Surya Prakash is a Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Director holding the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at University of Southern California. His research encompasses superacid, hydrocarbon, synthetic organic, organosilicon and organofluorine chemistry, with particular emphasis in the areas of energy, greenhouse gas abatement and catalysis. He is a Co-Proponent of the Methanol Economy Concept based on carbon dioxide capture and recycling. He co-invented the direct oxidation methanol fuel cell. He is a prolific author with ~ 845 peer-reviewed publications holding > 120 patents. He has published 14 books. He has received many awards and recognitions including the American Chemical Society Awards: 2004 Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry, 2006 George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry, 2006 Richard C. Tolman Award and 2018 Arthur C. Cope Late Career Scholars Award. He has also received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT, Madras and the 2010 CRSI Medal from the Chemical Research Society of India. He has co-shared with the late Professor Olah, the inaugural $1 Million the 2013 Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels for Transportation by the State of Israel. In 2015, he won the Henri Moissan International Prize for excellence in Fluorine Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, a Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, Foreign Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. He also sits on Editorial Boards of several International Journals. Prakash’s co-authored book (with G. A. Olah and A. Goeppert), “Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy” (1st Edition, 2006; 2nd Edition, 2009; 3rd Expanded Edition 2018, Wiley VCH, translated into Chinese, Hungarian, Japanese, Swedish and Russian) is getting worldwide attention.