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 Fall Seminar Series

All seminars will begin at 9:00 a.m.
in 106 Center for Composite Materials (CCM)
(*unless otherwise noted)

Seminar Poster

SEP 25 | Allan P. Colburn Lecture

Molecular Design of Electrochemical Separations for Critical Element Recovery

XIAO SU

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

OCT 02

Reinforcement-driven Adaptive Constraint Learning Engine for Optimal Decision Making in Constrained Simulation-Based Engineering Systems

BURCU BEYKAL

University of Connecticut

OCT 16

AI-Driven Innovation for Biomedical Knowledge Discovery and Translational Research

CATHY WU

University of Delaware

OCT 23

Engineering Biology with 6-letter Genetic Alphabets

JORGE MARCHAND

University of Washington

NOV 19 | Jack A. Gerster Lecture

Pushing the Limits of Universal Models for Chemistry and Materials Simulations

ZACK ULISSI

Meta Fundamental AI Research Lab

*Mitchell Hall from 4:00 – 5:00 PM

2026 Spring Seminars

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
B.ChE., University of Delaware

FEB 18

Biomembrane Sensors to Mimic Sensory Perception

SUSAN DANIEL

Cornell University
William C. Hooey Director and Lisa L. Walker 1986 Distinguished Professor

FEB 27

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

ASHLEE FORD VERSYPT

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

MAR 06

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 03 | 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, William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellow, and Chancellor EDGES Fellow

MAY 01

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