Chemical Engineer Honored for Work in Bioseparations and Bioprocessing

Steven Cramer
William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering

Bioseparations and bioprocessing expert Steven Cramer, the William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

The AIChE commended Cramer for his wide-reaching research successes, and for demonstrating “significant accomplishments in, and contributions to, the profession” of chemical engineering.

“Professor Cramer is a gifted educator and nationally recognized scholar. We congratulate him for being named a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers,” said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “Steve joins a growing number of society fellows in the School of Engineering and across the Institute. We are very proud of his scholarly achievements and this important recognition by his peers, and we are proud to count him among our distinguished engineering faculty at Rensselaer.”

A faculty member in the Rensselaer Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cramer is a recognized global leader in chromatographic bioprocessing. His research focuses on developing new methods and technologies to separate and purify biological compounds, both of which are major challenges facing drug discovery. This is particularly true of drugs that include proteins, which are notoriously difficult to separate from potentially harmful variants and impurities.

Recently, Cramer has been investigating different areas related to protein-surface interactions. This includes research into multiscale modeling of complex chromatographic behavior, fundamental studies of selectivity and affinity in multimodal chromatographic systems, chromatography on a chip, smart biopolymer affinity separation systems, and other endeavors. Cramer’s research is closely connected to several of the core facilities at the Institute, such as the nuclear magnetic resonance facility in the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.

A prolific researcher, Cramer holds nine patents and has published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is editor-in-chief of the international journal Separations, Science and Technology. Additionally, he has chaired several high-profile professional meetings, including the international HIC/RPC Bioseparations Conference, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Recovery of Biological Products Meeting, and the Gordon Research Conference on Reactive Polymers.

Cramer’s peers have honored him with many awards and recognitions for his contributions. He received the Alan S. Michaels Award for the Recovery of Biological Products from the ACS Division of Biochemical Technology, and was elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. At Rensselaer, he received the School of Engineering Excellence in Research Award, the Rensselaer Early Career Award, as well as several teaching awards. Additionally, he received a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation.

Cramer joined the Rensselaer faculty as an assistant professor in 1986 and in 1990 was named the Isermann Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. He became a full professor in 1995, and in 2007 was named the William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering. In his time at Rensselaer, he has advised 35 doctoral students who have gone on to leadership positions in academic and the biotechnology industry.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Brown University, and completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Yale University.

For more information on the Cramer’s research at Rensselaer, visit:

Faculty Home Page
http://www.rpi.edu/~crames

Purifying Proteins: Rensselaer Researchers Use NMR To Improve Drug Development
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2772

Fourth W.H. Peterson Award for Rensselaer
http://www.rpi.edu/about/inside/issue/v4n4/peterson.html

Separations Expert Named William Weightman Walker Professor at Rensselaer
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2345

Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu