Milestone Celebration

The Milestone Celebration will kick off in April 2026 to begin the 100-year celebration of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) at the University of Iowa.

As part of this celebration, we will host a Milestone Banquet for alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of CBE on the evening of April 9 following the Carmichael Symposium.

Register

Please join us for the CBE Milestone Celebration taking place April 8–10. See the full schedule below. Registration closes on March 19, 2026.

Call for Participants

Please share a photo or video here, or let us know how you may want to contribute to this event.

Venue

The Carmichael Symposium and Milestone Banquet will be held at the Iowa Memorial Union on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa. Other events will take place at the Seamans Center, on the University of Iowa campus, and in downtown Iowa City. We have a block of hotel rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn available until March 9. If you have any issues with reservations, please contact Amanda Jensen or Paul Richey.

Reserve a hotel room

Events

Carmichael Symposium

CBE has a long and distinguished history of outstanding research and graduate student training. This is best exemplified by the pioneering work of Karl Kammermeyer (department head 1949-1972) on membrane separations initiated in late 1940s. Greg Carmichael, the Karl Kammermeyer Professor, has been part of CBE for nearly 50 years and served as department chair for 14 years and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the college for another dozen years. The research conducted by his students and colleagues on air quality and climate change has greatly advanced our fundamental understanding of key atmospheric processes and our ability to reduce air pollution worldwide. The symposium is an opportunity to celebrate and share the research accomplishments of alumni and collaborators.

Symposium schedule

Milestone Banquet

The Milestone Banquet is an opportunity for friends, alumni, and current CBE faculty and students to look back at our rich history and bright future to come. Food and music will be provided, come wearing your dancing shoes!

Banquet schedule

Schedule of Events

Milestone Events: Wednesday, April 8

Wednesday’s milestone events will be held at the Seamans Center on the University of Iowa campus and at ReUnion Brewery in downtown Iowa City.

Time	Activity	Location
10:30 a.m.	Historical display opens in the Lichtenberger Engineering Library	Seamans Center
4:00 p.m.	Happy hour with CBE Advisory Board	Speakeasy, ReUnion Brewery

Carmichael Symposium: Thursday, April 9

The Carmichael Symposium will be held in the Richey Ballroom at the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) on the University of Iowa campus. This is a tentative agenda and is subject to change.

Time	Activity
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.	Registration and continental breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 a.m.	Opening remarks Ann McKenna, Dick and Judy Smith Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Iowa Jun Wang, Departmental Executive Officer, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa Greg Carmichael, Karl Kammermeyer Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa
9:15 – 10:30 a.m.	Session 1 Chair: Chip Levy, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University (retired) Charlie Stanier, CLEAResult Energy Consulting Midwestern U.S. Air Quality and the University of Iowa's Role Giuseppe Calori, Deputy Director, Arianet, Italy FARM: Life and Adventures of a STEM Offspring Itsushi Uno, Professor, Kyushu University (retired) The Path to the Global Dust Paper: The Importance of Synchronicities Kevin Christ, Director and Professor of Chemical Engineering, Ohio University Ohio University Air Quality Center: Research Overview Beiming Tang, Postdoctoral Fellow, NOAA ARL Development of DAFCOM, a Machine Learning Based Downstream Application for NOAA UFS-AQM System Hyerim Kim, PhD Candidate, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Iowa Influence of Biomass Burning Emissions in Southeast Asia
10:30 a.m.	Group photo
10:40 – 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	Session 2 Yang Zhang, CoE Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair for Research, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University Meng Gao, Professor, Department of Geography, Baptist University, Hong Kong From Graduate Student to Colleague: The Enduring Mentorship of Greg Carmichael Jerry Schnoor, Professor Emeritus, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa 35 Years of CGRER Rao Kotomarthi, Chief Scientist, Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory Modeling Atmosphere: From Parallel Computing to Coding Agents Jackie (Qingyan) Fu, Deputy Director of Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences Sarath Guttikunda, Founder/Director, UrbanEmissions.Info, Pune, India Action on AQ to Awareness -- Bridging the Gaps from Public Officials to High Schoolers Hongliang Zhang, Dean and Professor, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai From Models to Meaning: My Journey with Greg Carmichael and a Bridge Between China and the U.S.
12:45 – 2:00 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 – 3:30 p.m.	Session 3 Chair: Young Sunwoo, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea, & Director General of IUAPPA, the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations Sarika Kulkarni, Scientific Computing Liaison, California Air Resources Board An Incredible Surreal Career Journey – Atmospheric Scientist to Scientific Computing Liaison Kuruvilla John, Professor & Chair of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Texas Multi-decadal Changes in Air Pollution, Sources, and Chemical Characteristics in North Texas Bhupesh Adhikary, Climate Action Lead, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal Climate Change, Air Pollution in the IGP-HF, and My Journey to Move Mountains Behrooz Roozitalab, Scientist IV, NSF NCAR Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling Laboratory Everything Everywhere All at Once; Air Quality Edition Scott Spak, Associate Professor, School of Planning and Public Affairs, University of Iowa Good, Good: Learning from Greg Carmichael’s Approach to Science, Mentoring, and Working with Policymakers Meng Zhou, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Iowa Technology Institute Lighting the Night: Application of VIIRS DNB for Monitoring Wildfire and Smoke Transport at Night Xuemei Wang, Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences, Jinan University, Guanghua, China Youhua Tang, Principal Investigator, National Air Quality Forecast Guidance, NRL NOAA Evaluating the Chemical Transport Models with Aircraft Observations: Challenges and Issues from Recent Field Experiments Short videos
3:30 p.m.	Greg Carmichael, Karl Kammermeyer Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Odyssey of a Chemical Engineer
4:00 p.m.	End of symposium Please join us for the banquet at 6:00 p.m. in the International Ballroom of the IMU.

Download symposium agenda

Milestone Banquet: Thursday, April 9

The Milestone Banquet will be held at the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) on the University of Iowa campus. This is a tentative agenda and is subject to change.

Time	Activity
6:00 p.m.	Check-in and social time
6:45 p.m.	Dinner service
7:45 p.m.	Remarks, with dancing to follow!
10:00 p.m.	Banquet ends

Milestone Events: Friday, April 10

The milestone events will be held at the Seamans Center (SC) on the University of Iowa campus. This is a tentative agenda and is subject to change.

Time	Activity	Location
8:00 a.m.	Information table opens	Seamans Center Lobby
9:00 – 10:20 a.m.	Alumni Panel: Global Impact of Iowa CBE Engineers Kevin Crist, Director and Professor of Chemical Engineering, Ohio University Sarath Guttikunda, Founder, Urban Emissions Kuruvilla John, Chair of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Texas John Kessler, DuPont (retired) Rhett Livengood, Keyfactor Gary Machetta, Vice President, Intellectual Property - KBR	2229 SC
10:20 – 10:30 a.m.	Break
10:30 – 11:20 a.m.	Student Showcase Panelists: Carson Baldes, Jackson Belgolka, Weizhi Deng, Prasoon Kumar, Saeideh Mohammadi, and Hossein Zare	3630 SC
11:45 – 1:30 p.m.	Lunch on your own Stop by the historic display in the Lichtenberger Engineering Library or walk around our Engineering Research Open House!
1:30 – 1:45 p.m.	All-CBE group photo and banner signing	4133 SC
1:45 – 2:45 p.m.	CBE lab tours	Seamans Center Lobby
2:45 – 3:15 p.m.	Break
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.	Mixer with snacks and drinks Informal networking among faculty, students, and alumni	1505 SC

Download Milestone Celebration Agenda

Other Milestone Events

The CBE advisory board is a group of external experts, alumni, and community members who provide guidance, advice, and support to the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, helping to shape our strategic direction, programs, fundraising, and external relations. If you would like to nominate yourself for an invitation to serve on the CBE advisory board, please email the Lichtenberger Family Chair in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Jun Wang.

CBE:5000 Graduate Seminar in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Join us for graduate seminars throughout the spring semester.

CBE:3000 Undergraduate Professional Seminar

Join us for undergraduate professional seminars throughout the spring semester.

We will continue to add events such as seminars, advisory board meetings, tours, and more as they are scheduled.

College of Engineering