Chemical Engineering
Who We Are
- Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Gözde Demirer
Professor Demirer joined Caltech in September 2022. She was born in Istanbul, Turkey and completed her Chemical Engineering Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, where she developed nanotechnologies for plant genetic engineering in the Landry lab. During her postdoc at UC Davis, Professor Demirer studied nutrient use efficiency of tomato and established high-throughput functional genomics tools to study transcriptional regulation in crops. The Demirer lab works on bioengineering of plants and rhizosphere for food security, sustainability, and climate-change resiliency using novel nanotechnology and synthetic biology approaches.
- Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry
Frances Arnold
Only here could I convince students from very different disciplines—engineers, chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, computational scientists—to throw their hat into this ring and this completely unexplored field, and contribute their creativity to this kooky idea that you could breed proteins like you can breed cats and dogs. And only here would I have been challenged to solve ever harder problems.
- Professor of Chemical Engineering; HHMI Investigator; Director of Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Mikhail Shapiro
Shapiro lab at Caltech CCE develops technologies to image and control the function of cells deep inside the body. The key biophysical methods of investigation include ultrasound and magnetic resonance. These technologies take advantage of biomolecules with unusual physical properties allowing them to interact with sound waves and magnetic fields. Professor Shapiro’s team applies these tools to solve problems in synthetic biology, neuroscience, cancer, immunology, and the mammalian microbiome. Professor Shapiro has been recently named as an HHMI Investigator.
- Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry; William H. Hurt Scholar
Karthish Manthiram
Professor Manthiram received his Chemical Engineering BS from Stanford University and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. As a graduate student, Professor Manthiram developed transition-metal oxide hosts for redox-tunable plasmons and nanoparticle electrocatalysts for reducing carbon dioxide. During his postdoctoral research, he developed new anion-exchange ionomers. Professor Manthiram joined the MIT faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2017, and in 2021 he joined CCE as Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Manthiram Lab is focused on the molecular engineering of electrocatalysts for the synthesis of organic molecules, including pharmaceuticals, fuels, and commodity chemicals, using renewable feedstocks.
- Chemical Engineering Graduate Student (Demirer Lab)
Mark Legendre
Mark is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at Caltech as a member of the Demirer Lab where he is primarily focused on in planta protein delivery strategies for plant genetic engineering and developmental regulation.
- Chemical Engineering Graduate Student (Ismagilov Lab)
Alex Viloria Winnett
Alex Viloria Winnett has been awarded a National Institutes of Health NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship.
- Chemical Engineering Graduate Student (Manthiram Lab)
Spencer Delgado
I came to Caltech to pursue research in an environment where various fields thrive off of interdisciplinary work. Chemical engineering naturally invokes concepts from areas of biology, chemistry, and engineering. This creates spaces that flourish while pursuing both a fundamental understanding of science and applicable solutions to real-world problems.
- Chemical Engineering Graduate Student (Kornfield Lab)
Dennis Ko
My partner Lisa [Yee, BS '10,] was telling me every day how she had to reuse her N95 mask and her face shield. I'd been reading online that a lot of people were 3-D printing their own face shields, and I thought, 'You know what? I'll just learn how to do it.' I talked to my adviser, Julia Kornfield, and she said, 'Even if you only print five face shields, that's five people you managed to help.'
- Chemical Engineering Graduate Student (Ismagilov Lab)
Jenny Ji
Jenny Ji has been named a John Stafford SURF fellow.
- Chemical Engineering Alumni (MS '95, PhD '97)
Yushan Yan
Yushan Yan, an expert in electrochemical systems and sustainability at the University of Delaware’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Where We Work
The Merkin Institute helps Caltech scientists and engineers transform breakthroughs into advances in human health. Focusing enhanced resources and guidance to mobilize science at points along the translational arc from basic discovery through to clinical collaboration and the introduction of new treatments, the institute facilitates the translation of knowledge into healthcare products and services.
The Resnick Sustainability Institute (RSI) advances global sustainability through transformational science, engineering, and education. It prioritizes research across campus that addresses challenges and opportunities associated with climate change and the stewardship of natural resources. The fundamental insights gained are directed towards implementation and scale-up for real-world impact.
The Beckman Institute supports a number of Facilities, whose main function is the provision and operation of instrumentation and methodologies that are essential to a broad cross-section of research activity in the chemical and biological sciences at Caltech.
