Department of

Chemical Engineering

Designing molecular technology for the 21st century with biology and chemistry


Department Personnel

Faculty Honors

The faculty within the Department of Chemical Engineering is an outstanding group of scholars whose interests span virtually all areas of chemical engineering research. Many have been recognized with awards from national and international organizations for their research contributions.

2012 honors


  • Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering & John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Early Career Professor in the College of Engineering Michael Janik has been selected as a Faculty Fellow for Penn State's Institute for Cyberscience. April 2012.
  • Bruce Logan (Courtesy appointment faculty member, Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded one of the University's Evan Pugh Professorships, the highest distinction given to faculty at Penn State.

    Evan Pugh Professorships are given to faculty who are "acknowledged leaders in their fields of research or creative activity", who have "demonstrated significant leadership in raising the standards of the University with respect to teaching, research or creative activity, and service" and who have "demonstrated excellent teaching skills and contributed significantly to the education of students." April 2012.
  • Dr. Ali Borhan, Professor of Chemical Engineering, received the 2012 Graduate Faculty Teaching Award.

    The award, established in 1992 by The Graduate School, is presented to faculty members in recognition of outstanding teaching performance and advising of graduate students.

    Dr. Borhan, a member of the Chemical Engineering faculty for 23 years, is honored for his teaching of graduate level courses.

    View the complete story on Penn State Live. April 2012.
  • Darrell Velegol has been appointed as a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering.

    The title of Distinguished Professor is given to a select group of faculty in each College who are "acknowledged leaders in their fields of research or creative activity", who "have demonstrated significant leadership in raising the standards of the University with respect to teaching, research or creative activity, and service," and who "have demonstrated excellent teaching skills and contributed significantly to the education of students who subsequently have achieved recognition of excellence in their fields". March 2012.
  • Dr. Costas Maranas received the Outstanding Research Award from the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society during the same awards ceremony. We are honored to have two faculty recognized at this year's awards ceremony. March 2012.
  • Michael Janik (John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Early Career Professor in the College of Engineering) has been awarded the Outstanding Teaching Award by the Penn State College of Engineering Alumni Society. March 2012.
  • We are pleased to introduce new faculty member Thomas K. Wood who joins us from The Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University.

    Dr. Wood's research pursuits include understanding the genetic basis of biofilm formation to prevent disease and to utilize biofilms for beneficial biotransformations.

    In addition, Dr. Wood is interested in utilizing bacteria for remediation, green chemistry, and energy production.

    Dr. Wood has 165 peer-reviewed publications (including six Nature-group publications and six publications recognized by the Faculty of 1000 for Biology and Medicine), five university outstanding teaching and research awards, and he is the recipient of the U.S. Army Research Office Young Investigator Award and National Science Foundation Research Initiation Award. January 2012.
  • Darrell Velegol is one of eight Penn State Faculty to be named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. January 2012.

2011 honors


  • Merrell R. Fenske Professor and Professor of Physics Kristen Fichthorn was recently appointed to the Editorial Board of Physical Review B, one of the major journals of the American Physical Society. February 2011.
  • Department Head and Walter L. Robb Chair Professor Andrew Zydney has been elected as a
    Fellow of the AIChE.

    Dr. Zydney was also appointed to the Editorial Board for the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.
    January 2011.
  • Michael Janik has been selected as the first John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Early Career Professor in the College of Engineering.

    This endowed position was established to promote the advancement of clean energy -- Dr. Janik was selected based on his outstanding record of research and teaching in the energy area. January 2011.

2010 honors


  • Professor Kristen Fichthorn has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

    Election to APS Fellowship is based on outstanding contributions to the field and is limited to no more than one-half of one percent of the society membership.

    Dr. Fichthorn's election was "for simulations that revealed new phenomena in the kinetics of reaction systems, self-assembly of nanostructures, and diffusion in mesoporous systems."

    Her research focuses on applying atomistic simulation techniques, such as Monte Carlo methods and molecular dynamics, quantum mechanics and condensed-matter theory to study materials interfaces.

    View this story on Penn State Live. November 2010
  • Micromeritics Announced an Instrument Grant to Dr. Robert Rioux. An ASAP® 2020 Accelerated Surface Area and Porosimetry System with micropore and chemisorption options has been awarded to the Rob Rioux Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering. September 2010.
  • In June 2010 Assistant Professor Enrique Gomez was awarded a research grant from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) consortium.

    Dr. Gomez is one of only 32 faculty members receiving a grant, which recognizes faculty for their work in engineering or applied science; life sciences; mathematics and computer science; physical sciences; and policy, management or education.
  • May 2010, Professor Wayne Curtis won an EPA P3 award (people, planet, prosperity) for undergrads.

    Another team led by Professor Darrell Velegol (with Rick Schuhmann and Stephanie Velegol) also won an award at the EPA P3 competition.
  • The book -- Model Systems in Catalysis: From Single Crystals to Enzyme Mimics -- edited by Robert Rioux, assistant professor of chemical engineering has recently been published by Springer. May 2010.

    Composed of twenty-three chapters, the book is a comprehensive collection of the development of surface science over the last four decades.
  • Professor Darrell Velegol received a 2010 Outstanding Teaching Awards from the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society During the April 2010 PSEAS Awards Ceremony. This is a wonderful recognition of his teaching accomplishments and his ongoing commitment to our students.
  • In April 2010 The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation made Emeritus Professor Ronald Danner a 2010 Senior Scientist Mentor.

    The award will support Dr. Danner's research with undergraduates, entitled Study of the Removal of Hazardous Compounds from Poly(vinyl chloride).
  • In February 2010, Senior Research Scientist Joe Perez has been made a Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.

2009 honors


2008 honors


  • Rob Rioux hired as Friedrich G. Helfferich Assistant Professor. Rob also received the Council of International Association of catalysis Societies Young Scientist Award at the International Catalysis Congress in Korea.
  • Jong-in Hahm received the 2008 PROGRESS / Dreyfus Lectureship Award from the ACS.
  • Antonios Armaou co-authored book on Control and Optimization of Multiscale Process Systems.
  • Costas Maranas inducted as Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers.
  • Andrew Zydney appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Membrane Science.
  • Themis Matsoukas received George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching (one of only 4 faculty recognized at Penn State).
  • Bob Nedwick received faculty award from ConocoPhillips for outstanding contributions to teaching in process design and safety (one of 5 awards in U.S., included $50,000 cash prize).

2007 honors


  • Patrick Cirino was elected a councilor of the Institute of Biological Engineering (I.B.E.).
  • Michael Pishko was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineers. On August 13, 2007 Dr. Pishko started is new position as Head of the Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University.
  • Costas Maranas received the Outstanding Young Researcher Award from the AIChE Computing and Systems Technology Division and Stratis V. Sotirochos Lectureship at the 2007 Pan-Hellenic Scientific Conference in Chemical Engineering held in Athens.
  • Themis Matsoukas has been promoted to the rank of Full Professor.
  • Seong Kim has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.
  • The Penn State Engineering Society (P S E S) selected Ali Borhan to receive the 2007 Premier Teaching Award and Ron Danner to recieve the Distinguished Service Award.
  • Antonios Armaou and Patrick Cirino recieved Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards from the National Science Foundation. The Department is one of only two institutions in the U.S. to have 2 faculty in Chemical Engineering recieve CAREER Awards in 2007.

Other Awards

  • Professors J. Larry Duda and James Vrentas jointly received the William H. Walker Award and the Charles M. A. Stine Award from AIChE for their outstanding research contributions to studies of diffusion in polymer systems.

Updated on 02/15/13,   Top of page