Dr. Max C. Deibert is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at Montana State University (MSU). He received a BSChE degree from Cornell University (1960) and a ScD degree in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1964). Dr. Deibert then served as an Assistant Professor and Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT for six years (1964-1970). During that six-year period he conducted extensive research in surface chemistry, electrochemistry, electrochemical engineering, and corrosion.

Dr. Deibert was awarded three US patents dealing with the discovery and development of a novel fuel cell cathode (air electrode) structure. That air electrode provided an essential basis for the design and production of 60 and 300 watt hydrazine-air fuel cell systems delivered to the US Army Research & Development laboratory in 1967. Dr. Deibert then served as an environmental consultant in private practice for 14 years (1970-1984).

He returned to academia in 1984 at MSU where he has conducted research in surface chemistry and surface oxidation. His early work at MSU included investigations into the fundamentals of the surface oxidation of both single crystal and polycrystalline elemental zirconium. Of particular interest in these studies was the oxidation state (ionic valence) of surface zirconium atoms associated with sub-monolayer oxygen chemisorption.

For the past several years he has directed a research team investigating surface coatings on stainless steel SOFC interconnect plates with the objective of understanding their fundamental oxidation mechanisms and of developing coatings that are electrically conductive, protective and stable in the SOFC operating environment over multi-year use periods.