Dr. Jeffrey S. Kanel received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has more than 21 years of experience in engineering research and process development through work at The Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company and Union Carbide Corporation.

He is an inventor on more than 20 issued U.S. patents and numerous foreign patents, and served as Chair for the University of Akron External Advisory Board. He has been invited twice to the National Academy of Engineer’s Foundations of Engineering Meetings, and he teaches a course on Liquid Extraction for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and for the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Kanel has been associated with several entrepreneurial endeavors since 1996, including: 1) the development and sale to Ocean Spray of a process to extract the active ingredient from cranberries to prevent urinary tract infections; 2) the commercialization of technology to extract zeaxanthin from paprika; and 3) demonstration and sale to a Fortune 250 company of a process to grow and harvest algae for the production of natural beta-carotene.