The Steering Committees for Rensselaer Forward have made great progress on our strategic plan, and we look forward to sharing their reports with you by early October. Over the summer, we asked the committees to recommend top priorities and quick wins. At the top of the list across many of the committees (Translation, Research, and Regional Engagement) was a clear desire to see RPI invest in an office tasked with sharing the university’s intellectual capital with the world, through research, engagement with the broader community, entrepreneurship, and translation.  Approaching our Bicentennial, we must continue RPI’s tradition of translating its discoveries into innovations that change the world. To that end, I am pleased to announce the formation of the Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation, and the appointment of Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer as head of this new initiative.

In this role, Jon will work with R. May Lee, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Institutional Impact, to oversee and accelerate the portfolio, which builds upon RPI’s rich heritage of innovation and entrepreneurship. The Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation incorporates a number of key translational activities at RPI, including intellectual property and technology licensing, large-scale corporate partnerships, initiation and growth of startup ventures, and providing strategic guidance for the translational activities at the Rensselaer Technology Park, as well as locations in New York City.

Jon, who holds joint appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences, is also co-director of the Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine, a joint center with Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York City. He is also a successful entrepreneur having co-founded several biotech- and bioenergy-based companies, including EnzyMed, Inc.; Solidus Biosciences, Inc.; The Paper Battery Company; Redpin Therapeutics, Inc.; SynAppBio, Inc.; and Lavaage, Inc.

He has made foundational contributions to enzyme technology, cell culture engineering, drug discovery, and biomanufacturing. He has used biomolecular discovery and engineering to address clinical translation in areas of infectious and neurological diseases, anticoagulant therapy, and highly sensitive point-of-care biosensors.

Jon is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. He has published over 430 peer-reviewed papers and has over 50 issued patents and patent applications. Jon has also served on multiple White House-sponsored panels and committees in biomanufacturing.

Prior to joining Rensselaer, Jon was professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa, where he also served as the founding associate director of the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing. Jon earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and chemistry from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Please join me in congratulating Jon on his new role.