Kitchin awarded Swearingen Professorship

Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering has awarded the John E. Swearingen Professorship of Chemical Engineering to John Kitchin.

Kitchin is highly recognized within his field and has won several national education and research awards, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Award for Innovation in Chemical Engineering Education, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and a Dean's Early Career Fellowship from the Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering.

In his research, Kitchin uses data science and machine learning to solve problems in catalysis and chemical engineering. His work to incorporate machine learning into the development of atomistic potentials led to the creation of accurate models for catalysis at a fraction of the cost. Design of experiments for high-throughput experimentation is another current area of focus.

An accomplished instructor with several educational innovations, Kitchin has created extensive educational resources for computing in science and engineering. Recently, he built a remote instrument to address the gap between the skills needed for traditional lab work and the skills needed to work in a remotely-operated autonomous lab. He also maintains a library of technical and educational videos on YouTube.

George Brown and the Brown Foundation established the John E. Swearingen Professorship of Chemical Engineering in 1980 to support a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering. John Swearingen earned a master of science degree in chemical engineering in 1939 and received an honorary doctorate in 1981 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now the College of Engineering.

Kitchin will be honored in a formal ceremony later in the spring.

For media inquiries, please contact Lauren Smith at lsmith2@andrew.cmu.edu.