Michael W. Deem is an American engineer, scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. Deem received his
B.S.
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
from the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
in 1991 and his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
from the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
in 1994. His thesis research was in statistical mechanics and disordered materials with
David Chandler. He did postdoctoral research at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
with
David R. Nelson
David R. Nelson (born May 9, 1951) is an American physicist, and Arthur K. Solomon Professor of Biophysics, at Harvard University.
Education and research
David R. Nelson is currently thArthur K. Solomon Professor of Biophysics and Professor o ...
. Deem joined the faculty at
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, in 1996 and rose to the rank of associate professor of chemical engineering. From 2002 to 2020 Deem was the John W. Cox Professor of Biochemical and Genetic Engineering and professor of physics and astronomy at
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Deem was the founding director of the graduate program in systems, synthetic, and physical biology at Rice University, 2012-2014. From 2014 to 2017, Deem served as the chair of the bioengineering department at
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
.
Deem has been elected Fellow to the
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
, the
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, ...
, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
, and the
Biomedical Engineering Society BMES (the Biomedical Engineering Society) is the professional society for students, faculty, researcher and industry working in the broad area of biomedical engineering. BMES is the leading biomedical engineering society in the United States and was ...
. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including a
National Science Foundation CAREER Award
The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...
(1997),
Top 100 Young Innovator by the
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...
(1999),
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (2000) (2000),
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2002), Allan P. Colburn Award of the
AIChE
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineers ...
(2004), Professional Progress Award of the
AIChE
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineers ...
(2010), Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award of
TAMEST, visiting scholar of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
(2012-2013), and Donald W. Breck Award in Molecular Sieve Science from the International Zeolite Association (2019).
Deem is known for work in evolution, vaccines and immunology, parallel tempering and statistical mechanics, and materials.
He has developed methods to quantify vaccine effectiveness and antigenic distance for influenza, methods to sculpt the immune system to mitigate immunodominance in dengue fever, a physical theory of the competition that allows HIV to escape from the immune system, an exact solution of a quasispecies theory of evolution that accounts for cross-species genetic exchange, a hierarchical approach to protein
molecular evolution
Molecular evolution is the process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins across generations. The field of molecular evolution uses principles of evolutionary biology and population genetics ...
, a `thermodynamic' formulation of evolution, a theory for how biological modularity spontaneously arises in an evolving system, and elucidated how static and dynamic measures of human brain connectivity predict complementary aspects of human cognitive performance. In the materials field, he developed the widely-used DIFFAX and ZEFSA methods for
zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ・y where is either a metal ion or H+. These pos ...
s. He developed a database of hypothetical zeolite frameworks that contains greater than 4 million structures. He developed methods to design structure directing agents for zeolites, leading to among other results the first synthesis of a pure chiral zeolite enantiomorph.
From 2008 to 2010, Deem was an academic adviser to
He Jiankui
He Jiankui (; ; born 1984) is a Chinese biophysics researcher who was an associate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China. Earning his Ph.D. from Rice University ...
, the controversial scientist who was involved with the
He Jiankui affair
The He Jiankui affair is a scientific and bioethical controversy concerning the use of genome editing following its first use on humans by Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who edited the genomes of human embryos in 2018. He became widely known on ...
related to gene-edited babies.
From 2021 to 2022, Deem was an Entrepreneur in Residence at
Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures is an American venture capital firm founded by Vinod Khosla, focused on early-stage companies in the Internet, computing, mobile, financial services, agriculture, healthcare and clean technology sectors. Some of its most successfu ...
, where he worked to select, mentor, and incubate portfolio companies.
See also
*
Evidence of common descent
Evidence of common descent of living organisms has been discovered by scientists researching in a variety of disciplines over many decades, demonstrating that all life on Earth comes from a single ancestor. This forms an important part of the ev ...
References
External links
Michael Deem's LinkedIn PageMichael Deem's Research Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deem, Michael W.
20th-century American biochemists
Living people
California Institute of Technology alumni
UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Fellows of the American Physical Society
21st-century American biochemists