D. Keith Roper
Dr. D. Keith Roper is Associate Director of Microelectronics-Photonics Graduate Program, Professor in the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, and holds the Charles W. Oxford Endowed Professorship of Emerging Technologies at the University of Arkansas. He is Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology. Dr. Roper is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a Councilor for the Institute of Biological Engineering, and a Member of the Arkansas Academy of Science. Dr. Roper holds an additional faculty appointment in Cell and Molecular Biology. From 2014-2016 he was Program Leader for Engineering Research Centers and Network for Computational Nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation (NSF). From 2012-2014 he was NSF Program Director in Engineering Education and Centers.
His research examining bioinspired electrodynamic functionality of nano-, bio-, and meta-materials has received recognition from DOE, EPA, and NSF and has been featured by SPIE Newsroom, R&D Mag, and over 40 other media outlets. Particular examples are:
- nanoplasmonics and nanolithography
- nanostructured metamaterials for detectors, microarrays, and NEMS
- electron microscopy for sensors, optodes, and sensorimotor circuits
- graphene and van der Waals 2D materials
- functional membranes for biofuels and fuel cells.
Dr. Roper partners with leaders in academia, industry, and government to translate discovery to marketable innovations in biotech/biopharma, chemicals, optoelectronics, and energy. From 1994-2000 he developed processes for cell culture, fermentation, recovery, and analysis of protein, nucleic acid, bacterial polysaccharide, and adenoviral-vectored antigens at Merck & Co. From 1996-2008, he was instrumental in bringing three transgenes, 24 vaccine antigens and one anti-cancer compound, to human clinical trials and/or to market. He has developed novel bioprocess equipment for mixing and filtration. He has developed processes for cell culture, fermentation, biorecovery and analysis of polysaccharide, protein, DNA and adenoviral-vectored antigens at Merck & Co. (West Point, PA), extraction of photodynamic cancer therapeutics at Frontier Scientific, Inc. (Logan, UT), and virus binding methods for Millipore Corp (Billerica, MA).
His degrees are in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University (B.S., 1989) and University of Wisconsin (PhD, 1994) where he worked with Ed Lightfoot. He has co/authored two textbooks, two book chapters and six federal solicitations and dear colleague letters. His research has led to 70+ peer reviewed journal articles, 18 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, 218 presentations (81 invited), 3 U.S. Patents and 1 European Patent, 7 patent applications, 1 viral and 3 bacterial vaccine products, 7 technical pharmaceutical reports, 5 cGMP process documents, multiple cGMP lab procedures, and over a dozen novel process equipment and facility designs and startups. He holds memberships in ACS, AIChE, AIMBE, ASEE, AVS, IEEE, and Tau Beta Pi.
Dr. Roper can be contacted at: 435-797-2223; keith.roper@usu.edu