L. K. Doraiswamy
Graduate Seminar Series

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering’s L. K. Doraiswamy Graduate Seminar Series presents guest lectures by researchers in chemical engineering and related disciplines from around the U.S.

ISU chemical engineering graduate students are required to attend with CH E 601 (Seminar) for course credit; however, the seminars are open to all ISU faculty, staff, students, post-doctoral researchers and scientists.

  • Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Emeritus L. K. Doraiswamy

    L.K. Doraswamy
    L. K. Doraiswamy

    Beginning with the fall 2023 semester this seminar series was renamed in honor of the late Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Emeritus L. K. Doraiswamy.

    Doraiswamy was one of the world’s foremost experts in chemical reaction engineering, having authored several books on heterogeneous reactions, organic synthesis, and advanced chemical reaction engineering. In recognition of his impact on chemical engineering as a discipline, Doraiswamy received numerous prestigious national and international honors and awards. Doraiswamy was also known for his leadership of the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India, where he spent nearly a quarter century.

    He joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) faculty in 1992 and was active in the department after his retirement in 2001 until his death in 2012. A lecture series was established in Doraiswamy’s name and in the original format it featured a single lecturer each year who presented research at both Iowa State and in India. The new format brings numerous researchers to the ISU campus each year to share their research findings with department graduate students and faculty.

2024-25 Seminar Series

Unless otherwise noted, all seminars held in 0114 SICTR, 11 a.m. – noon.

Fall 2024 Semester

  • August 29: Introductory Seminar – Dennis Vigil, Reginald R. Baxter Endowed Department Chair, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  •  September 5: Safety Seminar
  •  September 12: Carl Denard, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, “High-throughput Technologies for Protease and Sortase Substrate Specificity Reprogramming”
  •  September 19: No seminar
  •  September 26: No seminar
  •  October 3: Tonglei Li, Allen Chao Chair and Professor of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University
  •  October 10: Jessica Winter, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Professor, Biomedical Engineering, William G. Lowrie Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, “Fighting Through Cancer”
  •  October 17: Linsey Seitz, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, “Characterizing Materials and Systems for Sustainable Electrocatalytic Technologies”
  •  October 24: Tobin J. Marks, Dept. of Chemistry, Northwestern University, “Mechanism-Based Catalyst Design and Evolution for Water Polymer Recycling in a Circular Economy”
  •  October 31: No seminar (AIChE annual meetings)
  •  November 7: Vidhya Chakrapani, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, “Surface Transfer Doping: A Novel Alternative to Classical Doping for Semiconductor Electronics”
  •  November 14: Oleg Gang, Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Applied Physics and Materials Science, Columbia University in the City of New York, “Programming Structure and Transformation of Nanoscale Materials”
  •  November 21: Scott Carver, Senior Director of Clinical Manufacturing, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (department alumnus), “Succeeding in Industry – Lessons Learned from a 25-Year Career at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals”
  •  November 28: No seminar (Thanksgiving break)
  • December 5: Rudiyanto Gunawan, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, “Addressing Uncertainty in Biochemical Network Modeling”

Spring 2025 Semester

  • January 23: Safety Seminar
  • January 30: Christopher Jewell, Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
  • February 6: Kelsey Stoerzinger, Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota
  • February 13: Director of Graduate Education Town Hall (date subject to change)
  • February 20: Viviana Monje, Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo
  • February 27: Miguel Modestino, Donald F. Othmer Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, New York University
  • March 6: Paul Kohl, Regents’ Professor, Institute Fellow, Thomas L. Gossage Chair, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech
  • March 13: Gregg Beckham, Senior Research Fellow I-Chemical Engineering, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  •  March 20: No seminar (Spring Break)
  •  March 27: To be announced
  • April 10: Xue (Sherry) Gao, Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
  • April 17: Ryan Hayward, James and Catherine Patten Endowed Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department Chair, Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
  • April 24: Joshua Lequieu, Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering, Drexel University
  • May 1: Shudipto Dishari, Ross McCallom Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
  • May 8: No seminar (Final Exam Prep Week)