The 47th Annual ChEGSA Symposium will be held on October 13th-14th, 2025.
As one of the first student-organized research symposia, the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association (ChEGSA) annual symposium at Carnegie Mellon University has grown to be one of the largest and most successful among major universities. It started in 1979 with the goal of showcasing the work of our graduate researchers, promoting intra-departmental research collaborations, and connecting our students to industry. This two-day event features graduate research presentations, a poster session, and corporate-sponsored keynote addresses given by distinguished chemical engineers from academic, government, or industrial institutions.
2025 Keynote Addresses
Academic Keynote Address
Monday, October 13
Lilo Pozzo, Ph.D.
University of Washington – Boeing-Roundhill Professor of Chemical Engineering
Talk Title: Autonomous Experiments and Accessible Automation for Soft Matter Research
Autonomous decision-making ‘agents’, when paired with accessible laboratory automation, promise to greatly accelerate materials optimization and scientific discovery. For example, such frameworks can be used to efficiently map a phase-diagram with intelligent sampling along phase boundaries, or in ‘retrosynthesis’ problems where a material with a target structure is desired but a synthetic route is not yet known. These approaches are especially promising in soft matter systems, including block copolymer self-assembly, nanoparticle synthesis, and controlled colloidal assembly. In these systems, design parameters (e.g. chemical composition, MW, topology, processing) are vast, history-dependent metastable and ‘out-of-equilibrium’ structures are common, and functional properties are intimately tied to molecular design features and processing conditions. In addition, for AI algorithms to operate efficiently in these spaces, they must be ‘encoded’ with domain expertise specific to the problems being tackled.
This talk will cover recent advances in ‘community-driven’ open hardware and software tools for accelerated materials research in polymeric and soft-matter systems including dispersions and colloids. Finally, it will outline remaining challenges in practical implementations and identify future opportunities for research.
About Dr. Pozzo
Prof. Pozzo graduated from CMU’s Chemical Engineering PhD program in 2006 after completing thesis research with Prof. Lynn Walker using neutron scattering and rheology to discover new pathways for controlled assembly of colloids using block-copolymer micelle crystals. Her current research interests are still in the broad area of colloids, polymers and soft-matter systems. The group focuses on controlling and manipulating materials structure over broad length-scales, for applications in health, alternative energy and separations. Her group also continues to develop and use new advanced measurement techniques involving neutron and x-ray scattering. Prof. Pozzo obtained her B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. She also worked in the NIST Center for Neutron Research as a post-doctoral fellow and is currently the Boeing-Roundhill Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington where she has served since 2007. In addition to her research activities, she is dedicated to improving engineering education with course development in areas of entrepreneurship and service-oriented global engagement. You can find out more about her research by exploring the group’s website and her Google Scholar bibliography.
Industrial Keynote Address
Tuesday, October 14th
Jennifer Jackson, Ph.D.
Walmart – Senior Vice President
Talk Title: Translating PSE to P&L: The Business Value of Engineering Thinking
The corporate world is filled with complex, often ambiguous challenges—many of which revolve around identifying optimal solutions for customers, employees, financial outcomes, and strategic decisions. From analyzing evolving market and customer trends to shaping corporate strategy, to building models that assess credit risk or evaluate potential acquisitions, the tools and mindset of a chemical engineer—particularly those grounded in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) and optimization—are surprisingly transferable and powerful.
In this talk, Dr. Jennifer R. Jackson will explore how the problem-solving frameworks developed during her Ph.D. training in Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon have shaped her approach to leadership and decision-making across multiple industries. She will share key lessons from her career journey and highlight how principles from PSE can unlock value and drive impact in the world of business.
About Dr. Jackson
Dr. Jennifer R. Jackson is an engineer by training and a builder at heart—of businesses, teams, strategies, and opportunities for others. She has led at the intersection of operations, innovation, and growth across Fortune 500 companies and high-growth organizations, with a focus on retail, financial services, and digital transformation. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she actively mentors others, serves on boards, and has led company-wide inclusion efforts.
Most recently, Jennifer was Senior Vice President of Merchandising at Walmart, overseeing the multi-billion-dollar Household Essentials business across stores and e-commerce. She managed P&L responsibility, supplier partnerships, and omnichannel strategy. Previously, as SVP of Enterprise Strategy and Innovation, she worked with the CEO and CFO on corporate priorities, M&A, enterprise partnerships, and Store No. 8, Walmart’s internal incubator.
Before Walmart, Jennifer spent nearly a decade at Capital One, where she held several executive roles with full P&L ownership. As President of Capital One Canada, she led the $8B credit card business through major crises, and digital and business model transformation. In U.S. roles, she oversaw credit card portfolios and enterprise-wide capabilities in customer experience, payments, and risk. Earlier, she held strategy roles at Xerox and McKinsey & Company, advising global consumer and retail clients. Jennifer holds a B.S. from Yale and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Chemical Engineering.
Outside of work, she enjoys serving on nonprofit boards, traveling, golfing, and cheering for her hometown team, the Philadelphia Eagles.