Shanks Named Hoppe Professor in College of Engineering
May 6, 2009
Contacts:
Eric Dieterle, College of Engineering Communications & Marketing, 515.294.4881
Dave Gieseke, ISU Foundation Communications, 515.294.7263
AMES, Iowa-- Jacqueline Vanni Shanks, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Iowa State University, has been named the first holder of the Manley R. Hoppe Professorship in Chemical Engineering.
A faculty member at Iowa State since 1999, Shanks leads interdisciplinary research on plant metabolic engineering. Her research team quantifies rates of chemical reactions in plant and microbial systems in several applications of benefit to society. These include developing plants that can significantly reduce the cost of expensive pharmaceuticals, improving protein and oil composition in soybean seeds and remediating groundwater and soil contaminated with explosives using terrestrial and aquatic plants.
She is currently the co-leader of Thrust 2 (Metabolic Engineering) for the National Science Foundation Center for Biorenewable Chemicals at Iowa State. Thrust 2 optimizes the chemical reaction pathways in microorganisms that are engineering with genes from plants in order to produce Biorenewable chemicals.
"I am deeply honored and very grateful to receive this professorship in honor of Manley R. Hoppe," Shanks said. "He is a prime example of Iowa State’s rich tradition in educating student leaders in engineering that go on to make substantial contributions to our world and I will proudly continue to education student leaders at Iowa State at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Shanks is a 1983 graduate in chemical engineering from Iowa State and received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from California Institute of Technology in 1989. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and the ISU Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and in 2008 received the Women of Innovation Award for Research Innovation and Leadership by the Technology Association of Iowa.
The professorship was established through the estate of Manley R. Hoppe of Moline, Ill. Hoppe was the chairman emeritus of Parr Instrument Company, a privately held corporation that engages in the design, manufacture and sale of laboratory instruments and apparatus for testing fuels and for conducting chemical reactions and tests under heat and pressure.
Hoppe graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State in 1932. He also received a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1935. Prior to joining Parr Instrument Company, Hoppe was a faculty member in Iowa State’s College of Engineering and remained involved with Iowa State throughout his life.
The gift is part of Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose, the university’s $800 million fundraising effort. More than $671 million in gifts and future commitments for facilities and student, faculty and programmatic support have been made to Campaign Iowa State.
