Prof. Steven M. Cramer and Prof. Georges Belfort, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), have been named recipients of the 2025 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The $500,000 annual prize, which recognizes new methods and concepts in education aimed at developing effective engineering leaders, will be jointly awarded to the two recipients and RPI. Belfort and Cramer are recognized “for advancing the state of the art in downstream bioprocessing and educating generations of industry and academic leaders who transformed and grew the biotechnology industry.”
To address challenges in the rapidly growing and evolving biotechnology industry, Belfort and Cramer developed a unique center of excellence for cutting edge education and research in downstream bioprocessing. Downstream bioprocessing is a critical technology in the biomanufacturing process where complex biological mixtures are purified and refined into biological products that meet regulatory standards required for medical and biotechnology applications. Belfort and Cramer’s educational and research achievements in the downstream bioprocessing space were critical to establishing downstream bioprocessing as a discipline in chemical engineering and in implementing new innovations in the biotechnology industry. The center has significantly advanced the state of the art of downstream bioprocessing and educated multiple generations of industry leaders and academics.
“Georges Belfort and Steven Cramer have transformed the bioprocessing field from an empirical scientific approach to an engineering discipline,” said NAE President John Anderson. “This impressive transformation has been pivotal in driving the growth and widespread impact of biotechnology in the U.S.”
Georges Belfort is an Institute (Endowed) Professor at RPI, a position he has held since 2011. Belfort’s research uses fundamental concepts to solve important technical challenges in the areas of continuous bioseparations and purification of proteins and mRNA from in vitro transcription of mRNA bioreactors (vaccines) and purification of biofuels and organic solvents. He has published over 260 peer-reviewed publications, 22 book chapters and 2 edited books on separations, and has over 15 assigned patents. Elected to the NAE in 2003, Belfort also is a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna and is a past president and co-founder of the North American Membrane Society. He has served on scientific advisory boards and committees for the US National Academy of Sciences, German Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is currently on the scientific advisory board of the Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also chairs the managing board of the Society of Biological Engineers.
Belfort has received several notable scientific awards, including the 2017 Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division Distinguished Service Award in Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the 2016 Rensselaer Best Teacher Award in Engineering and the 2005 William H. Wiley, 1866 Distinguished Faculty Award from RPI, the 2014 Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology from the North American Membrane Society, the 2008 E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the 2008 AIChE Centennial Celebration, One of the “100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era”, the 2000 Gerhold Award in Separation Science and Technology from AIChE, and the 1995 Separation Science and Technology Award from ACS. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California, Irvine. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science in Engineering (DSc (Eng.)) by the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Steven M. Cramer is an Institute (Endowed) Professor at RPI, where he has been a faculty member since 1986. Cramer’s research uses multiscale modeling, biophysics and high throughput experimentation to develop novel bioseparation materials and processes as well as expedited process development tools for a range of protein and gene therapy biological products. The 60 PhD graduates from the Cramer lab have had a significant impact, with many now playing key leadership roles in industry and academia. Cramer also is widely known for his expertise in separations, serving as the editor of the journal Separation Science and Technology for 20 years. He has received several notable scientific awards numerous awards, including the 2016 Separation Science and Technology Award and the 2006 Alan S. Michaels Award in the Recovery of Biological Products, both from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Gaden Award from the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering and several awards from RPI, including the Wiley Distinguished Faculty Award and the School of Engineering Outstanding Professor and Research Excellence Awards.
Elected to the NAE in 2023, Cramer is also a member of UT Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Chemical Engineers and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He currently serves as the engineering councilor on the AAAS Council. Cramer has 11 issued patents and has published extensively in the top peer-reviewed journals in the field, with more than 250 publications. He received a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Brown University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Yale University.