During a gala event on May 2 at the Storrs campus, the School of Engineering honored 10 exceptional alumni and friends as 2013 inductees into the UConn Academy of Distinguished Engineers. Nearly 100 attendees helped to honor the new inductees, each of whom spoke of the profound influence of UConn Engineering in shaping their careers. One inductee was an alumnus of the Chemical Engineering department, John Prior.
John (Jack) Prior graduated from UConn in 1986 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and then went on to earn a doctorate of science (Sc.D.) in Chemical Engineering from MIT, focusing his research on monitoring and controlling bioreactors for the production of biopharmaceuticals.
Jack’s current position is Senior Director for Bioprocess Engineering at Genzyme, where he oversees a team of 14 engineers responsible for improving the manufacturing processes for these and other biopharmaceutical compounds that can be incredibly challenging to produce.
Jack’s work often places him in the “front lines” in addressing critical challenges. For example, he led company efforts to identify and correct the cause of a Thymoglobulin production challenge at the company’s facility in France in 2007. His efforts enabled patients to continue to receive this life-saving therapy. In 2008, he led efforts to understanding and address product comparability issues that had previously delayed the introduction of adult treatments for Pompe’s disease in the US. Jack also played a key role the troubleshooting effort surrounding a viral contamination episode the company experienced in 2009.
In addition to Jack’s important management and manufacturing technology development role in the biopharmaceutical industry, he has given back to UConn directly by serving as a member of the Chemical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board since 2006. In this capacity, he generously gives his time to provide critique, guidance, and support to the Chemical Engineering program. The CBE department would like to extend its congratulations to Jack Prior for his induction into the UConn Academy of Distinguished Engineers.