Dr. Robert E. Palazzo 
Palazzo joined Rensselaer in 2002 and has served as the Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer, as Professor of Biology at Rensselaer, and as a research scientist for the Wadsworth Center with the New York State Department of Health. His previous experience includes visiting professor at Harvard University Medical School, and a variety of roles with the University of Kansas where he Chaired the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology and served as Professor for the Department of Molecular Biosciences. Prior to his work in Kansas, Palazzo was as an assistant scientist/principal investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and conducted four years of post doctorate research at the University of Virginia’s biology department.
An active contributor to his field, Palazzo is the President-elect of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) which represents 22 basic biomedical research societies and some 84,000 basic biomedical researchers. He served as Chair of the Science Advisory Council and as ex officio member of the Board of Trustees for the Marine Biological Laboratory. He has also served as a panelist or as member of various committees for a variety of organizations throughout his career, including the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Palazzo has served as an editorial board member of Biology of the Cell for five years and spent seven years on the editorial board of Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton.
Palazzo’s honors include a Junior Faculty Research Award from the American Cancer Society, a National Research Service Award from the NIH, and a number of fellowships. He is a member of many professional societies, such as American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Society for Cell Biology.