Donna Blackmond, professor and the John C. Martin Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Known as the U.K.’s national academy of engineering, the Fellowship was established in 1976 to recognize outstanding individuals for engineering excellence and technology innovation. Blackmond joins an esteemed group of nearly 1,700 members including researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business and industry leaders. These members provide progressive leadership for engineering and technology—as well as independent expert advice to government—in the U.K. and around the world.

“Today’s cohort join a community of around 1,700 of some of the most talented engineers and innovators in the UK and around the globe,” says president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Sir John Lazar. “Their knowledge and experience make them uniquely well placed to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world, and our determination to advance and promote excellence in engineering remains undimmed.”

Blackmond is being recognized for her accomplishments across the chemical engineering field. This includes the development of a technique called Reaction Progress Kinetic Analysis, or RPKA, a method for streamlining chemical reactions that has become an industry-wide standard for pharmaceutical research and development. Beyond pharmaceutical applications, Blackmond’s research on molecular chirality has also provided new insights into fundamental questions about the chemistry of life and its origins on Earth.

Blackmond is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the U.K., an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.