Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently announced the appointment of Curt Breneman
as dean of the School of Science, effective Jan. 1,
2015. He was appointed acting dean of the School of
Science in June 2014.
Before that, Breneman has served as head of the
university’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
since 2010.
“Dr.
Breneman has a distinguished record of interdisciplinary research,
entrepreneurial thought and educational leadership,” said
Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson.
“I am delighted
to make this appointment. He has passion for all aspects of science
and technology that will create a heightened level of energy and
collaboration at Rensselaer and the School of Science. His contributions
and leadership will further our vision of the New
Polytechnic, which is enabled by the Rensselaer Plan 2024.”
Breneman said, “It’s
an exciting time for the Rensselaer School of Science, and I’m thrilled
to lead our talented faculty, staff and students in changing the world
through innovation and
exploration. We are a dedicated and diverse community
of scholars committed to achieving the full promise of Rensselaer by
reaching across boundaries to apply science to the common purposes of
life.”
Breneman’s
research is in the field of computational chemistry and predictive
cheminformatics, with emphasis on both computational drug discovery
methodology and materials
informatics methods. His materials informatics work led to his
appointment as an adviser to the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy/National Institute of Standards in Technology
Materials Genome Initiative program.
He
joined the School of Science at Rensselaer in 1989, was promoted to
associate professor in 1996 and became a full professor in 2002. He was named
acting head of the Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in 2010, and appointed as department
head in 2012.
Breneman has led the
Rensselaer Exploratory Center for Cheminformatics Research during
the past nine years. He is the author of more than 100 journal
articles, 16 book chapters and numerous refereed conference
proceedings, and holds a patent on his molecular property descriptor
technology (PEST), which has been licensed by several major
pharmaceutical
companies. His RS-Predictor drug metabolism method is currently in
use across the drug discovery industry, and his YAMS materials
informatics software has been supported by the Office of Naval Research
and licensed by a major aerospace company. Breneman’s CHELPG atomic charge algorithm was used to parameterize several major
molecular force fields and is an integral part of the Gaussian series
of quantum mechanical software, which is used by thousands of
universities and companies worldwide.
Breneman
is a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and served the ACS
Division of Computers in Chemistry as both treasurer and fundraiser for
10 years, and then
as chair of the division in 2010.
Breneman
earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctoral degree
from the University of California at Santa Barbara for his work in
physical organic chemistry.
Immediately prior to joining Rensselaer, he performed
postdoctoral research at Yale University in the field of theoretical and
computational chemistry.
Founded
in 1824, Rensselaer is the oldest technological university in the
English-speaking world. For nearly two centuries, the Institute has been
a driving force behind
breakthroughs in engineering and science in virtually every arena –
from transportation and infrastructure to business, medicine, outer
space and cyberspace.
As it approaches its bicentennial anniversary, the institute continues to define the New Polytechnic, a fresh paradigm
for
teaching, learning and research that applies advanced technologies and
knowledge to empower fresh collaborations across disciplines, sectors
and regions to address large,
multifaceted global challenges.
Today,
more than 1,350 undergraduate students and 360 graduate students are
enrolled in the School of Science at Rensselaer. The School of Science’s
seven academic departments
conduct interdisciplinary
research
in data analytics and predictive modeling; water, energy, resilience
and sustainability; computational science, security and simulation;
biomedical science and
applications; and materials at the nanoscale.
The
School of Science is one of five schools at Rensselaer, through which
students at all levels are engaged in and researching a wide array of
critical 21st century challenges.
In addition to Science, the university offers more than 145 programs at
the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels in the schools of
Engineering; Architecture; Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; and
the Lally School of Management; as well as an interdisciplinary
degree in Information Technology.
--Jennie Grey
