E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry: Eleftherios Terry Papoutsakis

Sponsor: ExxonMobil Research & Engineering

Citation: For technology-enabling fundamental contributions in cell-culture engineering, metabolic engineering, and stem-cell biotechnology.

Current position: Eugene DuPont Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, professor of biological sciences, faculty fellow, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware

Education: Diploma, chemical engineering, National Technical University of Athens; M.S., chemical engineering, Purdue University; Ph.D., chemical engineering, Purdue University

Papoutsakis on his biggest research challenge: “The challenge of finding the funds, equipment, and the team to solve an exciting problem for which I have a great idea; the slow process of convincing an editor about a paper or a funding agency so that a great idea can come out or be pursued to fruition. And, sometimes, finding the right collaborators to work on a problem I deeply care about.”

What his colleagues say: “Terry’s research has concentrated on clearly defined problems of both scientific and technological significance. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of molecularly based interdisciplinary research (biology and engineering) for advancing biochemical engineering. He defined new fields of research activities and thus provided new research opportunities for a whole generation of younger bioengineers.”—Wilfred Chen, University of Delaware