Dr. Nicholas is the Co-Founder and President of Låkril Technologies, the startup he created in mid-2021 to commercialize a catalytic process for bio-based acrylic production. Låkril Technologies was just recognized as one of C&EN’s 10 Startups to Watch in 2025. His drive is to catalyze sustainability in chemical processes and has raised over $6M through a multi-agency SBIR and private strategy. Prior to founding a business based on sustainable catalysis, he worked 15 years at Honeywell UOP in technical and managerial roles primarily focused on inventing and catalytically testing new materials and processes. Specific areas included: heterogeneous catalytic processes including olefin oligomerization, synthesis of inorganic materials (primarily metal oxides and zeolites), process engineering, molecular adsorption, and olefin metathesis. He has received the 2020 Herman Pines Award in Catalysis from the Chicago Catalysis Club and the 2022 Award for Excellence in Catalysis from the Southwest Catalysis Society.

Chris earned his Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College and a PhD at Northwestern University. Chris is a 25-year ACS Member and an AIChE Fellow who is an inventor on more than 120 US and foreign patents and coauthor of 35+ peer-reviewed journal articles and a book chapter. Along with responsibilities as a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of ACS Catalysis and Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, he has been in leadership for the Chicago Catalysis Club and the Chicago AIChE local section.