Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Fall 2023 USC Mork Family Department newsletter. Our department was formed in 2005 by the merger of Chemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, and Materials Science, and our growth has been supported by the generous gift of John Mork and his family. Our current research and teaching efforts focus on five pillars to engineer a healthier, safer, and sustainable tomorrow: Creating Sustainable Cities and Responsible Energy Sources, Improving Health and Wellness, Harnessing Data Science and Machine Learning, Designing Quantum Materials and Systems, and Developing Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Methods.

This has been an exciting year as we welcomed five new faculty members: Charles (Chip) Zukoski (NAE), Jay Lee (NAEK), Yu-Tsun Shao, Zhenglu Li and Francisco (Paco) Villalobos. The Ershaghi Center on Energy Transition (E-CET) continues to grow, bringing together “leaders in academia and industry to collaborate on research and educational programs that foster efforts towards a low carbon future” while playing a pivotal role in the development of our new MS program in Energy Engineering. Many new faculty accolades and promotions were celebrated this year, including Shaama Sharada's Sloan Fellowship, Birendra Jha's NSF CAREER Award and Muhammad Sahimi's induction as AIChE and APS Fellow.

We are very proud of what our department has to offer, and I hope you enjoy these highlights for our exciting research, groundbreaking innovation, celebrated faculty, and outstanding students.

Andrea Hodge, Arthur B. Freeman Professor and Chair