Robert C. Brown, Iowa State University’s Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. According to a news release, Brown has built multi-disciplinary teams at Iowa State that use thermochemical technologies to produce fermentable sugars from cellulose, provide substrate for gas fermentation, and convert waste plastics into substrate for production of single-cell protein and oleochemicals. He is the founding director and currently co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute, which coordinates Iowa State’s research, educational and outreach activities related to biobased products and bioenergy. He also helped launch Iowa State’s Biorenewable Resources and Technology graduate program, the first degree-granting program of its kind in the U.S. “Robert Brown is a recognized engineering innovator, and he’s led the way in developing new technologies that have significantly advanced the processing of biomass and plastic wastes into energy, fuels and chemicals. We are proud that Dr. Brown is a Cyclone Engineer because he exemplifies Iowa State’s mission to combine ‘science with practice’ – and he’s educating the next generation of engineering leaders to do the same,” W. Samuel Easterling, ISU’s James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering, said in a prepared statement. The new class members will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting on Oct. 5.
