Prof. Ji-Young Kim has been selected by the U.S. Chapter of the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers (KIChE) as the recipient of the KIChE President Young Investigator Award. As a recipient of this award, she will be invited to present a research talk at the KIChE Open Forum during the 2026 AIChE Annual Meeting.
Prof. Helen Zha’s research group works to innovate new bio-inspired materials and processes that meet demands of the our modern day society while being environmentally benign from cradle to grave. Learn more about her research interests, as well as the important role that graduate and undergraduate students play in her group: https://youtu.be/Co5PL4-UFLA?si=mcyLhGZmRdXZwOJ9
The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is proud to announce that Professor Mattheos Koffas has been elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) — one of the highest honors the Institute bestows, reserved for members who have made outstanding, sustained contributions to the chemical engineering profession.
The graduation banquet for the CBE Class of 2026 and graduate students was held on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Families, faculty, and staff gathered to celebrate perseverance, growth, and the promise of new beginnings for our recent graduates.
At the banquet, the following prize winners were announced:
CBE continues to innovate the process design curriculum. At most universities, process design students are given a specific process with well-defined feedstock and product specifications. About 20 years ago, the faculty decided to take a different approach where each 4-person team proposes a process, slate of products, identifies the market, and chooses a plant location based on their strategy for engineering practice. Project phases include (i) technical scoping and assessment, (ii) preliminary design, (iii) preliminary economics, and (iv) final feasibility.
Institute News
Student Engineers Make RPI History with First Place Win at Concrete Canoe Competition
For the first time in RPI history, the Institute’s Concrete Canoe team won first place at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Concrete Canoe regional competition, earning a spot at the national competition June 25-27.
RPI Cuts Ribbon on Gene Haas Manufacturing Teaching & Learning Foundry
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) School of Engineering recently celebrated the official opening of the Gene Haas Manufacturing Teaching & Learning Foundry with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Six RPI students awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships
Six RPI students have been awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). A highly prestigious and competitive award, the fellowship supports full-time graduate students with the potential to make significant contributions in STEM.
The Engineers Who Reached for the Moon: How RPI Became a Launchpad to the Stars
When Reid Wiseman ‘97 strapped into the Orion spacecraft in April for humanity's first lunar voyage in more than half a century, he carried with him not just the hopes of a new generation of space explorers, but the legacy of the nation's oldest technical school — one that has quietly shaped America's journey to the cosmos.
Meet the RPI Engineers Guiding Artemis II to the Moon and Back
When Reid Wiseman '97 straps into the Orion capsule as commander of Artemis II, NASA's first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century, he won't be the only RPI alum with a stake in the flight.