Student News
CCE Seminar Day
On September 25, 2025, the division held it's annual Seminar Day. Organized by CCE graduate students, this event provides an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to present their work to the division though a day full of research talks and presentations. Seminar Day allows students to enhance their presentation skills, learn about the research occurring across the various sub-fields, and provides a division-wide sense of community. A panel of faculty judges selected one student per session who demonstrated exemplary presentation skills in communicating their research topic.
Please join us in congratulating:
- Session I: Hao Shen, Shapiro group
- Session II: Christian Strong, Stoltz group
- Session III: Christian Totoiu, Hadt group
- Session IV: Shruteek Mairal, Ismagilov group
- Poster Session Winner: Jocelyn Mendes, Cushing group
- Poster Session Runner-Up: Noor Naji, Wei group
- Poster Session Runner-Up: Danielle Sclafani, Datta group
2025 Economou Memorial Lecture
Sundar Raam Swaminathan, a 3rd year graduate student in the Manthiram Lab, was named the 2025 Economou Memorial Lecturer and presented his talk, "Structural Changes Associated with Electron Transfer in Nitrogenase" on October 2, 2025.
The Economou Memorial Prize is awarded to a chemical engineering graduate student distinguished by outstanding research accomplishments and exemplary attitude while fulfilling candidacy requirements for the Ph.D. degree.
ChE Carnival
On August 15, 2025, the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Council hosted its 2nd Annual ChE Carnival. Students gathered in Tournament Park to connect and unwind with an evening filled with carnival games, tie-dyeing t-shirts and grilling up tasty hot dogs and burgers.
CGSC Industry Seminar 2.0
On November 14th 2025, the Chemistry Graduate Student Council (CGSC) hosted its second industry seminar of the year, welcoming two distinguished leaders from the pharmaceutical sector: Dr. Yongchao Su (Senior Principal Scientist at Merck) and Dr. Laura Blue (Director at Amgen). The visit featured faculty meetings, a lunch with current Biotechnology Leadership Pre-doctoral Training (BLP) fellows, a BOND–sponsored coffee hour, and an engaging seminar for the CCE community. Throughout the day, students and postdocs had the opportunity to network with the speakers where they gained firsthand insight into their career paths and learned more about what it’s like to work in industry! During their lecture, the speakers highlighted the cutting-edge scientific challenges their teams are addressing and offered valuable perspectives on translating academic training into impactful industrial careers, drawing strong attendance from students, postdocs, and faculty across CCE. This seminar series aims to provide CCE graduate students and postdocs with exposure to career opportunities in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The event was co-sponsored by the Rosen Bioengineering Center, CCID, and BOND.
Students interested in joining CGSC should email RJ Chadha (President, CGSC) at rchadha@caltech.edu or chemgsc@caltech.edu