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7/1/2025
Ezra Clark, the Thomas K. Hepler Early Career Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, was selected to receive $600,000 over four years as a Beckman Young Investigator. He will investigate unconventional ways of performing selective partial hydrogenation and oxidation reactions, which play a critical role in producing a wide array of the commodity and fine chemicals needed to manufacture everything from plastics
to pharmaceuticals.
6/25/2025
Seong Kim has been named department head and holder of the Walter L. Robb Family Department Head’s Chair of Chemical Engineering at Penn State, effective July 1. Kim’s promotion follows over 20 years of committed service to Penn State as a faculty member, leader and interdisciplinary researcher.
6/13/2025
Several engineering-focused research projects at Penn State have received GAP Fund support to accelerate the commercialization of innovations in areas such as energy-efficient data centers, advanced manufacturing, electronic waste recycling and smart drilling materials. By bridging the gap between academic discovery and industry adoption, these projects highlight engineering’s critical role in developing scalable solutions to global technological and sustainability challenges.
5/27/2025
Penn State's University Staff Advisory Council honored three staff members for their outstanding contributions, including Alex Zimmerman of Mechanical Engineering, whose innovative multimedia solutions have enhanced online engineering education, and Angela Dixon of Chemical Engineering, whose leadership and compassion have fostered a supportive departmental culture. These awards highlight excellence in both the technical and interpersonal dimensions of engineering staff roles.
5/19/2025
Penn State researchers, in collaboration with the University of Arkansas and Spark Therapeutics, developed a novel single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) system that significantly advances gene therapy manufacturing by enabling more efficient, continuous processing of AAV vectors. The work was recently featured in Chemical Engineering Progress for its potential to reduce costs and improve therapeutic quality.
5/13/2025
Amir Sheikhi, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biomaterials and Regenerative Engineering and associate professor of chemical engineering, has been named the 2025 recipient of the TAPPI Nanotechnology Division Mid-Career Award in recognition of his impactful research and contributions to the field of renewable nanomaterials. The award honors his scientific innovation, mentorship and leadership within the TAPPI NanoDivision.
5/6/2025
The Penn State College of Engineering has named its student marshals for the spring 2025 commencement ceremony, which will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9, in the Bryce Jordan Center at University Park.
4/24/2025
An alumnus from the 1960s who built a successful career in the chemical industry has pledged an $8.5 million estate commitment to the Department of Chemical Engineering, funding multiple initiatives that will support the growth of students and faculty in the department for generations to come. The donor has chosen to remain anonymous.
4/24/2025
The Penn State College of Engineering will recognize 21 alumni with the 2025 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award and Early Career Award in a ceremony on April 24 in the new Engineering Collaborative Research and Education (ECoRE) Building.
4/23/2025
The Penn State Learning Factory will host its biannual end-of-semester showcase for engineering students to present their cornerstone and capstone design projects from 1-3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, at the Bryce Jordan Center. The?virtual showcase?will take place Wednesday, April 30, through Friday, May 9.
4/22/2025
From microscopic robots that can carry and deliver drugs inside the human body to tiny particles that can detect and break down microplastics, an emerging field called active matter is looking toward the microscale to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
4/15/2025
Four Penn State undergraduates, including chemical engineering major Zach Badinger, were named Goldwater Scholars for 2025-26, based on their outstanding academic merit and research experience. Goldwater Scholars are selected for their potential as leaders in the fields of natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
4/15/2025
The Materials Research Institute (MRI) at Penn State has announced the recipients of the 2025 Interdisciplinary Seed Grants and Transdisciplinary Teaming Initiative awards, designed to support collaborative, high-risk research with the potential for significant societal and technological impact.
4/9/2025
Special biomedical materials that can be injected as a liquid and turn into a solid inside our bodies — called thermogels — could provide a less-invasive way to deliver drugs or treat wounds. Scientists at Penn State have developed a new design for these materials that further improves their properties and may hold particular promise for use in tissue regeneration, the researchers said.
3/31/2025
The Three Minute Thesis competition, started by the University of Queensland, is a research communication event that challenges students to summarize the impact of their research for a general audience in only three minutes with one presentation slide.
3/24/2025
The Penn State College of Engineering’s Office of Corporate and Industry Engagement
invites engineering faculty to I-CONNECT: Intellectual Property and Innovation. The event will take place virtually and on campus at 504 Engineering Collaborative Research and Education
Building (ECoRE) from 12:30 – 2 p.m. ET on April 2.
3/18/2025
The study, conducted in mice, revealed that sevelamer can successfully remove off-target antibiotics from the gut.
3/3/2025
The latest episode of Growing Impact discusses how environmental contaminants affect human health, a research focus for Penn State professors Andrew Patterson and Costas Maranas.
3/3/2025
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has named Hee Jueng Oh, assistant professor of chemical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, a Young Observer.
2/5/2025
Scott Milner, the William H. Joyce Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, was selected to receive the 2025 Polymer Physics Prize by the American Physics Society. The award recognizes outstanding accomplishment and excellence of contributions in polymer physics research.
2/3/2025
Penn State engineers developed a bio-based, "living" material that mimics certain behaviors within biological tissues, a potential step forward for advance regenerative medicine, disease modeling, soft robotics and more.
1/15/2025
Industrial engineering doctoral candidate Kevin Mekulu has been named to the 2025 Forbes
30 Under 30 list in the category of health care. He was selected for his work in improving screening for cognitive impairment with his artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology, which he developed through his startup, DementiAnalytics.
12/12/2024
Gina Noh, associate professor of chemical engineering, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Michael and Nikki Griffin Early Career Professorship. This new initiative recognizes faculty members in the early stages of their career, and grants them funding to continue their research at Penn State.
12/4/2024
Ten graduate students from eight academic programs, including three students studying in the College
of Engineering, have been named finalists for the 2024-25 Penn State Three
Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.
12/3/2024
Six Penn State materials researchers, including three affiliated with the College of Engineering, have received the 2024 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award, recognizing a wide range of research with societal impact.
11/19/2024
Angie Castro, a chemical engineering doctoral student, was recognized with an award at the American Institute for Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) annual poster session. Castro rose above 90+ other entries to be recognized as the second place winner of the Materials Engineering & Sciences Division (MESD).
11/18/2024
The Penn State Learning Factory will host its end-of-semester showcase at the Bryce Jordan Center on Dec. 10 and its virtual showcase Wednesday, Dec. 11 through Friday, Dec. 20. Both versions of the event are free and open to the public.
11/15/2024
The Penn State College of Engineering invites alumni and friends to support engineering student success through a GivingTuesday gift on Dec. 3 as Penn State celebrates its tenth GivingTuesday.
11/13/2024
A simple biomaterial-based strategy that can influence the behavior of cells could pave the way for more effective medical treatments such as wound healing, cancer therapy and even organ regeneration, according to a research team at Penn State.
11/12/2024
Stephanie Velegol, associate department head and teaching professor of chemical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, received the Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering Teaching Practice from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
11/1/2024
Eight Penn State College of Engineering graduate students have received the Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship in Entrepreneurship for the 2024-2025 academic year. The Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship encourages and provides financial support to innovative and entrepreneurial graduate engineering students.
10/23/2024
From the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building on Shortlidge Road to offices, labs and classrooms around the globe, nearly 10,000 alumni, 500 undergraduate and graduate students, and 45 faculty, post-doctoral candidates and staff call the Penn State Department of Chemical Engineering (CHE) home. This year, the department is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of a chemical engineering degree program at Penn State in 1924-25 and the first 11 chemical engineering bachelor’s degrees granted in May 1925.
10/9/2024
In the final round of the first Penn State Three Minute Thesis competition in March 2024, 11 graduate students took the stage at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center to show off their research, represent themselves, and compete for both prize money and the opportunity to compete in a regional 3MT competition
10/7/2024
Hee Jeung Oh, assistant professor of chemical engineering and of materials science and engineering at Penn State, has been named the 2024 recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Separations Division’s Fractionation Research Inc./John G. Kunesh Award.
9/24/2024
Penn State researchers have developed a new nanoparticle that can prevent mineral buildup in oil extraction equipment and stabilize a commonly used emulsion, or liquid mixture. This development has the potential to make the oil extraction processes more efficient and less harmful to the environment, according to the team.
9/23/2024
Bert Chandler, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Penn State, is one of 11 distinguished researchers recognized by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement as a recipient of the 2024 Cottrell Plus SEED (Singular Exceptional Endeavors of Discovery) Award.
9/17/2024
Winters K. Guo, a doctoral student in chemical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, recently won first place in a graduate student paper contest at the American Chemical Society’s national fall meeting.
9/12/2024
Nine Penn State researchers, including three from the College of Engineering, have been named fellows of the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) for 2024.
9/10/2024
Kristen Fichthorn, the Merrell Fenske Professor of Chemical Engineering and professor of physics, has been invited to give a Symposium X Lecture at the Materials Research Society’s spring meeting, which will be held on April 7-11, 2025, in Seattle.
9/4/2024
Ray Schaak, DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and professor of chemical engineering, has been awarded the 2025 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistryfrom the American Chemical Society (ACS).
8/12/2024
Gina Noh, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, was recognized as Young Talent at an international conference on catalysis.
7/11/2024
The Institute of Energy and the Environment has announced an update to its research themes. The change is to better align three of the research themes with the energy and environmental research being done at Penn State, and with efforts to recognize the importance of community and justice.
7/8/2024
A team of Penn State chemical engineering researchers has reconfigured the design of solid-state lithium batteries so that all their components can be easily recycled.
