November/December 2019
Message from the Department Head
New building, new faculty, and new achievements add up to a fantastic 2019 in Penn State Chemical Engineering

It's been a great year for Penn State Chemical Engineering! Our new building has been completed, and we had the ribbon-cutting ceremony in April. The building has an expanded space for the unit operations lab, plenty of seats in the computer lab, and great student collaboration spaces such as the Dow Chemical Knowledge Commons.  >>
Penn State Chemical Engineering Impact 
Penn State alumnus leads effort to restore the Chesapeake

Dana Aunkst, armed with his Penn State chemical engineering degree, has taken on the biggest challenge of his career so far: restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named Aunkst, who graduated from Penn State in 1983, as the new director of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) in December of 2018 .  >>
Graduate student of short stature overcomes challenges in lab, life

James Sutjianto, doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at Penn State, overcame obstacles like painful surgeries, wrong perceptions, and a world built for average height people to be one of Penn State's best graduate STEM researchers.  >>
Researchers seek to revolutionize catalyst design with machine learning

Penn State and Carnegie Mellon University researchers have received a $1.2 million grant from the United States Department of Energy to use machine learning and data science to design more effective catalysts for chemical processing.  >>
Moving faster in a crowd: Examining cell particle movement

New research shows that particle transport in crowded cells can actually be faster than movement in a non-crowded environment as long as the particles are moving from densely crowded areas to less crowded areas.  >>
What's New With Our Faculty  
Professor co-chairs roadmap to guide synthetic biology investments

Some of the potential applications of engineering biology, or synthetic biology, sound like science fiction: genetically engineered organisms that produce plastics from carbon dioxide and synthetic gut microbes that detect and kill invading organisms before you get sick.  >>
Chemical engineering professor receives American Chemical Society award

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has named Andrew Zydney, Penn State Bayard D. Kunkle Chair and professor of chemical engineering, as the recipient of the 2020 ACS Award in Separations Science and Technology.  >>
Four new faculty members join Department of Chemical Engineering

Bryan D. Vogt, Hee Jeung Oh, Amir Sheikhi, and Ezgi Toraman join a growing department and bring a variety of research interests.  >>
Two chemical engineering faculty members receive promotions

Two faculty members in the Penn State Department of Chemical Engineering have received promotions in academic rank, effective July 1.  >>
Chemical Engineering Student Stories
Graduate student receives poster award at biotechnology symposium

Parinaz Emami, a doctoral degree candidate in chemical engineering, received the Best Poster Award at the Law, Policy, and Engineering Biotechnology Symposium held April 11 at the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building.  >>
Improv teaches chemical engineering REU students valuable skills

This summer, students in the Penn State Department of Chemical Engineering's (ChE) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program discovered that improv has potential in engineering education.  >>
First-year chemical engineering student creating soundtracks on the side

Wezi Mkandawire is studying chemical engineering in his first year at Penn State. But the Schreyer Honors Scholar hasn't abandoned his longtime love of music or the compositions that are earning him national notice.  >>
Join Our Growing Faculty

Open Penn State chemical engineering faculty position

Be part of a department on the rise in a new, state-of-the-art facility with cutting-edge facilities. 

We invite applications for a tenure-line faculty position at the Assistant, Associate, or Professor level. While the area of research and scholarship is open, applicants who can develop and maintain a vibrant sponsored research program in life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impacts will be given greater consideration.

Visit Us at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting 

We hope to see you in Orlando!  Click here for details
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