The College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University will host a lecture by R. Patrick Simms, a 1966 chemical engineering graduate and a leader in the growing field of biotechnology, as part of its College Distinguished Lecture Series, at 11 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 27.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Room G-83 of the Engineering Sciences Building. Simmstopic isManaging Your Career in a Rapidly Changing (and Shrinking) World.

A southern West Virginian by birth, Simms was the youngest of three brothers who all earned engineering degrees from WVU . After graduation, he went to work for A. E. Staley, a food and agricultural products manufacturer in Illinois, holding positions in process and product development, corporate engineering and operations management.

In 1984, Simms moved into biotechnology, joining Genencor in San Francisco as vice president for commercial operations. Over 23 years, he has headed commercial operations for three emerging industrial and agro biotech start-ups.

Two of these companies became publicly traded through IPOs, and the third was acquired by Kodak and a European partner. During this period, Pat led the commercialization of more than 20 new biotech products.

For the past several years, Patrick has focused largely on the challenge of fuel generation from renewable resources. He believes in the urgent need to reduce fossil carbon release to the environment. In August 2006, he founded a consulting business, focusing on biotech commercialization and renewable fuels.