Prof. Calo received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. He is also a founder of the Chemical Engineering Program at Brown University. Over the years, his research has focused on various problems related to energy and the environment. He has a U.S. Patent on waste plastics sorting for recycling using liquid fluidized bed classification (LFBC). Currently he is the leader of Project 5 of the Brown Superfund Research Program, which is focused on the development of novel electrochemical techniques for the removal and recovery of heavy metals from contaminated wastewater, sludges, and soils. As part of this project his group developed a novel Cyclic Electrowinning/Precipitation (CEP) system for the removal/recovery of heavy metals from wastewater, as well as a Hybrid Spouted Bed/Filter system for the removal of arsenic from contaminated water. He is also directing a project on the development of a hydrodynamic direct carbon fuel cell (H/DCFC) for the production of electrical power directly from solid carbonaceous waste materials without combustion.

He has well over a hundred peer-reviewed publications and chapters in books, as well as numerous presentations at national and international scientific conferences and meetings over the years.

Prof. Calo is a member of the American Chemical Society, of which he is a Fellow, of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the American Carbon Society. He is also a member of the Divisions of Energy and Fuels (ENFL) and Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) of the American Chemical Society, and has served as Councilor, Technical Program Secretary, Treasurer, and member of the Executive Committee of ENFL. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the American Carbon Society and Conference Chair of carbon2004, the international conference on carbon materials, held at Brown University in 2004. He is also a current member of the editorial board of the Carbon journal. Prior to entering academia, he served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force where he worked on atmospheric composition measurements via rocket and balloon-borne mass spectrometry, and as a Research Engineer for Exxon Research & Engineering Co.