly more efficient EOR floods and effective CO2 capture and sequestration in oil and/or water reservoirs.”

Orr is the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor Emeritus, Department of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University.  He served as under secretary for science and energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from 2014 to 2017, where he led the DOE’s offices of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy, Indian Energy Policy and Programs, Nuclear Energy, and Science. His efforts advanced carbon capture and storage along with a lifetime of contributions to enhanced oil recovery through miscible gas injection.

Orr joined Stanford in 1985, where he served as dean of the School of Earth Sciences from 1994 to 2002, as director of the Global Climate and Energy Project from 2002 to 2008, and as director of the Precourt Institute for Energy from 2009 to 2014. His research activities focus on how complex fluid mixtures flow in the porous rocks in the Earth's crust, the design of gas injection processes for enhanced oil recovery, CO2 storage in subsurface rock formations, and pathways for the clean energy transition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit adverse effects of climate change.

Prior to Stanford, Orr was employed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. from 1970 to 1972, Shell Development Company in Houston from 1976 to 1978, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro from 1978 to 1985.  He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, both in chemical engineering. 

Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and chairs the Board of Directors of the ClimateWorks Foundation.  He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Packard Foundation from 1999 to 2008, and he helped establish the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowships for Science and Engineering in 1988. 

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Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. Its mission is to advance the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent advice on matters involving engineering and technology, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering.

The 2024 NAE Annual Meeting marks the 60^th Anniversary of the NAE as “advisor to the nation.”  This year’s theme, “Reimagining Supply Chains for National Resiliency” represents a call to action for the nation’s top engineers in businesses, government, and academia to come together and reimagine next-generation supply chains. Event registration is now open.