Georges Belfort is the Endowed Institute Chair at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a position he has held since 2011. Previously, he held faculty positions at RPI and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dr. Belfort’s research uses fundamental concepts to solve important technical challenges in the areas of continuous bioseparations and purification of mRNA from in vitro transcription of mRNA bioreactors (vaccines) and purification of biofuels and organic solvents. His expertise is in mass transfer and membrane filtration, polymer surface modification, protein misfolding and kinetics, single-molecule force spectroscopy, and bioseparations. He has published over 260 peer-reviewed publications and has over 15 assigned patents in separations science, biotechnology, health sciences, and transport phenomena. His research has been funded uninterrupted for 46 years by the US government and industry.

Dr. Belfort is a member of the NAE and a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna. He is a past president and co-founder of the North American Membrane Society. Dr. Belfort has served on scientific advisory boards and committees for the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently on the scientific advisory board of the Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also chairs the managing board of the Society of Biological Engineers. He has consulted with leading biotechnology, water supply, and membrane filtration companies in the US, Europe, and Japan.

He has received several notable scientific awards, including the 2017 Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division Distinguished Service Award in Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the 2016 Rensselaer Best Teacher Award in Engineering from RPI, the 2014 Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology from the North American Membrane Society, the 2008 E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the 2000 Gerhold Award in Separation Science and Technology from AIChE, and the 1995 Separation Science and Technology Award from ACS. In 2003, he was chosen as one of the “100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era” as part of the AIChE Centennial Celebration.

He received a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and an MS and a PhD in engineering from the University of California, Irvine. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science in Engineering (DSc (Eng.)) by the University of Cape Town, South Africa.