Dr. Robert Beitle was promoted to Professor in 2006. Beitle joined the department in 1993 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Beitle has two distinct areas of research: biochemical engineering, and engineering education. The overarching goal of the biochemical engineering effort is efficient production of a biological be it small molecule like caffeine or large molecule like proteins or antibodies. Undergraduate and graduate students work on projects related to this goal using a combination of fermentation, chromatography, and membrane separations. These efforts are multidisciplinary and are at the interface between engineering and molecular biology. Projects in engineering education have been targeted at the understanding of the pedagogical requirements necessary for teaching chemical engineering process design to students who are visually impaired.

Beitle has served on the Executive Committee of the Biochemical Technology Division of the American Chemical Society for the past ten years. Research and teaching efforts have been supported by the Arkansas Bioscience Institute, the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, and multiple corporate sponsors.