The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is proud to announce that Professor Mattheos Koffas has been elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) — one of the highest honors the Institute bestows, reserved for members who have made outstanding, sustained contributions to the chemical engineering profession.
His research sits at the intersection of metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and biochemical engineering, with a particular focus on engineering microorganisms to produce valuable compounds that are otherwise difficult, costly, or unsustainable to source from plants and animals — including plant polyphenols, nutraceuticals, and complex polysaccharides such as heparin and chondroitin sulfate. That work has yielded more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, upwards of 17,700 citations, and numerous patents, several of which have been licensed for commercial use.
Koffas has also devoted years of service to AIChE itself, currently chairing the Managing Board of the Society for Biological Engineering after previously serving as Chair of Area 15c and Secretary of Division 15. He is additionally an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
The rank of Fellow is AIChE's highest grade of membership, conferred only by vote of the Institute's Board of Directors after nomination by peers and review by the Admissions Committee, which meets quarterly to evaluate candidates. To be considered, a member must typically have at least 25 years of chemical engineering practice and 10 years of AIChE membership, and must demonstrate both outstanding service to the profession and significant professional accomplishment. Of AIChE's more than 60,000 members worldwide, fewer than 2% have ever reached the rank of Fellow, making it one of the most selective honors in the field.
Koffas, the Dorothy and Fred Chau '71 Constellation Professor in the department, earned his B.S. from the National Technical University of Athens and his Ph.D. from MIT, where he studied metabolic engineering under Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos. After a research appointment at DuPont Central Research and Development, he joined the University at Buffalo before coming to RPI in 2015.
Election to AIChE Fellow status reflects both the depth of Professor Koffas's scientific contributions and his leadership within the broader chemical engineering community. The department congratulates him on this well-deserved recognition.