ACS Award In Separations Science & Technology: Steven M. Cramer

Sponsor: Waters Corp.

Citation: For contributions to a molecular-level understanding, adsorption isotherm formalisms, and the development and application of chromatographic bioprocesses for the purification of ­biopharmaceuticals.

Current position: William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Education: B.S., biomedical engineering, Brown University; M.S., Ph.D., chemical engineering, Yale University

Cramer on what inspires him:“The creative process of solving a research problem or coming up with a new research idea is similar to the process of jazz improvisation or writing a musical piece. In both, you need to input sufficient information and then make room for the ideas to spring up from the intuition or subconscious mind. For me this can occur during a walk in nature, playing music, exercising, dreaming, or having an animated discussion with my students or ­colleagues.”

What his colleagues say:“His original paper on the steric mass action model for ion exchange is one of the most influential papers in the field and represented a turning point in the industry where accurate models could then be employed to develop, optimize, and control large-scale ion exchange protein purification processes.”—Robin D. Rogers, McGill University