Tae Seok Moon
New York – The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) announced it will present its 2022 Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence to Dr. Tae Seok Moon, council member of The Engineering Biology Research Consortium.
The fellowship, which is endowed by the AIChE Foundation and administered by AIChE’s Center for Entrepreneuring Excellence, is named for biomedical pioneer Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Langer Prize awards an unrestricted grant of up to $100,000 to enable creative researchers and engineering entrepreneurs in their early careers to pursue potentially game-changing innovations with transformative societal impact.
Moon, who is being recognized for his use of microbial engineering techniques to up-cycle waste plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for new products, will receive the Langer Prize and present an associated lecture on Nov. 14 during the 2022 AIChE Annual Meeting, to be held Nov. 13-18 in Phoenix, Ariz.
Moon is applying his expertise in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to better understand gene regulation, evolution, and metabolism, with a vision of transforming biology research from an “observation” approach to a “synthesis-based engineering” activity, in order to address energy, environmental, and health care needs.
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Information about the 2022 Langer Fellow, previous Langer Fellows, and the application process is available at www.aiche.org/langerprizes. The deadline for 2023 fellowship applications is February 15, 2023.
