New Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering Named

Dr. Leah H. Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean for the College of Engineering, announced on June 17, 2016, that Sangtae Kim, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue, will be the next Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of the School of Chemical Engineering. Dr. Varma will serve as Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head through July 31, 2016 and Dr. Kim will begin his appointment effective August 1, 2016. 

Dr. Kim’s impressive record of leadership in the public and private sectors includes Division Director, NSF Division of Shared Cyberinfrastructure and Vice President for R&D IT at pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Warner Lambert. His faculty career started at the University of Wisconsin where he made pioneering discoveries in microhydrodynamics and coauthored the 1991 book on this same topic. Dr. Kim is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the AICHE and AIMBE, a Trustee of the AICHE Foundation and past member of the Science Board of the Food and Drug Administration. His research recognitions include the 2013 Ho-Am Prize in Engineering, AICHE’s Allan P. Colburn Award (1993), and the Award for Initiatives in Research from the National Academy of Sciences (1992). Dr. Kim received concurrent BSc and MSc degrees (1979) from Caltech and his PhD (1983) from Princeton.

In making the appointment, Dean Jamieson also noted that:

"I also take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to Arvind Varma, R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering. For the past 12.5 years, Arvind has lead the School of Chemical Engineering with an exquisite combination of vision and detail, commitment to excellence, passion for research, dedication, focus, and energy. Every facet of ChE's enterprise has benefitted in measurable ways under his leadership."