August 15, 2008
Hal Alper, chemical engineering assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, has won a national 2008 Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award. This $50,000 award supports faculty at the beginning of their first tenure-track appointment who demonstrate the potential to produce an independent body of scientific scholarship of outstanding quality and will make significant contributions to education in the chemical sciences.
Alper engineers cells to produce important chemicals such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals and other industrial commodity chemicals. The supported work will focus on engineering molecular transporter proteins to improve metabolic pathways and pathway flux. The methods developed in his laboratory are generic and focus on using biological conversion rather than petroleum-based chemical processing. In doing so, Alper focuses on using different cellular systems to produce commodity and specialty chemicals, and biofuels.
Prior to coming to The University of Texas at Austin, Alper’s research findings were published in 14 technical articles including several in the highly cited journals Science, Nature Biotechnology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.