College

Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering

Department

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Category

Energy

Areas of Expertise

Biofuels

Ken Reardon

Reardon’s research involves the production of biofuels and other chemicals, applications of systems biology, biosensor development and bioprocess monitoring.

The Jud and Pat Harper Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado State University, Reardon holds joint appointments in the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program; the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology; the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; and the School of Biomedical Engineering at CSU, as well as at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Reardon is the director of the Sustainable Bioenergy Development Center and has served as the co-director of the Energy Institute at CSU.

Reardon’s current research involves the analysis and engineering of bacteria and algae for the production of biofuels and other chemicals, applications of systems biology, biosensor development and bioprocess monitoring. In 2010, he founded OptiEnz Sensors to commercialize biosensor technology that had been developed in his group, and continues to serve as its chief technology officer.

Reardon joined the faculty at CSU in 1988 after completing his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology and a year of postdoctoral research at the Universität Hannover as an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow.