Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Washington State University
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Past Hohenschuch Lecturers

2019 – Lawrence Bonassar

Lawrence Bonassar Photo.

Lawrence Bonassar, the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor in Cornell’s Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, received his bachelor’s degree from the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He received both his masters and doctoral degrees from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. He completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Lecture: Lessons Learned in a Decade of Printing Cartilage

2018 – Kyriacos A. Athanasiou

Kyriacos A. Athanasiou is a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Director of DELTAi (Driving Engineering & Life-science Translational Advances @ Irvine), at the University of California, Irvine. He obtained his PhD in Bioengineering (Mechanical Engineering) from Columbia University in 1989. He has published 330 peer-reviewed papers, 20 books, and multiple patents. He has also served as president of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the flagship journal of BMES. His list of awards includes the Nemitsas Prize (Cyprus’ largest award presented by the President of Cyprus), HR Lissner Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Distinguished Service Award from BMES, Wall Street Journal’s 2008 Innovation Award, Thomas A. Edison Patent Award from ASME, Hershel Rich Outstanding Invention Award, Marshal Urist Award for Excellence in Tissue Regeneration Research from the Orthopaedic Research Society, and the Van Mow Medal from ASME. He is a Fellow of BMES, AAAS, AIMBE, and ASME; he was also elected to the National Academy of Inventors. In addition to his academic interests, he has been involved with effecting the translation of devices and instruments into clinical use and commercialization.

Lecture: Toward bioengineering translation

Kyriacos A. Athanasiou Photo.

2017 – Jim Swartz

James R. Swartz Photo.

James R. Swartz’s research seeks to reproduce and direct complex metabolism in a cell-free environment. Current applications of his research include improved vaccine architectures, new cancer diagnostics, and biological hydrogen production from sunlight and biomass.

A National Academy of Engineering member, Swartz joined Stanford University in 1998, where he helped initiate the Department of Bioengineering. Swartz is a founder of Sutro Biopharma, Inc., dedicated to developing cell-free protein pharmaceutical technologies; of GreenLight Biosciences, a cell-free metabolic engineering company; and Bullet Biotechnology, a company developing anticancer therapeutics.

Swartz obtained his bachelor of science in chemical engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. After working two years for Union Oil Co. of California, he earned his master of science in chemical engineering and doctor of science in biochemical engineering at MIT. Following a scientific exchange visit to the USSR and an initial research position at Eli Lilly and Co., he joined Genentech in 1981, where he served in both scientific and managerial positions related to rDNA protein production and protein pharmaceutical development for nearly 18 years.

Lecture: Redesigning Iron-Sulfur Proteins To Remodel Photosynthesis

2016 – Douglas Clark

Douglas S. Clark is currently dean of the College of Chemistry and professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the co-director of the Synthetic Biology Institute, Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and holds the endowed G.N. Lewis Chair. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1983 and a B.S. in Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Vermont in 1979.

Professor Clark is a leader in biochemical engineering, with particular emphasis on enzyme technology, biomaterials, and bioenergy. His work in biocatalyst engineering has created new opportunities for the application of enzymes in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and agrochemical industries. Clark has published more than 240 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has 26 patents and patent applications, and is the co-author of a textbook on biochemical engineering.

Clark is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineers; he is the recipient of the James E. Bailey Award from the Society of Biological Engineering; the Marvin J. Johnson Award in Microbial and Biochemical Technology from the American Chemical Society; the Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the Amgen Award in Biochemical Engineering; the International Enzyme Engineering Award; and the NorCal Chemical Engineering Award-Industrial Research. He has also received the Departmental Chemical Engineering Teaching Award and the Presidential Young Investigator Award (National Science Foundation). Clark serves as Editor in Chief of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, and is on the editorial boards of Enzyme and Microbial Technology and Extremophiles.

Lecture: Protein Engineering For New Biocatalysts And Advanced Biomaterials

Douglas S. Clark Photo.