Evolving organisms to grow new nanomaterials for energy, the environment, and medicine

Presenter: Angela Belcher, PhD James Mason Crafts Professor Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Angela Belcher is a biological and materials engineer with expertise in the fields of biomaterials, biomolecular materials, organic-inorganic interfaces, and solid-state chemistry and devices. Her primary research focus is evolving new materials for energy, electronics, the environment, and medicine.

Belcher received her B.S. in creative studies from The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). She earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at UCSB. Following with her postdoctoral research in electrical engineering at UCSB. She now holds the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Engineering at MIT. She is faculty in the Department of Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research. She teaches undergraduate subjects in material sciences and engineering and biological engineering.

In 2002, Belcher founded the company Cambrios Technologies, Inc., and in 2007 she founded Siluria Technologies, Inc. Some recent awards include the Lemelson-MIT Prize for her inventions, and Eni Prize for Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy. In 2009, Rolling Stone Magazine listed her as one of the top 100 people changing the country. In 2007, Time Magazine named her a “Hero” for her research related to climate change. She received the Four Star General Recognition Award (US Army) for significant contribution to army transformation. In 2000, she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE). She was named Research Leader of the Year by Scientific American, and is a MacArthur Fellow, a Packard Fellow, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Bose Fellow, a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Inventors, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.