Frances H. Arnold, the Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, was named the winner of the Millennium Technology Prize from the Technology Academy of Finland. Professor Arnold is the first woman to win the award, which comes with a €1 million euros prize.
Professor Arnold, who also serves as the director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at CalTech, was honored for her “directed evolution” process, which creates new proteins in a laboratory setting. The process has practical applications in biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural products.
Professor Arnold is one of only a few individuals who have been elected to all three branches of the National Academies. Dr. Arnold is a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in mechanical and aerospace engineering. She holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She joined the faculty at CalTech in 1987 and was promoted to full professor in 1996.