报告题目：Making Research Meet Practice in Environmental Biotechnology

报  告 人：Bruce Rittmann

美国工程院院士

美国土木工程师学会杰出成员

亚利桑那州立大学全球可持续发展学院可持续发展杰出科学家

Regents’ Professor and Director

Center for Environmental Biotechnology

Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

报告时间：11月6日，下午14:30

报告地点：闵行校区生物药学楼树华多功能厅

联  系 人：张晓君 021-34204878

微生物代谢国家重点实验室

上海交通大学生命科学技术学院

上海市微生物学会

ABSTRACT: This presentation lays out the principles for the rapidly advancing field of Environmental Biotechnology.  It focuses on applications of molecular biology, mathematical modeling, and new materials and configurations to achieve goals unheard of only a few years ago.  The talk ends with an introduction to the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, where we apply the principles.

Dr. Bruce Rittmann, PhD, is the director of the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and is also a Regents? Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment.  He joined ASU in January 2005.

An international leader in managing microbial communities, Rittmann?s work is leading to new ways to clean up pollution, treat water and wastewater, capture renewable energy, and improve human health.

The membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR), a technology that Rittmann invented, uses naturally occurring microorganisms to remove contaminants such as perchlorate and tricloroethene from water.  He holds five patents on the technology, which is being commercialized by APTwater, Inc.

Rittmann is at the lead of ASU teams using two innovative approaches to renewable bioenergy:  using anaerobic microbes to convert biomass to useful energy forms, such as methane, hydrogen, or electricity; and using photosynthetic bacteria that can capture sunlight to produce new biomass that can be turned into liquid fuels, like diesel or jet fuel.

The links between microbes and human health also are being explored through collaboration with the Mayo Clinic.  Rittmann?s group explores how microorganisms in the human intestine contribute to obesity, which may lead to means to regulate the microbial communities in ways that mitigate excessive weight gain.

According to Institute for Scientific Information, Rittmann is one of the world's most highly cited researchers.  He has published nearly 500 peer-reviewed papers.  His textbook, ?Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications,? is used by universities around the world to educate students about the ways in which microorganisms can be used to improve environmental quality.

Prior to his time at ASU, Rittmann was a John Evans Professor of Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University and a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He began his career as an environmental engineer at Sverdrup and Parcell and Associates.

Rittmann has received many accolades during his career. These include being named an International Water Association Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, ASU Regents? Professor, and National Academy of Engineering member.  He has also won the Arizona BioIndustry Association 2009 Award for Research Excellence, American Society of Civil Engineers 2009 Simon W. Freese Award, 1994 National Water Research Institute?s Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Water Science and Technology, and the Huber Research Prize from American Society of Civil Engineers.

Rittmann studied environmental engineering at Stanford University, where he earned a doctoral degree, and at Washington University in St. Louis, where he completed a master?s degree.  He also earned bachelor?s degree at Washington University in civil engineering.