Seminar Series

Past Memorial Lectures

Allan P. Colburn Memorial Lecture
Jack A. Gerster Memorial Lecture

Robert L. Pigford Memorial Lecture
Kurt Wohl Memorial Lecture

2026 Spring Seminar Series

All seminars will begin at 9:00 a.m. in 102 Colburn Lab
(*unless otherwise specified)

FEB 13

Unfolding the Universe with Roman Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope: Environmental Effects and Launch Considerations

ELAINE STEWART

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center
Aerospace Engineer

Co-hosted by DE Space Grant

FEB 18

Biomembrane Sensors to Mimic Sensory Perception

*10:00 AM in 322 ISE

SUSAN DANIEL

Cornell University
Director of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

MSE lead

FEB 27

Systems Biomedicine and Pharmaceutics: Multiscale Modeling of Tissue Remodeling and Damage

ASHLEE VERSYPT

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Professor, Deparment of Chemical and Biological Engineering

MAR 6

Advanced Process Control and Real-Time Decision-Making via Reinforcement Learning

YUHE TIAN

West Virginia University
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

APR 3 | Allan P. Colburn Memorial Lecture

From Limited Data to Scalable Discovery: A Robotics and Machine Learning Integrated Workflow for Accelerated Materials Innovation

PO-YEN CHEN

University of Maryland, College Park
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

APR 17 | Robert L. Pigford Memorial Lecture

On Structured Catalysts and Reactors

ENRICO TRONCONI

Politecnico di Milano
Professor of Chemical Engineering

APR 24

Bacterial Transport Under Confinement: New Paradigms in Microbial Competition and Host Response

PUSHKAR LELE

Texas A&M University
Professor and Chancellor’s EDGES Fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering

MAY 1

Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and the Business of Modern Therapeutics: From Molecules to Cells, with a Case Study in Intelligent Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platforms

HARO HARTOUNIAN

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Ph.D., University of Delaware

2025 Fall Seminars

SEP 5 | ALLAN P. COLBURN MEMORIAL LECTURE

Neutron Reflectometry and Hydrogel Tribology

ANGELA PITENIS

University of California, Santa Barbara
Associate Professor, Materials Department

SEP 12

Polymer Biomaterials in a Self-Driving Lab

ADAM GORMLEY

Rutgers University
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering

SEP 26

Engineering Intelligent Biology for Societal Challenges

COREY WILSON

Georgia Institute of Technology
Love Family Professor and Associate Chair for Faculty Development, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

OCT 3

Modeling and Optimization Formulations for the Analysis and Design of Circular Economy Networks

ANA INÉS TORRES

Carnegie Mellon University
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering

OCT 24

Exploring how Ionic Correlations Influence Ion Transport and Electron Transfer in Electrochemical Systems

MATTHEW GEBBIE

University of Wisconsin–Madison
Michael F. and Virginia H. Conway Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

OCT 27 | Seminar at 9:00 AM at 140 AP Bio

High Frequency Cell Mechanostimulation

LESLIE YEO

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering

DEC 5

Engineering of Functional Polymer Coatings – from Self-healing to Photocatalysis

CHRISTIAN PESTER

University of Delaware
Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering