Dr. Raj Shah receives American Oil Chemist Society’s highest award

Indian American scientist Dr. Raj Shah, Director at Koehler Instrument Company in Holtsville, New York, was recently felicitated in Montreal as a Fellow of the American Oil Chemist Society (AOCS) at their 2024 annual meeting.

AOCS Fellow Award recognizes those who have made exceptional achievements in their field and their profession, including areas of research, industrial achievement, leadership and education. As Shah was unable to attend the conference, his Fellow medal and plaque was received on his behalf by Dr. Sevim Erhan, who has been a mentor to him for over 30 years

Earlier, at the  annual meeting  of the National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI), a professional society primarily composed of companies who manufacture and market all types of lubricating greases, in Toronto, Shah was felicitated with two prestigious awards by his peers.

Shah was awarded the Clarence E. Earle Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the technical literature relating to lubricating greases during the year, especially the  Grease guidebook for the industry that he edited with Bill Tuszynski.

In addition, he along with the authors in the grease handbook were awarded the Golden Grease Gun Award acknowledging their valuable work within the Grease Industry in the development of grease technology, manufacturing, testing, applications and better understanding of grease behavior or the promotion of grease usage.

For the first time, these two honours were given to the same individual in the same year. Dr. Shah, also published “Grease” in 2022 , which discusses the latest research in this field.

Earlier,  Dr. Shah was elevated to Fellow positions at the Institute of Physics (IOP), the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and the Institute of Measurement and Control, an organization of the Petro industry.

This year, Dr. Shah was also selected as an eminent engineer into Tau Beta Pi, the oldest engineering honor society in the US and honored by the Energy institute with the title of a Chartered petroleum engineer.

Dr. Shah is widely recognized worldwide for his contributions to the field of fuels, lubricants, and greases. His specialization is in the development of laboratory analytical instrumentation used primarily in the petroleum laboratory.

Dr. Shah’s other interests include kayaking, mentoring engineering students and mobile photography. Living in Long Island, New York with his wife of 28 years Dr. Niloufar Faridi and their son Kian, the family is active in the special needs community and  participates in various Indian American philanthropic community events.