I-CARES Director Himadri Pakrasi is leading biochemical researcher

June 4, 2007 -- The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University will operate under the direction of Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, and professor of energy in the School of Engineering.

He came to the United States to study biology and received a doctorate at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1984. He has been on the faculty of Washington University since 1987. Pakrasi is a biochemist recognized for his work on photosynthesis and, in particular, on membrane protein complexes in cyanobacteria and plant chloroplasts. He has a keen interest in bridging the differences between the biological and physical sciences, and leads large-scale multi-institutional systems biology projects.

Pakrasi currently directs Washington University's effort to develop groundbreaking initiatives in the area of bioenergy. Pakrasi has been an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Munich University, Germany; a Distinguished Fellow at the Biosciences Institute, Nagoya University, Japan; and a Lady David Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Pakrasi serves as the Washington University ambassador from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy to Jawaharlal Nehru University