Hal Alper

Dr. Hal Alper is the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering #1 at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Maryland, College Park in 2002, Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2006, and was a postdoctoral research associate at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research from 2006-2008, and at Shire Human Genetic Therapies from 2007-2008. His research focuses on applying and extending the approaches of synthetic biology, systems biology, metabolic engineering, and protein engineering. Recent research efforts include development enzymes and microbial processes for the depolymerization and valorization of plastic waste and other waste carbon sources. Dr. Alper has published over 175 articles and 8 book chapters. Dr. Alper is the recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award (2008), Texas Exes Teaching Award (2009), DuPont Young Investigator Award (2010), ONR Young Investigator Award (2011), UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2012), Biotechnology and Bioengineering Daniel I.C. Wang Award (2013), Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award (2014), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2014), SIMB Young Investigator Award (2015), ACS BIOT Young Investigator Award (2016), UT-Austin Emerging Inventor of the Year Award (2016) AIChE Allan P. Colburn Award (2018), Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award (2019), Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Engineering (2019) and AIChE Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering (2023). He was elected Fellow to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2018 and to the National Academy of Inventors in 2019.