The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is now located on the top floor of the newly opened Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB). This six-story 200,000 square-foot facility provides state-of-the-art laboratory and office space representing a significant campus commitment to interdisciplinary research efforts across engineering, physical sciences, and information and computer science. Importantly, the research priorities of CBE faculty in the building strongly align with two of the ISEB thematic research areas: environmental sustainability (energy, environment, water) and human health. The department is ideally situated to encourage engagement in the collaborative environment presented by the interdisciplinary building. CBE faculty-led research initiatives include decarbonization of the energy sector using electrochemistry, biomaterials development for immunomodulation and tissue engineering, novel microscopy instrumentation to explore relationships between cell metabolism and mechanosensitivity, and enzyme and microbial catalyst development for biomanufacturing of renewable chemicals.
Chair's Message
Welcome to the inaugural issue of our CBE@UCI newsletter! After the past 18 months of hardship brought on by the pandemic, we see a renewed energy on campus with our lecture halls filled with animated interactions between faculty and students. The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was founded just three years ago in 2018. In that time, we have seen tremendous growth in both size and stature. Now with 18 core faculty members, we have established a broad spectrum of world-class research activities in macromolecular engineering, energy & sustainability, and biomolecular engineering & biotechnology. This has led to significant partnerships with UCI’s new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and our more established Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) and the Gross Stem Cell Research Center (SCRC). CBE’s focus in collaborative multidisciplinary efforts is a key reason why roughly half of our faculty and the department office were chosen to relocate to the new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building.

Fueling our research efforts is an exceptional group of student researchers. We are pleased to welcome our largest incoming class of 28 graduate students. Moreover, our undergraduate students have shown exceptional resilience in making progress toward their degrees even under restrictions imposed by the pandemic. A case in point is our student Chem-E-Car team that won the Western Regional competition and was one of only 30 teams globally that were selected to compete in the competition organized by AIChE at the annual meeting in Boston.

Finally, we are excited to welcome our new engineering dean, Magnus Egerstedt, who joins us after 20-plus years at Georgia Tech. With his leadership, I am certain the momentum that CBE@UCI has generated over the past three years will be sustained well into the future. I hope you enjoy reading about the successes of our faculty and students, and I hope this newsletter will serve as a valuable vehicle to cultivate broader engagement with our peers, alumni, industry and community stakeholders. I look forward to receiving your feedback and sharing your stories. Do not hesitate to reach out to me at vvenugop@uci.edu.

Zot! Zot! Zot!

Vasan Venugopalan
Professor & Chair
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Gorodetsky Wins NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

Alon Gorodetsky, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, is one of 64 researchers to earn this recognition, given to support unusually innovative biomedical research from early career investigators.
Adams Receives NSF Early Career Award

Tayloria N.G. Adams, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and a Henry Samueli Career Development Chair, has earned a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.

Zenyuk’s Commitment to Advancing Energy Technology Earns a Young Investigator Award

Iryna Zenyuk has received the Electrochemical Society’s Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award.
Public-Private Partnership Advances Smart Cities and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

The UCI HORIBA Institute for Mobility and Connectivity2 (HIMaC2) in the Samueli School of Engineering has been awarded a $6 million grant to establish a Public Road Network Platform for the development, evaluation and deployment of emerging and future connected and autonomous vehicle technologies.

Li to Lead Development of Transformational Energy Technology Funded by Department of Energy

A multi-institutional team led by UCI chemical engineer Han Li was awarded $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
NSF Grant Enhances Sustainable Energy Research with X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy

Critical clues to sustainable energy production and decarbonization of manufacturing processes lie inside a seemingly nondescript steel box.
UCI Chem-E-Car Team Is Only One in Western Region to Cross Finish Line

In a true test of resilience, determination and ingenuity, Samueli School students navigated through adverse conditions this past year to design and build two entries for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Chem-E-Car competition.

New Graduate Fellowship Established by Alumnus Estate

A gift from the family trust of UCI alumnus John Duffy ’88, and his wife, Joanna, has established a new graduate fellowship at the Samueli School with a CBE graduate student as first recipient.
In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Henry Lim and Wife Sunny

Samueli School Professor Emeritus Henry Lim, a founder of the school’s Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, passed away on Feb. 12, 2021, at age 85.