9/18/2026
Rui Shi, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, has been named the recipient of the LCA Rising Star Award from the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA).
9/2/2026
Scott Milner, William H. Joyce Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been writing and publishing across careers in both industry and academia for decades. In his new book, “Writing and Presenting for Scientists and Engineers”, publishing in late 2026 through MIT Press, Milner provides insights into methods for writing about scientific research in a more compelling way.
8/17/2026
Mason Link, doctoral student in chemical engineering at Penn State, is working to make nucleation, the process of how crystals form in glass materials, easier to understand and predict. By pairing a reexamination of long-standing theory with a method for monitoring crystal formation as it happens, his research could help scientists design glass-ceramics more efficiently and with greater control.
8/13/2026
Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, alongside two researchers from Penn State, have demonstrated the importance of generating highly reproducible experimental data when building AI models for investigations in science. They published the results in Nature Catalysis.
7/30/2026
Amir Sheikhi, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biomaterials and Regenerative Engineering and associate professor of chemical engineering at Penn State, recently received the 2025 Early Career Investigator Award from the journal BioResources for his research team’s work on all-cellulose cryogels with tunable architectures.
7/23/2026
Three projects led by Penn State scientists are among those selected for funding under Phase I of the Genesis Mission, a historic national initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy to build an integrated science discovery platform. In addition, Penn State is a partner on the Prometheus project, led by Idaho National Laboratory, which is the first Genesis Mission Phase II award recipient.
7/14/2026
The Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) held its annual awards ceremony on June 12 at the State Theatre, building on its 54-year tradition of honoring excellence among engineering faculty, staff and alumni through the PSEAS awards. The award recipients were recognized in the categories of teaching, research, advising and service.
7/13/2026
Thirty-one Penn State students, including seven College of Engineering students, earned Discovery Grants to help fund their summer research and projects, gaining the opportunity for valuable experience in the field, in the lab and abroad.
7/7/2026
Andrew Zydney, Bayard D. Kunkle Chair and professor of chemical engineering at Penn State, is part of a team whose project, "Inline Spiking Method for Validation of Virus Clearance in Continuous Bioprocessing," has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the National Institute for Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (NIIMBL) Most Impactful Project Award.
6/22/2026
Twelve research projects, including nine from the College of Engineering, have been selected for the 2026 Penn State Commercialization GAP Fund. Awarded projects receive $75,000 in funding and other support to develop promising proof-of-concept research into commercial ready technology.
6/1/2026
Changing market conditions are increasing the need for cost-effective ways to produce biorenewable chemicals, biofuels and materials that can serve as alternatives to oil-based products. According to Costas Maranas, Robert V. & Gloria H. Waltemeyer Chair and Donald B. Broughton Professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State, solutions to these problems could come from applying tools used in synthetic biology to plants and their microbial partners across the globe.
5/20/2026
Penn State has announced non-tenure-line faculty promotions, including for 14 College of Engineering faculty, effective July 1.
5/11/2026
Penn State’s Chem-E-Car team, part of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student chapter, placed first out of 21 schools in the Chem-E-Car Performance Competition at the 2026 AIChE Mid-Atlantic Conference. This recognition qualifies the team for the 2026 Annual Student Conference, an international competition that will take place in November. Last year, Penn State’s Chem-E-Car team took fourth place in the global competition.
5/5/2026
Chemical engineering major Jacob Capets has been named the recipient of the Douglas G. and Regina C. Evans Award for Research Achievement from Schreyer Honors College. In total, Schreyer Honors College awarded seven Schreyer Scholars and two faculty members Schreyer Honors College Awards for the 2025-26 academic year.
4/22/2026
Jacob Capets, an undergraduate student studying chemical engineering, earned a Student and Postdoctoral Poster Award from the American Physical Society DPOLY division for his research on self-healing coatings. His work was recognized among dozens of presentations for its contributions to advancing polymer materials research.
4/9/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering has named its student marshals for the spring 2026 commencement, recognizing top students from each major and ROTC for academic excellence and leadership. The honor highlights their achievements and contributions to the engineering community as they prepare to graduate.
4/9/2026
The winners of the 18th annual Materials Visualization Competition (MVC) have been announced. MVC is a scientific visual and artistic competition that celebrates the quality of research in materials at Penn State and promotes awareness of materials science through visualization. MVC is sponsored by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Materials Research Institute.
4/6/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering will recognize 21 alumni with the 2026 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award and Early Career Award in a ceremony on April 9 in the State Theatre. The event marks the second year in which the two awards will be presented during a combined ceremony.
4/6/2026
Cell cultures — single layers of cells grown in a small dish — have enabled researchers to study biological growth, develop or test drugs and even discover what causes some diseases. Cell spheroids, 3D versions of cell cultures built using a process known as cell aggregation, are the next step in advancing this work, capable of more closely modeling real tissue.
3/10/2026
Biomaterials are specifically engineered to support tissue, nerve and muscle regeneration across the body, yet physicians and researchers have limited control over the size and connectivity of the internal pores that transfer oxygen and vital nutrients to where they are most needed. To solve this problem and better support tissue regeneration, a team at Penn State has designed a new class of tunable biomaterials.
2/20/2026
A stretchy, conductive type of plastic could help power the next generation of implantable biomedical devices, like longer-lasting pacemakers or glucose monitors, according to Enrique Gomez, professor of chemical engineering at Penn State.
2/18/2026
Amir Sheikhi is the principal investigator on a paper, recently published in Advanced Functional Materials, that proposes a novel technology of isolating and recovering dysprosium, a rare earth element used to manufacture semiconductors, engines, generators and more.
2/16/2026
Penn State's Office of Faculty Affairs has named 14 new distinguished professors for 2026, including Michael Janik and Phillip Savage of the Robert V. Waltemeyer Department of Chemical Engineering.
1/27/2026
Fifteen faculty members, including six from the College of Engineering, have joined the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE), reflecting the institute’s growing interdisciplinary reach. Together, they bring expertise that connects energy systems, environmental processes and human dimensions, opening new pathways for collaboration and shared research efforts.
12/11/2025
A research team that includes Andrew Zydney, Bayard D. Kunkle Chair and professor of chemical engineering at Penn State, and is led by the University of Delaware’s Kelvin Lee has received a three-year, $10.5 million funding award through the Gates Grand Challenges Program aimed at significantly lowering the cost of manufacturing monoclonal antibodies. Penn State’s share of the funding is $600,000.
12/9/2025
Oil-in-water droplets respond to chemical cues by forming arm-like extensions that resemble filopodia, which are used by living cells to sense and explore their environment. A research team led by chemists at Penn State studies the droplets to glimpse how matter may have transitioned to life billions of years ago.
12/5/2025
The Penn State Learning Factory will host its biannual end-of-semester showcase for engineering students to present their cornerstone and capstone design projects. The in-person showcase will take place from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, at the Bryce Jordan Center, while a virtual showcase will take place on Friday, Dec. 12 through Friday, Dec. 19. Both versions of the event are free and open to the public.
12/1/2025
Four Penn State chemical engineering undergraduates earned top placements at the 2025 AIChE Undergraduate Student Poster Competition, with several additional students presenting their research across diverse technical areas.
11/12/2025
Penn State will celebrate its eleventh GivingTuesday on Dec. 2 — and the College of Engineering invites alumni and friends to be a part of the event by making a gift to support engineering student success.
10/30/2025
With a $450,000, three-year U.S. National Science Foundation grant and equivalent funding from the Binational Science Foundation in Israel, an international team of researchers co-led by Penn State Professor Thomas Wood will investigate the role E. coli plays in the gut and how it may affect intestinal inflammation.
10/24/2025
A research team led by Thomas Wood, professor of chemical engineering at Penn State, recently observed a previously overlooked defense mechanism in bacteria containing extremely old, dormant viruses. They investigated this mechanism in the cells containing these sleeping defenders, finding it could successfully help bacteria defend against viruses. The researchers published their work, which the team said could potentially be employed to create stronger antivirus systems for the medical and food industries, in Nucleic Acids Research.
10/20/2025
Inspired by an artist’s stencils, researchers have developed atomic-level precision patterning on nanoparticle surfaces, allowing them to “paint” gold nanoparticles with polymers, or long chains of small molecules, to give them an array of new shapes and functions. The “patchy nanoparticles” developed by a multi-institutional team that includes researchers at Penn State can be made in large batches, used for a variety of electronic, optical or biomedical applications, or used as building blocks for new complex materials and metamaterials.
10/17/2025
Five years ago, the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation established the A. James Clark Scholars Program, a comprehensive scholarship and curricular support program for exceptional Penn State engineering undergraduates who demonstrate financial need. Now, with an additional $11 million investment, the Clark Foundation renewed its support for the program, ensuring that 10 new undergraduate engineering majors at Penn State will receive full tuition, fees, room and board, and curricular enrichment support each year in perpetuity.
10/13/2025
Zachary Vinitski, a chemical engineering major with a minor in biomedical engineering, has been named the fall 2025 student marshal for the Penn State College of Engineering. A 4.0 student and campus leader, Vinitski has excelled in research, service and leadership, and will be honored at the Dec. 21 commencement ceremony.
