Jonathan S. Dordick

Jonathan S. Dordick
Dordick working in his office at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Born	(1959-01-15) January 15, 1959 (age 59) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	MIT Brandeis University
Awards	American Chemical Society Marvin J. Johnson Award American Chemical Society Elmer Gaden Award American Chemical Society Iowa Section Award AAAS Fellow ACS Fellow
Scientific career
Fields	Bioengineering Metabolic Engineering Biomolecular Interaction Metabolomics High-throughput Screening Cell-based Microarrays Nanobiotechnology Nano/Micron-scale Devices
Academic advisors	D.I.C. Wang Alexander Klibanov
Notable students	Trevor J. Simmons Eric Sterner Ujjwal Bhaskar Krunal Mehta Anne London
Influenced	Robert J. Linhardt Shirley Ann Jackson

Jonathan S. Dordick (born January 15, 1959) is the Howard P. Isermann Professor of Biochemical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2008 he became director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. In 2013 Dr. Dordick stepped down from his role as head of the CBIS and became the Vice President for Research at RPI.

Prof. Dordick was born on January 15, 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Biochemical Engineering. In 1987, Dr. Dordick joined the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1991, to Full Professor in 1994, and served as Department Chair from 1995-1998. In 1998, Prof. Dordick joined the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and professor. In 2013 Dr. Dordick shaved his mustache and became the Vice President of Research (VPR) at RPI.

He has a son, Samuel Dordick, and a daughter, Hannah Dordick. Jonathan is happily married to Vera Dordick.

Professor Dordick currently leads the Jonathan S. Dordick Research Group, which works in part at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies working on biomedical technologies. Present and past research has included studies of Biocatalysis in Nonaqueous Media, Combinatorial Biocatalysis, Nanobiotechnology, enzyme technology, molecular bioprocessing. More specifically, they work on the development of enzymatic catalysis under extreme conditions (e.g. high salt concentrations), enzymes in the synthesis and modification of polymeric materials, combinatorial biocatalysis for drug discovery and polymer synthesis, and the generation of biocatalysts and biomimetics with unique activities and selectivities. Dordick has been featured in the news for helping develop the "MetaChip" technology for fast drug screening, and for research on gel nanomaterials that could be used to control the delivery of drugs.