2025
March
Gomes’ predictive platform for biocatalysts spotlighted
Chemical & Engineering News
ChemE’s Gabe Gomes and Alison Narayan at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor have created Catnip, a machine learning web app that was featured in Chemical & Engineering News. The platform predicts which enzymes might work to catalyze reactions on particular molecules to aid chemists in organic synthesis.
Liu wins Professional Promise Award
ChemE student Linda Liu received the Professional Promise Award from the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Each year, one outstanding senior from each of the regional programs in chemical engineering is recognized. Winners are selected by the faculty based on their academic accomplishments as undergraduates, internship or research experience, and their potential for achievement in the profession.
Usman wins Three Minute Thesis People’s Choice Award
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman won the People's Choice Award at the Carnegie Mellon Three Minute Thesis 2025 championship. The award is selected by the in-person audience. Usman also won 3rd place overall, awarded by the judging panel. Usman, who works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa, presented "Culturing the Unculturable: A New Frontier in Antibiotic Research."
2025 Covestro Lecture
Alexander Mitsos, professor and laboratory director, Aachener Verfahrenstechnik (RWTH Aachen University), will give the Covestro Lecture in Process Systems Engineering on March 11, 2025. Dr. Mitsos' talk is titled "Process systems engineering meets machine learning." The Covestro Lecture Series in Process Systems Engineering recognizes the contributions of the Covestro Corporation in establishing and endowing the Covestro Chair for Chemical Engineering. Lectures are given by internationally recognized speakers who have made significant impact in the field of process systems.
February
Niepa appointed to USNC/IUPAC
ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as a Member of the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (USNC/IUPAC). USNC/IUPAC encourages cooperative international activities that promote the advancement of the chemical sciences, arrange scientific meetings in the U.S., and involve U.S. researchers with international issues.
Usman wins Three Minute Thesis preliminary
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman was co-winner of preliminary round 4 in the Carnegie Mellon Three Minute Thesis competition. Usman, who works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa, presented "Culturing the Unculturable: A New Frontier in Antibiotic Research." She advances to the championship on March 11.
Grossmann named Foreign Academic
ChemE’s Ignacio Grossmann was selected as a Foreign Academic of the Chemical and Physical Sciences Section of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences of Spain.
January
Whitehead speaks about the future of chemical engineering research
Nature Chemical Engineering
ChemE’s Kathryn Whitehead was quoted in Nature Magazine in a piece celebrating the first anniversary of Nature Chemical Engineering. The magazine spoke with 40 chemical engineering researchers, including Whitehead, about their predictions for the future of the field and what excites them the most. Whitehead talked about using nanoparticle chemistry to help deliver RNA treatments, which are currently used to treat liver disease, to other organs that are currently more difficult to target. “We and others are now uncovering the chemical mechanisms that control delivery and are expanding the nanoparticle formulation space, which we hope will enable treatment of any human disease, no matter its location,” she said.
Badia named Generative AI in Healthcare Fellow
Center for Machine Learning and Health
BME Ph.D. student Ann Badia has been named a 2024 Generative AI in Healthcare Fellow with the Center for Machine Learning and Health in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. Badia works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa.
2024
December
Apgar earns poster award at African Materials Research Society Conference
BME Ph.D. student Amy Apgar received the iCANX Poster Award at the 2024 African Materials Research Society Conference. Apgar, who works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa, presented "Live Biotherapeutic Formulation and Delivery Using Nanocultures."
Gomes quoted on ChatGPT
Nature
ChemE’s Gabe Gomes was quoted in Nature about how large language models like ChatGPT can help overcome language barriers in scientific writing. “It democratizes writing and it helps folks that have English as a second language,” said Gomes.
Gomes part of red teaming for Amazon AI models
ChemE’s Gabe Gomes contributed to the red teaming efforts for Amazon’s new family of foundation models, called Nova. The Gomes Group tested the models’ capabilities in chemistry and chemical compounds. Their non-automated evaluations explored aggregation attack vulnerabilities through purchasing and remote chemical mixing scenarios. The Gomes Group also conducted automated evaluations using two distinct datasets of hazardous and common chemicals.
Niepa honored as Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering
ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa received a Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award honors early-career researchers recognized through prestigious awards such as NSF CAREER, ONR YIP, AFOSR YIP, DARPA YFA, and NIH New Innovator Awards. Niepa has received the NSF CAREER award and the NIH New Innovator Award to support unconventional approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research.
November
Gomes quoted on large language models
Chemistry World
ChemE’s Gabe Gomes spoke to Chemistry World about the potential of using large language models instead of humans to answer chemistry questions. “This is incredibly well thought out and well-done work,” said Gomes. “I believe strongly that the way forward for making the models more powerful and capable is by having proper reasoning in them. But if we cannot measure that, we will keep seeing mirages that they seem to be improving when they are not.”
Foong poster in the top 10 at ACS CERM
Undergraduate student Yansi Foong was recognized for presenting one of the Top 10 Posters at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Central Regional Meeting (CERM) 2024 Undergraduate Research Poster Session. Foong presented "Pre- and post-processing effects of protein structure in dynamic thermosets," for which she worked with ChemE's Daphne Chan. She was previously recognized as a 2024 Berg Scholar by the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student receives $49k grant award
National Institutes of Health
BME’s Dhruv Bhattaram, a second-year Ph.D. student, received $49k from the National Institutes of Health to advance his research, which centers around the development and application of lung epithelial organoids called apical-out airway organoids (AoAOs). Bhattaram has been part of BME’s Charlie Ren’s Engineered Morphogenesis Group since spring 2023. As principal investigator on the NIH project, he will partner with ChemE’s Coty Jen, MechE’s Amir Barati Farimani, and University of Pittsburgh’s Kong Chen to present AoAOs as a next-generation theragnostic platform targeted towards airway health and cilia pathophysiology.
McKenzie earns fluid mechanics award at AIChE
ChemE Ph.D. student Brian McKenzie received an Excellence in Fluid Mechanics Research and Oral Presentation Award from the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting. McKenzie, who works with ChemE's Aditya Khair and Bob Tilton and Physics' Steve Garoff, presented "Convective Instability Driven By the Interfacial Reaction of Oppositely Charged Surfactants Meeting at an Oil-Water Interface."
October
Cho earns Computing & Systems Technology presentation award at AIChE
ChemE Ph.D. student Seolhee Cho received the 2nd place Computing and Systems Technology Division (CAST) Director's Student Presentation Award for her talk "Two-Stage Stochastic Generalized Disjunctive Programming (GDP) Model and Algorithm for Proactive Planning and Operations of Resilient Power Systems Under Disruptions." The awards were presented at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting. Cho works with ChemE's Ignacio Grossmann.
Usman earns bionanotechnology student award at AIChE
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman won 2nd place in the 2024 Bionanotechnology Graduate Student Awards with her talk titled "Designing Magnetically Responsive Polymeric Nanocultures." The awards were presented by the Nanoscale Science & Engineering Forum at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting. Usman works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa.
Two undergraduates honored at AIChE research poster competition
ChemE Fifth Year Scholar Gabriel Mendez-Sanders (BS '24) and ChemE student Juhee Park won awards in the undergraduate research poster competition at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Student Conference. Mendez-Sanders won 1st place in the Education and General Papers section with his poster, "Assessing the Impact of 'People-Oriented Recitation Problems' on the Interest of First-Year Intro Chemical Engineering Students." Mendez-Sanders works with ChemE's Joanne Beckwith Maddock. Park won 1st place in the Computing, Simulation, and Process Controls II section and in the Computing & Systems Technology (CAST) division overall. Her poster was titled "Machine Learning Driven Quantitation of Viable Capsids for Gene Therapy Applications." Park was previously recognized as a 2024 Berg Scholar by the Department of Chemical Engineering. She works in the lab of ChemE's Anne Skaja Robinson.
Walsh earns Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development, and Manufacturing award
ChemE Ph.D. student Megan Walsh was selected as a 2024 Student Award winner by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development, and Manufacturing (PD2M) Forum. The award was presented at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting. Walsh works with ChemE's Carl Laird and Chrysanthos Gounaris.
Two AIChE student leaders honored at annual conference
ChemE students Zeynep Örücü and Calvin Wang were recognized at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Student Conference. Both are leaders of Carnegie Mellon's AIChE student chapter. Örücü received the 2023-2024 Donald F. Othmer Second Year Student Academic Excellence Award. Wang received the 2023-2024 First Year Student Recognition Award.
Spotte-Smith quoted on AI ethics
Nature
ChemE’s Evan Spotte-Smith spoke with Nature regarding the ethics of AI, specifically pertaining to intellectual property. “Removing peoples’ names from their work can be really damaging, especially for early-career scientists or people working in places in the global south,” Spotte-Smith explained.
Donahue discusses chemical detectors in regards to 2023 train derailment
Associated Press
ChemE and EPP’s Neil Donahue spoke with the Associated Press about last year’s East Palestine train derailment in Ohio. He discussed how it is customary to report chemical levels that exceed chemical detectors and their reliability.
Inaugural Dennis C. Prieve Endowed Lecture
John Y. Walz ('92), president, Milwaukee School of Engineering, will give the inaugural Dennis C. Prieve Endowed Lecture on October 8, 2024. Walz's talk is titled "Enough is Enough and Too Much is Just Right: The Many Things I Learned from Dennis Prieve." The lecture series was created to honor the memory of Dennis Prieve, Gulf Professor of Chemical Engineering Emeritus.
September
Niepa comments on synthetic polymer that mimics barnacles
Chemical & Engineering News
ChemE’s Tagbo Niepa was quoted by Chemical & Engineering News about a recent study that developed a synthetic polymer that can mimic the ways in which barnacles clean surfaces. Niepa explained the potential benefits this development could provide, explaining, “you can think about a way of cleaning a catheter, for instance, that is fully infected with bacteria.”
Gomes work featured in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
ChemE’s Gabe Gomes’ work with large language model Coscientist was mentioned in a The New Yorker story about how scientists discover and develop new medicines to combat antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, along with how these scientists integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into this process.
Congratulations to our Andy Award Nominees
Carnegie Mellon University
Congratulations to the following College of Engineering Andy Award Nominees. Cheer them on at the event on Tuesday, October 15 in McConomy Auditorium.
Commitment to Excellence: Rookie
- Amber Dworek (INI)
- Eric Mrock (MechE)
- Patricia Musiime (CMU-Africa)
- Geena Provenzano (CEE)
- Lauren Smith (College Offices)
Commitment to Excellent: Veteran
- Melissa Brown (MechE)
- Andrea Cohen (College Offices)
- Allison McLachlan (CEE)
- Kristyn Williams (MechE)
- Emma Zink (III)
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Jessica Tomko (ECE)
Commitment to Students
- Jeannette Daly (ECE)
- Mika Inamahoro (CMU-Africa)
- Jennifer Spirer (College Offices)
- Ed Wojciechowski (MechE)
Innovative and Creative Contributions
- Brian Belowich (CEE)
- Monica Submit (CMU-Africa)
- Anthony Talotta (MSE)
Spirit
- Abraham Darriel (CMU-Africa)
- Christa Jones (INI)
- Melissa Ritchie (CEE)
Teamwork and Collaboration (Standing Teams)
- CMU-Africa Student Induction Program: Jacqueline Bangirana, Nancy Biwott, Gikundiro Buki, Nick Carney, Abraham Darriel, Reginald Donkor, Gisele Gihozo, Mika Inamahoro, Rosine Kamahoro, Lucy-Anna Kelly, Sandra Malaika, Ines Manzi, Mugire Flavia Mugwaneza, Irene Munene, Johnson Nziza, Marie-Ange Rukundo, and Monica Sumbi.
- Chemical Engineering Academic Team: Maria Barnes, Heather Costello, Chelsea Lee, Nora Sieworiek
August
Jen interviewed on particle research
Department of Energy
ChemE’s Coty Jen spoke with the Department of Energy about her research on atmospheric nucleation driven by sulfuric acid. Jen specifically covers the recent testing her research team conducted on a device they built that measures the precursor gasses in seed-particle formation.
Donahue quoted on air purifiers for pets
U.S. News
ChemE and EPP’s Neil Donahue was quoted by U.S. News on the benefits of HEPA air purifiers for pets. “HEPA air filters are extremely effective at removing fine particles. This includes pet dander, viruses like COVID, smoke particles from cooking, and dust of all sorts,” he says.
Pettersen wins Colorado Protein Stability Conference poster competition
ChemE Ph.D. student John Pettersen was selected as the winner of the Student Poster Competition at the 2024 Colorado Protein Stability Conference. Pettersen works with ChemE's Anne Skaja Robinson.
July
Faculty award winners announced
Congratulations to the 2024 faculty award winners who represent six departments across the College of Engineering. The recipients were recognized for their achievements as researchers and educators. The winners include: Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award: Jon Peha (EPP); David P. Casasent Outstanding Research Award: Gregory Lowry (CEE); Distinguished Professor of Engineering: Lorenz Biegler (ChemE); George Tallman Ladd Research Award: Amanda Krause (MSE) and Akshitha Sriraman (ECE); Outstanding Mentoring Award: Alan McGaughey (MechE); Outstanding Service Award: Jonathan Malen (MechE); and Steven J. Fenves Award for Systems Research: Carl Laird (ChemE).
Seven Engineering faculty awarded grants from Scott Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Seven faculty from the College of Engineering received funding from this year’s Scott Institute Seed Grants to pursue projects advancing dacarbonization research and energy equity. This year’s winners include: CEE’s Gerald Wang, researching plastics decarbonization; MSE’s Paul Salvador and Mohammad Islam, researching carbon dioxide air capture with aerogels; EPP’s Ramteen Sioshansi and Granger Morgan, researching mitigating electric supply disruptions; ChemE/EPP’s Neil Donahue, upgrading an equipment’s ability to detect particles at low temperatures; and MSE’s Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, repairing an induction furnace melter to study the effects of hydrogen on metal alloys.
Grossmann receives honorary doctorate from Argentina’s Universidad Nacional del Sur
Universidad Nacional del Sur (in Spanish)
ChemE’s Ignacio Grossmann was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad Nacional del Sur in recognition of his 30-plus years of collaboration with that institution. “It is a privilege to receive this title, I am deeply grateful for it but above all for having a close relationship with groups in this country since 1982,” he said. “The reason for the success of this very fruitful relationship in the last 30 years has undoubtedly been the great talent that are the professors, researchers and scholarship holders of the Universidad Nacional del Sur. And not only talent, but also motivation, technical preparation and high scientific quality. It has truly been a huge pleasure for me to work together.” This is his ninth honorary doctorate.
May
Khair and Tilton gave invited lectures at the Howard Brenner Memorial Symposium
ChemE’s Aditya Khair and Robert Tilton were invited to speak at the Howard Brenner Memorial Symposium, held May 19–21 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. The symposium was held to commemorate 10 years since the passing of Dr. Howard Brenner, a renowned expert on fluid mechanics and former faculty member at CMU’s Department of Chemical Engineering from 1966–1977. Khair spoke about the dynamics of emulsions made of fluids with low electric conductivities, and Tilton spoke about surface tension synergy in mixtures of surfactants. The conference also included a keynote address by National Academy of Engineering President John Anderson, former department head of ChemE and former dean of the College of Engineering at CMU.
Donahue ranked on ScholarGPS
ScholarGPS
ChemE/EPP’s Neil Donahue ranked #20 in the aerosol specialty on ScholarGPS. Highly Ranked Scholars™ are identified by career productivity levels (number of publications), as well as the quality and impact of their work.
April
Johnson, Kim, and Stinchfield honored in NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
ChemE undergraduates Sanjay Johnson and Julie Shin Kim were selected as 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellows. Ph.D. student Ali Stinchfield received an honorable mention.