Professor Arnold Elected to National Academy of Inventors

Frances H. Arnold, Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry, as well as the Director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center, has been named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Her group has pioneered methods of "directed evolution" to engineer new proteins in the lab. The method is now widely used to create catalysts for use in industrial processes, including the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. Election as an NAI fellow is an honor bestowed upon academic innovators and inventors who have "demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions and innovations that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society." [Caltech story]