David Reed is a staff scientist in the Biological and Chemical Processing Department at Idaho National Laboratory. He received his B.S. and M.S. from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. from University of Idaho. He has specialized in molecular microbiological approaches for extremophilic enzyme expression, detection, and characterization. He is involved in engineering novel enzymes and microorganisms for improving value-added products from biomass at high-temperature and/or acidic conditions. Currently he is developing a biological strategy for recovery of rare earth elements from recyclable materials. David is an affiliate faculty member at University of Idaho and Idaho State University and has co-authored over 35 patents and publications.