Since 1984, the Symposium has featured a keynote address from a researcher of international standing to promote excellence in oral presentation.
| 2025 | Lilo Pozzo | University of Washington |
| 2025 | Jennifer Jackson | Walmart |
| 2024 | Victor M. Zavala | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| 2024 | Celia N. Cruz | Eli Lilly and Co. |
| 2023 | Christos Maravelias | Princeton University |
| 2023 | Carl Belshause | Impossible Foods |
| 2022 | David Sholl | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| 2022 | Muge Eridrick Dogan | Amazon Fashion |
| 2021 | Susan Soloman | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2021 | Rebecca Liebert | The Lubrizol Corporation |
| 2020 | Howard Stone | Princeton University |
| 2019 | Abraham Stroock | Cornell University |
| 2019 | Hari Pujar | Spark Therapeutics |
| 2018 | Linda Broadbelt | Northwestern University |
| 2018 | David C. Miller | The National Energy Technology Laboratory |
| 2017 | Athanasios Nenes | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| 2016 | Michael F. Doherty | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| 2015 | Norman J. Wagner | University of Delaware |
| 2014 | Kristi S. Anseth | University of Colorado, Boulder |
| 2013 | Enrique Iglesia | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2012 | George Stephanopoulos | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2011 | Menachem Elimelech | Yale University |
| 2010 | Rakesh Agrawal | Purdue University |
| 2010 | Karl Jacob | The Dow Chemical Company |
| 2009 | Georges Belfort | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| 2008 | John Walz | Virginia Polytechnic Institute |
| 2008 | Jeffrey J. Siirola | Eastman Chemical Company |
| 2007 | James Anderson | Harvard University |
| 2006 | Carol K. Hall | North Carolina State University |
| 2005 | Arthur W. Westerberg | Carnegie Mellon University |
| 2004 | H. Scott Fogler | University of Michigan |
| 2003 | John M. Prausnitz | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2002 | Mario Molina | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2001 | Ed Cussler | University of Minnesota |
| 2000 | Klavs Jensen | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1999 | Michael Shuler | Cornell University |
| 1998 | John Perkins | Imperial College, London UK |
| 1997 | Alice Gast | Stanford University |
| 1996 | Mark Barteau | University of Delaware |
| 1995 | Doug Lauffenberger | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1994 | Joe Pekny | Purdue University |
| 1993 | Elizabeth Dussan | Schlumberger Doll |
| 1992 | John O’Connell | University of Virginia |
| 1991 | Michael F. Doherty | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| 1990 | Michael Shuler | Cornell University |
| 1989 | Robert Anderson | Monirex Systems, UOP Inc. |
| 1988 | Eduardo Glandt | University of Pennsylvania |
| 1987 | Alexis Bell | University of California, Berkeley |
| 1986 | George Keller | Union Carbide |
| 1985 | Dan Luss | University of Houston |
| 1984 | Ed Cussler | University of Minnesota |