Charles Cooney

Charles L. Cooney, Ph.D., is the Robert T. Haslam (1911) Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Master’s and Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT. He has received multiple awards and was more recently elected (2009) to the first class of American Chemical Society Fellows.

In July 2012 he was awarded Honoris Causa by Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. He serves as a consultant to a number of biotech and pharmaceutical companies, is on multiple editorial boards of professional journals, sits on the Boards of Directors of Polypore International, Inc., LS9, Inc., Mitra (India), GreenLight Bioscience, Pronutria, Inc. and Biocon, Ltd (India) and was previously on the Boards of Genzyme, Cuno, Inc., Pall Corp., and Astra AB.

He chaired the FDA Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science from 2004-2006. Professor Cooney’s research interests include manufacturing in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and bioprocess industries, as well as bioprocess design, operation and control, and processing of pharmaceutical powders and technological innovation strategy. As founding faculty director of the Deshpande Center he is interested in the process of stimulating technological innovation and translating innovation into new company creation.