UW Chemical Engineering

We are excited to welcome Katie Weigandt (ChemE Ph.D. '12), who was the 2025 recipient of the Early Career Impact Award, to give a special seminar on Tuesday, March 3.

Weigandt is a staff scientist at the NIST Center for Neutron Research where she uses small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and rheology to develop structure-function relationships in gels, colloidal suspensions, microemulsions and micellar solutions.

Tuesday, March 3, 2026
4-5 p.m.
PAA A102

For more information, visit https://www.cheme.washington.edu/calendar

John C. Berg has been a member of the faculty at the University of Washington Department of Chemical Engineering for over six decades, where he has worked to strengthen our undergraduate curriculum’s foundation, establishing his position as a national leader in surface and colloid science and in chemical engineering education.

The legacy of his surface and colloid science lab and lecture course first began when he saw a gap in the curriculum over four decades ago, and decided to do something about it.

His passion and commitment to championing every single one of his students has greatly influenced UW ChemE and the broader community of chemical engineers.

After 61 years of service, Berg is now retiring from his role as a full-time professor.

Read more about his career and impact at cheme.washington.edu/news

From toxic forever chemicals to heavy metals from increased battery production, water contamination is a rising public health problem that is impacting people and the planet. Fortunately, ChemEs are working on it!

Ph.D. student Joelle Scott is conducting research in Bergsman Research Group to find better ways to separate toxins from wastewater.

Learn more about Scott & her commitment to working toward a sustainable future for all.

www.cheme.washington.edu/news

ChemE Graduate Seminar Series
10/14 Speaker: Ankur Gupta

Gupta is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.

He will be giving a lecture titled "Gradient-Driven Transport Phenomena Across Scales: From Fish Skin Patterns to Ion Transport in Electrochemical Capacitors" on Tuesday, October 14.

Time: 4-5 p.m.
Location: Physics/Astronomy Auditorium (PAA) A102

Find Gupta's bio and abstract along with more event details at cheme.washington.edu/calendar

CU Boulder Engineering

ChemE Graduate Seminar Series
10/7 Speaker: Chun-Long Chen

Chen is a ChemE affiliate professor and senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

He will be giving a lecture titled "Development of biomimetic functional materials using sequence-defined peptoids" on Tuesday, October 7.

Time: 4-5 p.m.
Location: Physics/Astronomy Auditorium (PAA) A102

Find Chen's bio and abstract along with more event details at cheme.washington.edu/calendar

Chemical engineering student Nuo Xu (Ph.D. ‘25) has led extensive research in the Nance Lab () formulating a therapeutic nanoparticle shown to effectively reduce neuroinflammation resulting from fetal growth restriction in newborn piglets. Her success is paving the way for future clinical trials providing the same treatment to human infants.

This work has been a collaboration with researchers at the University of Queensland ().

Read more: cheme.washington.edu/news

Chemical engineering professor and faculty member Cole DeForest is leading a team of researchers as they work to develop and improve biomaterial technologies for more effective cell therapies. The team's latest development, PhoCoil, is a photodegradable hydrogel that offers more control of the encased cell release following injection.

This upgrade is detailed in a recent publication in Science Advances, authored by DeForest as well as former lab member Nicole Gregorio (BioE Ph.D., '25) and faculty member Kelly Stevens.

Read more about PhoCoil: iscrm.uw.edu/news

DYSS 2025 Speaker: Efraín Rodríguez-Ocasio

Rodríguez-Ocasio is a postdoctoral fellow at the of Wisconsin-Madison Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.

He will be giving a talk titled "Microbial Bioconversion for Sustainability: Plastic Upcycling and Beyond" on Tuesday, August 26 from 1-2 p.m. on Zoom.

Visit ChemE's website calendar for event details and the seminar Zoom link.

cheme.washington.edu/calendar

DYSS 2025 Speaker: Lauren Walters

Walters is a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and the
Berkeley Lab.

She will be giving a talk titled "Driving Energy Materials Synthesis in the Age of
Automation" on Tuesday, August 19 from 1-2 p.m. on Zoom.

Visit ChemE's website calendar for event details and the seminar Zoom link.

cheme.washington.edu/calendar

DYSS 2025 Speaker: Dean Miller

Miller is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University.

He will be giving a talk titled "From Waste to Taste to Space: Refining
Wastewater Nitrogen with Molecular Electrocatalytic Reactive Separations" on Tuesday, August 12 from 1-2 p.m. on Zoom.

Visit ChemE's website calendar for event details and the seminar Zoom link.

cheme.washington.edu/calendar

DYSS 2025 Speaker: Alex Prossnitz

Prossnitz is a postdoctoral fellow in the Stanford University Materials Science and Engineering Department (and also a University of Washington Department of Bioengineering alumnus!)

He will be giving a talk titled "Modular molecular building blocks to tackle global
health challenges" on Tuesday, August 5 from 1-2 p.m. on Zoom.

Visit ChemE's website calendar for event details and the seminar Zoom link.

cheme.washington.edu/calendar