Charles L. Cooney

Charles L. Cooney is the Robert T. Haslam (1911) Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering and the founding Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1966) and his Master’s (1967) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in Biochemical Engineering from MIT. After a short post-doctoral time at the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, he joined the MIT faculty in 1970 as an Assistant Professor and became a full Professor in 1982. Among his many honors, Professor Cooney has received the 1989 Gold Medal of the Institute of Biotechnological Studies (London); the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; and the James Van Lanen Distinguished Service Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Microbial and Biochemical Technology. He was elected to the American Institute of Medical and Biochemical Engineers and in 2009 was elected to the first class of American Chemical Society Fellows. In July 2012 he was awarded Honoris Causa by Ramon Llull University in Barcelona.