govind rao, ph.d.
Chair, Department of Chemical/Biochemical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Dr. Govind Rao received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1984 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 11987 from Drexel University. He has been on the faculty of UMBC since 1987 and is currently Professor and Chair of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. Dr. Rao has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Teaching Award (1989), Outstanding Research Award (1991) from the College of Engineering, UMBC. In 1991 he received the prestigious Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. He received the Van Lanen Award for outstanding Service to the Division of Biochemical Technology, American Chemical Society in 1998. In 2002, Dr. Rao received the Gaden Award for the Most Influential Paper of 2001 from Biotechnology & Bioengineering and John Wiley & Sons.

Dr. Rao's research is currently focused on optical sensors for bioprocess and biomedical applications. In particular, his lab is at the forefront for developing low-cost sensors and instrumentation, primarily based on fluorescence.

Dr. Rao has served on the Editorial Boards of Biotechnology Letters, Biotechnology Techniques and the Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology. He has nearly 100 peer reviewed publications and three patents. He as made several invited presentations on his research at professional societies and companies. He is a co-founder of Fluorometrix, Inc. a startup company created to commercialize his work.