Dr. Ramon Gonzalez is a Professor and Florida World Class Scholar in the Department of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF) where he leads the laboratory for Metabolic Engineering and Biomanufacturing. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (JIMB). Before joining USF, Dr. Gonzalez was a Professor in the Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering at Rice University and the Founding Director of Rice’s Advanced Biomanufacturing Initiative, and from 2012 to 2015 served as Program Director with the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Gonzalez’s work has been published in prestigious scientific journals, including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Catalysis, PNAS, and Science and he has given more than 100 invited talks at institutions around the world. He is the lead inventor in 25 patents/patent applications, co-founded Glycos Biotechnologies Inc. and Creo Ingredients Inc., and has advised major companies in the field of industrial biotechnology.
In addition to his role as E-i-C of JIMB, Dr. Gonzalez is a member/has served in the editorial boards of Science, Biotechnology Journal, Metabolic Engineering Communications, Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Applied Biochemistry & Biotechnology, and Food Biotechnology. He has received numerous recognitions, including elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Tiangong Forum Lecture (TIB-CAS, China), AIChE Division 15c Plenary Lecture, ASM Distinguished Lecturer, SDA/NBB Glycerine Innovation Research Award, and NSF CAREER Award. Dr. Gonzalez obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Chile, an M.S. in Biochemical Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile), and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Central University “Marta Abreu” of Las Villas (Cuba).