Georges Belfort, Ph.D.

World-leading bioseparations expert Georges Belfort, Institute Professor and a member of the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded the Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology from the North American Membrane Society (NAMS).

The award, given every three years by NAMS “to recognize individuals who have made outstanding innovations and/or exceptional lifetime contributions to membrane science and technology,” includes a $10,000 prize.

NAMS will present the award to Belfort at a ceremony in June at the professional organization’s annual meeting in Houston. At the meeting, Belfort will present a plenary lecture highlighting his breakthrough contributions in membrane-based bioseparations. Additionally, a special technical session has been organized in honor of Belfort at the 2014 International Congress on Membrane and Membrane Processes meeting in July, in Suzhou, China.

World-leading bioseparations expert Georges Belfort, Institute Professor and a member of the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

In a citation, the AIChE recognized Belfort for “seminal contributions in chemical molecular engineering, bioseparations engineering and science, and synthetic membrane technology that have been described in 200 journal papers and 22 book chapters.”

“Dr. Belfort has had a remarkable career in academia. Throughout his 35 years at Rensselaer, he has pursued the highest level of excellence in education and research, with an impact in each that reinforces the reputation of Rensselaer as one of the nation’s top universities,” said Rensselaer Provost Prabhat Hajela. “We congratulate Dr. Belfort on his election as a fellow of AIChE, an outstanding honor bestowed upon him by his peers around the world. We are extremely proud to count Dr. Belfort among the distinguished faculty of Rensselaer.”

Belfort has earned a place among the world’s most respected academic and industrial chemical engineers. Throughout his career, he has made seminal contributions in liquid-phase pressure-driven membrane-based processes, bioseparations engineering, interfacial science, protein misfolding at surfaces, and affinity separations.

World-leading bioseparations expert Georges Belfort visited Germany and Italy last month as part of two prestigious honors from elite European scientific societies.

Belfort, Institute Professor and a member of the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently elected a foreign corresponding member of the Institute of Bologna Academy of Sciences. He visited the academy in March to present his honorary lecture, “Combining Science and Engineering for Molecular Separations: Thoughts from a Career.” The academy was created in 1690 by 16-year-old astronomer Eustachio Manfredi, and has grown over the centuries into one of Europe’s most renowned scientific societies.

Additionally, Belfort was recently named a member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems. As part of the six-year appointment, Belfort visited the Institute in Magdeburg, Germany, with nine other international experts for a two-day session. The primary task of the board is to counsel the institute and to critically assess its scientific performance according to high international standards. The institute is one of 80 that make up the distinguished Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, an independent nonprofit research organization funded by the German government and named for the physicist who discovered quantum physics.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Georges Belfort has been recognized for his fundamental and applied research of separations processes in biochemical engineering.

Belfort, the Russell Sage Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer, in recent weeks received the 2011 Alan S. Michaels Award in the Recovery of Biological Products from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Biotechnology Division.

The award recognizes “outstanding research and practice contributions toward the advancement of science and technology for the recovery of biological products,” according to the ACS. As part of the award, Belfort will be honored in March at the ACS annual conference in Anaheim, Calif., where he will deliver an award lecture.

“We applaud and congratulate Dr. Belfort for this well-earned and richly deserved honor from the ACS,” said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “In addition to his renown as a global authority on bioseparations and the behavior of biological molecules at solid interfaces, Georges’ inherent kindness and vigilant pursuit of excellence leave a lasting impression on his peers, colleagues, students, and everyone with whom he interacts. This award recognizes and celebrates the impact of Professor Belfort’s stellar career.”