Anne Skaja Robinson
Trustee Professor, Chemical Engineering
Anne Skaja Robinson is Trustee Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She served as department head from 2018 through 2023. Robinson was the Catherine and Henry Boh Professor in Engineering and Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane University from 2012 to 2018. She has several patents and over 85 publications in the areas of protein (re)folding and aggregation, protein biophysics, and protein expression of therapeutically relevant protein molecules, and has graduated 23 Ph.D. students to date. Prior to joining Tulane in 2012, Dr. Robinson was a full professor and associate chair at the University of Delaware, where she started her academic career in 1997. Her honors include a DuPont Young Professor Award, a National Science Foundation Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) Award, and she is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Robinson has been a member of AIChE since 1989 and has been actively involved in the AIChE and American Chemical Society for her entire career. From 2015-2017, she served on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She chaired the ECI Cell Culture Engineering Meeting XVI in Tampa, Florida. She is on the advisory board of Biotechnology and Bioengineering and the editorial board of Biotechnology Journal and has been an ad hoc reviewer for many NIH and NSF study sections. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Food and Drug Administration.
Welcoming Anne Skaja Robinson to Chemical Engineering
Education
1994 Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1989 MS, Chemical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
1988 BS, Chemical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests
Media mentions
CMU Engineering
Carnegie Mellon lands ARPA-H award for implantable bioelectric medicine project
A CMU-led project team secured an award of up to $42M from ARPA-H to accelerate the development of implantable bioelectronic devices that deliver patient-specific therapy and monitor disease status.
Chemical Engineering
Looking beyond the lab to scale bioprocess productivity
The Ken Meyer Doctoral Research Award recognized Leran (Lynn) Mao’s (‘23) work to produce valuable materials, like antibodies for vaccines, from cells. She is now a senior scientist at AstraZeneca.
CMU Engineering
Research in the off-season
Women’s basketball player makes time in the off-season to take on research.
Chemical Engineering
Bringing equity and inclusion into the curriculum
Anne Robinson is working with other academic leaders in chemical engineering to integrate an inclusive culture into the mission of each department.
Chemical Engineering
Robinson earns ACS BIOT’s highest honor
Anne Robinson, head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Chemical Engineering, will receive the Marvin J. Johnson Award in Microbial and Biochemical Technology at this year’s American Chemical Society spring meeting. Established in 1978, the award is the highest honor given by the American Chemical Society Biochemical Technology Division (BIOT) and recognizes outstanding research contributions toward microbial and biochemical technology.
Chemical Engineering
Guiding the future of chemical engineering
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine outlines an ambitious vision to guide the field of chemical engineering over the next 30 years. The report’s committee comprises experts from academia, industry, and government, including Carnegie Mellon Chemical Engineering Department Head, Anne Robinson.
Technology Networks
Robinson’s Alzheimer’s research featured
ChemE Head Anne Robinson’s research on Alzheimer’s was featured in Technology Networks.
Chemical Engineering
A cure for Alzheimer’s is taking longer than expected; here’s why
Anne Robinson, Head of Carnegie Mellon's Department of Chemical Engineering, explains why understanding the progression of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease, and its eventual treatment, is much more complex than researchers have previously thought.
Fortune
Robinson on remote education
ChemE Head Anne Robinson was quoted in Fortune discussing how teachers of different age groups are adapting to teaching in during the pandemic. “Students may be isolated from peers or in different time zones, so making sure they are doing OK mentally, physically, and intellectually is extremely vital,” said Robinson. “The regular social interaction of residential education is critical for graduate and postdoctoral students.”
CMU Engineering
Move to remote research invites innovation
While much of our lives can now function remotely, the transition to online poses unique challenges for academia—particularly for research universities like Carnegie Mellon.
Chemical Engineering
Robinson named to National Academies study committee
ChemE department head Anne Skaja Robinson has been named to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee of a new study, “Chemical Engineering in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities,” that will analyze the status of the field.
Chemical Engineering
Robinson named to National Academies study committee
Department Head Anne Skaja Robinson has been named to a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Chemical Science and Technology that will study the challenges and opportunities of chemical engineering in the 21st century.