Prof. Robert Kelly, Alcoa Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is the recipient of the 2025 Charles D. Scott Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB)! To be considered for this award, nominees must have made one or more outstanding research contributions in biotechnology for the production of fuels and chemicals.

Prof. Kelly’s research focuses on the biology and biotechnology of extremophilic microorganisms from volcanic locales that typically grow above 70°C and in some cases above 100°C. He studies how extremely thermophilic bacteria and archaea and their enzymes degrade and convert plant biomass (lignocellulose) into fuels and chemicals. Developments in the molecular genetics of these microorganisms have opened up the possibility of metabolic engineering that can convert polysaccharides (sugars) into industrial chemicals, such as ethanol, acetone, propanol, 3-hydroxypropionate, and 2,3-butanediol. Prof. Kelly’s recent work has looked at transgenic plants that have been engineered to be less recalcitrant, such as modified lignin, to microbial degradation and conversion.

Prof. Kelly’s research is of the highest caliber, and he has been honored by a number of prestigious awards. He is a 2021 recipient of the NC State Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, the university’s highest honor, as well as the College of Engineering’s R.J. Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension and the George H. Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award. Among other research honors, he has been awarded the Amgen Award in Biochemical and Molecular Engineering from the Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XXII, the International Society for Extremophiles Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Chemical Society Marvin J. Johnson Award for Biochemical Technology, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division Award in Chemical Engineering, and the American Society for Microbiology DuPont Biosciences Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.  Prof. Kelly is also Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

In addition to his excellence in research, Prof. Kelly has directed the NC State Biotechnology (BIT) Program for over twenty years, continues to do an excellent job in the classroom, and has served as an extraordinary advisor and mentor to countless students and young faculty.  He is the epitome of the scholar/teacher/mentor, taking the time needed to do all academic functions at the very highest of levels.  Congratulations to Prof. Kelly on this recognition of his innovative research and all that you have done here at NC State!