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Chemical Sciences and Engineering

Awards & Recognition

Argonne’s Chemical Sciences and Engineering division personnel have been recognized individually and as teams for their outstanding contributions to their fields and to the advancement of technology from the laboratory to application.

The awards reflect the Division’s role as a science-based research, development, and early-stage engineering organization that conducts both fundamental and applied research using experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches and its commitment to mentoring young scientists and engineers.

2023

  • 2023 Physical Sciences & Engineering (PSE) Excellence Award for Scientific Achievement, August 2023 - Sarah Elliott, Yuri Georgievski, Murat Keceli, Ahren Jasper, and Stephen Klippenstein are recognized for development of the Auto-Mech software suite, a computational tool with unprecedented calculational possibilities far beyond conventional approaches.
  • 2023 Physical Sciences & Engineering (PSE) Excellence Award for Laboratory and Community Achievement, August 2023 - Zhenzhen Yang is recognized for innovative work in Argonne’s Post-Test Facility in advancing research conducted to support the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, the ReCell Center, XCEL, the Silicon Consortium Program, and other Argonne efforts.
  • Lin Chen - PSE Employee of the Month - July 2023 - Lin leads a large research team focused on understanding how the very earliest events following light excitation impact a molecule’s ability to direct photochemical outcomes. Lin and the team’s recent work used ultrashort laser pulses to reveal the close relationship between electron and nuclear dynamics, challenging the Born-Oppenheimer approximation of quantum mechanics. The work could impact molecular design in solar energy conversion, energy production and quantum information science. The results were recently published in Nature and Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
  • 2023 Argonne Physical Sciences & Engineering (PSE) Early Investigator Named Awards, March 2023 
    • Rebecca Caravan, Proposal title: ” Controlling the reactivity of gas-phase intermediates via molecular complexation,” Mentor: Stephen J. Klippenstein
    • David Kaphan, Proposal title: Dynamic catalysis for H2 generation from ammonia,” Mentor: Massimiliano Delferro
  • Lily Robertson - Impact Argonne Award for Safety, May 2023

2022

  • Steve Trask and Marco Rodrigues - PSE Employees of the Month - October 2022 - Steve and Marco were tasked with delivering high-energy lithium-ion batteries to meet a research obligation of the Silicon Consortium Program. This task was challenging because it involved several interrelated and complicated steps regarding battery manufacturing and assembly. Steve and Marco persisted and met the programmatic goals in a timely manner. They also made their research available to the consortium community. Their success can be attributed to their many months of focused and sustained effort. They demonstrate the Core Values of Impact, Integrity and Teamwork.
  • Judy Brenzing - PSE Employee of the Month - October 2022 - Judy has been invaluable in organizing meetings involving large numbers of attendees. She has shown initiative in organizing and having materials approved quickly, in support of several high-level visits. Judy has demonstrated the Core Values of Teamwork and Impact.
  • Fulya Dogan, Baris Key, Steve Trask, Alison Dunlop, Marco Rodrigues - Impact Argonne Award September 2022. This team developed a novel method to create nanoscale in-situ coatings in support of the Silicon Consortium Program.  Building on their fundamental scientific observations and development of a new MAS-NMR based technique to characterize the surface of silicon, they successfully took these concepts and demonstrated a new pathway to control the reactivity of highly reduced silicide anions in support of the SCP effort. 
  • Esther Kovacs - Employee of the Month - September 2022 - Esther has been essential in training a new administrator while also supporting several research groups. She displays regular willingness to help, responsiveness and attention to detail. Esther’s contributions exemplify the Core Values of Respect, Integrity and Teamwork.
  • Giselle Sandi - Diversity and Inclusion Results Impact Argonne Award. September 12, 2022. Granted in recognition for the role played in the successful launch of the Laboratory-wide Argonne Mentoring Program.
  • Giselle Sandi - Extraordinary Effort Impact Argonne Award. August 23, 2022. Granted for supporting and engaging in the Hispanic Latino Club Employee Resource Group fundraising’s efforts to provide scholarships to underserved students in the Chicagoland area.
  • Al Sattelberger - The American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry.  For outstanding contributions to early transition metal and actinide chemistry, and a track record of building innovative inorganic chemistry programs at two national labs.”
  • Judy Brenzing - Impact Argonne Award - February 2022. Because of Judy’s extraordinary effort, the CSE Division was able to remain in compliance with Argonne’s records management policies as well as CSE’s research notebooks’ policy.  
  • Judy Brenzing - Impact Argonne Award - August 2022.  Judy provides consistent and extraordinarily effective administrative support for 6 groups and 70 people, which covers a range of complex travel arranging, coordination of meetings, and organizing several seminars and seminar series events.
  • Magali FerrandonSPOT award for recognizing our outstanding effort in making lab B110/Building 200 a safer place with the lab inspection and identifying a potentially very hazardous situation.
  • Xiaoping Wang - SPOT award for recognizing our outstanding effort in making lab B110/Building 200 a safer place with the lab inspection and identifying a potentially very hazardous situation.
  • Lin Chen -  Elected as a fellow of ACA (American Crystallographic Association) for my contribution in X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy for excited state molecules.
  • Stephen Klippenstein - , 2020 Polanyi Medal, awarded in 2022 (due to COVID) by the Gas Kinetics Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, at the International Symposium on Gas Kinetics, in recognition of his career long contributions to the theory of gas phase chemical kinetics.
  • Stephen Klippenstein -  Stephen was honored this summer for the Spiers Memorial Lecture and Award from the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and the Polanyi Medal from the Gas Kinetics Discussion group of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK.
  • Lily Robertson - Impact Argonne Award for impactful efforts by demonstrating extraordinary effort in the past year, advocating for postdoc needs and creating community amid uncertainty. 
  • Di-Jia Liu - R&D 100 Award for PGM-free OER Catalyst as Replacement of Iridium for PEM Water Electrolyzer.
  • Di-Jia Liu - Impact Argonne Award for extraordinary effort in developing report on water electrolyzers and fuel cells supply chain” on behalf of DOE to Executive Order 140017, (American’s Supply Chains.”
  • Jihyeon Gim - Demonstrated outstanding initiative and expertise, leading teams for DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) programs and industry engagements. His expertise, leadership and professionalism have assisted his team in developing novel ideas related to cathode synthesis and design.
  • Joseph Kubal:  PSE Employees of the Month - February 2022 Programmatic category, for the development and release of BatPac software.
  • Kevin Knehr:  PSE Employees of the Month - February 2022 -  Programmatic category, for the development and release of BatPac software.
  • Amanda Carr:  Impact Argonne Award for impactful efforts within the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne by demonstrating extraordinary effort, advocating for postdoc needs, and creating community amid a time of uncertainty through participation on the Postdoctoral Research and Career Symposium planning committee.
  • Shabbir Ahmed, Kevin Knehr Joseph Kubal: Paul Nelson, Dennis Dees, David Robertson, Kevin Gallagher:  R&D 100 Award for the Battery Performance and Cost (BatPac) Model v. 5.0.  BatPaC is a model used for the design and techno-economic analysis of lithium-ion batteries used to support our analysis for our sponsors DOE’s Office of Vehicle Technology, and other government agencies such as the USEPA, DOT-NHTSA, and sponsored projects. It is shared with researchers around the world, with more than 700 registered users since its release in February.
  • Deborah Myers:   Elected Fellow of the Electrochemical Society for pivotal discoveries and leadership in electrochemical energy conversion and hydrogen production.
  • Deborah Myers:  Argonne Board of Governors’ Distinguished Performance Award for developing and characterizing electrocatalysts for fuel cells and electrolyzers, for leadership of the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies’ consortia, and for advancing high efficiency alternatives for transportation.
  • Zhengcheng John” Zhang: Argonne Board of Governors’ Distinguished Performance Award granted for his distinguished record of outstanding achievements in the area of organic energy materials for next-generation electrochemical energy storage.

2021

  • Amanda Carr - Selected to 2021 Emerging Leaders cohort of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. An emerging leader is defined as a top researcher who completed their PhD in 2011 or later (10 years excluding career breaks). A limited number of early career researchers have been nominated by the journal’s Editorial Board as the most talented and exciting researchers in their generation.”
  • Amanda Carr - Impact Argonne Award for Extraordinary effort for setting up a new lab space, Argonne National Laboratory
  • Amanda Carr - 1-Minute Pitch Competition Winner, Argonne National Laboratory
  • Fulya Dogan, Employee of the Month Award, for (1) successfully upgrading the CSE NMR Facility under significant time constraints and (2) creating a new program to introduce local environment characterization tools to ReCell, the lithium-ion battery recycling program.
  • Giselle Sandi, 2021 Motivator Award for her excellent mentorship and support for women in STEMM through creation of enduring and effective programs at Argonne National Laboratory and Rush University Medical Center.
  • Lily Robertson, Basic Research Award. Robertson’s research investigated new materials for redox flow batteries and autonomous electrochemistry, she’s also recognized for her leadership in multi-institutional collaborations and for her leadership in safety and within the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne. 
  • Bob Jin Kwon, Applied Research Award.  Kwon’s work led to a fundamental understanding of Mg-ion transport and structure-activity relationships in spinel oxides, which resulted in the discovery and materials development of a new sub-class of Mg-ion cathode materials.
  • Xuanxuan (Michelle) Bi, Applied Research Award for building a differential electrochemical mass spectrometry or metal ion/oxygen batteries to determine the gas phase and to predict the electrochemical and chemical reactions, the first such instrument for battery research at Argonne, and for her leadership within collaborations.
  • Giselle Sandi, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results for her part on the Chemical Lifecycle Management Team
  • Sylvester Johannes Joosten, Impact Argonne Award for Programmatic Leadership by developing and supporting cutting-edge software toolkit for Electron Ion Collider
  • Whitney R. Armstrong, Impact Argonne Award for Programmatic Leadership by developing and supporting cutting-edge software toolkit for Electron Ion Collider
  • John Rohrer, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Teamwork and Safety
  • Russell Knaack, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Teamwork and Safety
  • Robin Harris, Impact Argonne Award for Employee of the Month in Operations, July
  • Mariel Jomant, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results
  • Robin Harris, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results
  • Judy Brenzing, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results
  • Brittany Hudson, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results
  • Penny Kolpacki, Impact Argonne Award for Notable Achievement in Safety Results
  • Giselle Sandi, Impact Argonne Award for Program Development for implementing a Writing Accountability Group (WAG)
  • Lin X. Chen, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Michael J. Servis, Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) Early Investigator Named Award
  • Giselle Sandi, Impact Argonne Award for founding the Hispanic/Latino Club Employee Resource Group 
  • Stephen H. Southworth, Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorate Employee of the Month, Programmatic Category - February
  • Robert Tranter, Fellow of the Combustion Institute
  • YoungJae Kim, Sang Soo Lee, & Peng Yang, American Chemical Society Geochemistry Division Early Career Scientist Travel Award
  • Massimiliano (Max) Delferro, Magali Ferrandon, Ryan Hackler & Robert Kennedy, Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) Excellence Award - Programmatic Scientific Achievement for development of a new catalyst for upcycling polyethylene plastic wastes into higher-value products
  • Michael Thackeray elected to the National Academy of Engineering for invention of cathode materials that dominate in Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage
  • Robin Harris,  Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorate Employee of the Month, Operations Category - January 
  • Jinhyup Han, Impact Argonne Award for Extraordinary Effort to maintain order in the labs
  • Richard Wilson, Vice Chair for the Nuclear Chemistry & Technology (NUCL) Division of American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Marek Piechowicz, Vice Chair for the Separation Science and Technology (SS&T) Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS)

2020

2019

  • Daniel Moberg, PNAS Cozzarelli Prize 
  • Khalil Amine, Junhong Chen, Lin Chen and Jun Lu, Clarivate Analytics Global Highly Cited Researcher for 2019
  • Joseph Gregar, Pinnacle of Education Award 
  • Di-Jia Liu & Lina Chong, 2019 R&D 100 Award - Fuel Cell with Ultralow Pt Loading
  • Jason Croy, R&D 100 Award
  • Stuart Rowan, R&D 100 Award
  • Khalil Amine, Zhonghai Chen, & Jun Lu R&D 100 Award - High-Energy Density & Safe Battery System for Powering Electric Vehicles
  • Khalil Amine, International Coalition of Energy Storage and Invocation Technology Award
  • Khalil Amine, The Electrochemical Society Battery Division Research Award
  • Khalil Amine, Global Energy Association, Global Energy Prize
  • Stephen Pratt, Argonne Distinguished Fellow
  • Christopher Johnson, Argonne Distinguished Fellow
  • Michael Thackeray, Laboratory Emeritus
  • Lawrence B. Harding, Laboratory Emeritus
  • Paul Fenter & CEES, Department of Energy, EFRC Ten at Ten Contest
  • Allison Dunlop, Andrew Jansen, Bryant Polzin, Stephen Trask awarded the Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorate Excellence Award
  • Nancy Kariuki, Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorate Employee of the Month - August
  • Jun Lu, American Chemical Society Emerging Researcher Award
  • Ahmet Uysal, Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award
  • Udita Brahmachari, Ian Johnson, & Lily Robertson received Outstanding Poster Presentation Awards by the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne
  • Robin Harris, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Phay Ho & Arturo Gutierrez, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Marco Tulio Fonseca Rodrigues, Outstanding Postdoctoral Performance in the area of Applied Research
  • Yingjie Li, Outstanding Postdoctoral Performance in the area of Applied Research
  • Zhenzhen Yang, Rising Star Commercialization Award
  • Bryant Polzin, along with Jeff Spangernberger & Linda Gains, Delivering Impact Award for ReCell
  • Ann Bertling, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Ilya Shkrob, Argonne Spot Award
  • Anne Marie March, Argonne Spot Award
  • Travis Glenn Sikes, Argonne Spot Award
  • Edward Schmitt, Three Argonne Spot Award
  • Jae Jin Kim, Argonne Spot Award
  • Magali Ferrandon, Argonne Spot Award

2018

  • John (Jack) Vaughey elected as 2018 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • Khalil Amine named a Highly Cited Researcher for 2018 by Clarivate Analytics (highly cited researchers must have papers that are in the top 1% of most cited papers in a given field)
  • Larry Wall and Jeff Hinthorn, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Sofie Napora, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Robin Harris, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Daniel O’Hanlon, Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Kirill Prozument, R&D 100 Award Finalist
  • Lina Chong, Maria Goeppert Mayer Post-doctoral Fellow
  • Robert Dunford, Division Emeritus
  • Elliot Kanter, Division Emeritus
  • Julius Jellinek, Division Emeritus
  • Kevin (Mike) Myles, Division Emeritus
  • Albert Wagner, Laboratory Emeritus
  • Khalil Amine,  2018 Energy Storage Materials Journal Award, recognizing an outstanding scientist in the field of energy storage materials and devices who has made significant contribution and whose work shows significant innovation in the field
  • Paul Fenter, Argonne Board of Governors Distinguished Performance Award
  • Chris Johnson, Argonne Board of Governors Distinguished Performance Award
  • Larry Harding, Steve Klippenstein, Jim Miller, and Al Wagner elected to the inaugural class of Fellows of the The Combustion Institute 2018
  • Karen Mulfort recipient of DOE Early Career Award. The award provides support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work
  • Brian Ingram recipient of Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award: The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Operations Team
  • Stephen Klippenstein has received the 2018 Ya. B. Zeldovich Gold Medal from The Combustion Institute, one of the highest awards given to combustion researchers
  • David Bross, Aurora Early Science Program Award
  • Theodore Krause, Silver Spot Award
  • Christopher Veselka, Argonne Spot Award
  • Paul Fenter, Argonne Spot Award
  • Lisa Utschig, Gold Spot Award
  • Ahmed Abozeed Farghaly, Argonne Spot Award
  • Ann Bertling, Argonne Spot Award

2017

  • Peter Stair recipient of the 2017 Herman Pines Award
  • Karen Mulfort recipient of the 2017 Rising Star Award from the American Chemical Society’s Women Chemists committee.  Awarded March 2018 at the 255th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
  • Khalil Amine and Chris Johnson inducted as Fellows of the Electrochemical Society 2017
  • David Tiede, Argonne Distinguished Fellow for 2017
  • Ted Krause received the Board of Governors award for Outstanding Safety Leadership
  • Ahmet Uysal, Argonne Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentoring Award
  • Zoha Hasnain Syed, Gold Spot Award
  • Khalil Amine and Michael Thackeray, NATTBatt Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Mark Antonio, Gengbang Jin, Suntharalingam Skanthakumar, and Richard Wilson Argonne Pacesetter Award
  • Yanjie Cui, Anthony Fracaro, James Gilbert, Hakim Iddir, Jeremy Kropf, Victor Maroni, Anh Vu, Xiaoping Wang, Rui Xu, Zhenzhen Yang, John (Dave) Carter, Arturo Gutierrez Argonne Pacesetter Award 
  • Ann Bertling, Argonne Spot Award for a Safety Share
  • Javier Bareno Garcia-Ontiveros, Argonne Spot Award

2016

  • Di-Jia Liu, 2016 R&D 100 Award - Porous Nano-network Catalyst
  • Argonne Distinguished Performance Award, Al Wagner
  • Argonne Pinnacle of Education Award, Sarah Soltau
  • Argonne Distinguished Fellow Lawrence B. Harding named as one of the top reviewers for the Journal of Chemical Physics.
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry A has a special tribute honoring the seminal contributions of Argonne Distinguished Fellow Lawrence B. Harding (CSE), Senior Chemist Joe V. Michael (CSE) and Argonne Distinguished Fellow Albert F. Wagner (CSE). The team is honored for their combined 100 years of combustion kinetics studies and research at Argonne. 2015
  • 2016 International Battery Association (IBA) Early Career Award, Jason Croy
  • Lynda Soderholm, Argonne Distinguished Fellow
  • Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor Award, Sang Soo Lee
  • Lawrence B. Harding named a Top Reviewer, Journal of Physical Chemistry
  • Postdoctoral Appointee Rachel Klet awarded the April 2016 Gold Spot Award
  • Linda Young award Helmholtz International Fellowship
  • Argonne Spot Awards: Ann Bertling, Rachel Klet, Ke Yuan, Sang Soo Lee, David Kaphan, & Cameron Peebles
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Victor (Tory) Steed
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Theodore Krause and Deborah Myers

2015

  • Sarah Soltau awarded best Postdoctoral Fellowship talk of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall meeting held in Boston, MA
  • National Safety Council Outstanding Safety Award: 5M hours worked without days-away injury
  • Argonne Board of Governors Outstanding Service Award, Deborah Vervack
  • Argonne Board of Governors Pinnacle of Education Award, Daniel Abraham
  • Michael Thackeray named recipient of the E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, sponsored by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Brian Ingram
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Brittany Spears and Deborah Vervack
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Sheldon Lee
  • Argonne Spot Awards: Jason Croy, Nicolas Donders, Ryan Langton, & Karen Mulfort

2014

  • Outstanding Safety Award: 3.5 million hours worked without a day-away injury
  • Emilio E. Bunel is a recipient of the 2014 HENAAC Luminary Award
  • Lawrence Harding awarded the Bernhard Lewis Gold Medal
  • Branco Ruscic named International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Fellow
  • 2014 R&D Award, Zhengcheng Zhang, Elizabeth Jordan, Leslie Pinnell & Christopher Kramer
  • 2014 NNSA Award for Outstanding Achievement, Megan Bennett & Sergey Chemerisov
  • U Chicago Pinnacle of Education Award, Michael D. Kaminski
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Christine McGhee
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, John Osudar and Daniel Preuss
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Jodi Canaday

2013

  • Stephen Klippenstein named Argonne Distinguished Fellow
  • 2013 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Student Abroad, Jinhua Huang
  • 2013 Outstanding Postdoctoral Supervisor Award, Daniel Abraham
  • Sugden Award from the British Section of The Combustion Institute, Branko Ruscic and co-authors, Inhibition of hydrogen oxidation by HBr and Br2” 159 Combustion and Flame (2012) 528-540.
  • 2013 Brian Kelly Award, Vilas Pol
  • 2013 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office R&D Award, Khalil Amine
  • DOE Vehicle Technologies 2013 Distinguished Performance Award, Khalil Amine and Michael Wang
  • Energy Rock Star” Award, U.S. Department of Energy, Jim Miller
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Seema Naik
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Deborah Vervack
  • Argonne Pacesetter Award, Lawrence Wall and Victor (Tory) Steed 

2012

  • Khalil Amine named Argonne Distinguished Fellow
  • US DOE Secretary’s Achievement Award for work on Fukushima, Monica Regalbuto
  • 2012 Early Career Research Program Award, Richard Wilson
  • First Prize in Science as Art” competition, 2012 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, Vilas Pol
  • AAAS Fellow, Lin Chen. Read story.
  • Director’s Award for Outstanding Safety Leadership, Argonne Board of Governors, Andrew Jansen
  • 2012 R&D 100 Award, Khalil Amine
  • Northwestern-Argonne Early Career Investigator Award, Lynn Trahey
  • 2012 Annual Merit Review Award, Thomas Benjamin, John Kopasz and Walter Podolski
  • U.S. Drive USCAR Team Award, Walt Podolski, Tom Benjamin, John Kopasz, and Debbie Myers
  • Stephen Southworth,  American Physical Society Fellow

2011

  • 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Secretary’s Achievement Award, Monica Regalbuto
  • 2011 Yeager Award, International Battery Association, Michael Thackeray
  • 2011 DOE Early Career Research Award, Jeff Greeley
  • 2011 Distinguished Performance Award, University of Chicago, David M. Tiede
  • 2012 ACA Warren Award, American Crystallographic Association, Paul Fenter
  • DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Award, Jim Miller
  • U Chicago Pinnacle of Education Award, Giselle Sandi-Tapia
  • Argonne Board of Governors Outstanding Service Award, Joseph Gregar

2010

  • April 2010 – Council of Chemical Research Diversity Award - Marion Thurnauer 
  • 2010 Powerful Hispanics in Energy Award, Monica Regalbuto
  • DOE Vehicle Technology Merit Award, Michael Thackeray

2007

  • June 2007 - University of Chicago-Argonne Pinnacle of Education Award, Marion Thurnauer 
  • April 2007 - Argonne National Laboratory Science Career in Search of Women Conference Founders’ Award, Marion Thurnauer

2006

  • American Physical Society Fellow, Stephen Klippenstein