In this series, ChEnected introduces readers to the recipients of AIChE’s 2025 Institute and Board of Directors’ Awards. These high honorees are nominated by the chemical engineering community and voted upon by the members of AIChE’s Awards Committee.
The Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer is given to a member of AIChE who has made significant contributions to chemical engineering and who has paved the way for women to have a greater impact on the profession.
The award is sponsored by Pfizer and is named for Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau, the first woman member of AIChE and a pioneer who designed the first commercial plant for deep-tank penicillin fermentation during World War II.
In 2025, AIChE will present the Rousseau Pioneer Award to Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou, the Bob and Jane Gore Centennial Chair Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Delaware.
Ierapetritou is being recognized "for research leadership in process modeling and optimization, uncertainty analysis and scheduling in pharmaceutical and sustainable manufacturing, and for championing women in STEM careers." She and the other Institute and Board of Directors’ Award recipients will be honored at the 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2–6 in Boston, Massachusetts.
About Marianthi Ierapetritou
Dr. Ierapetritou has made transformative contributions to process systems engineering, particularly in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, sustainability, and supply chain optimization. She pioneered the introduction of process flowsheeting and modeling in pharmaceuticals, enabling the shift from batch to continuous production, revolutionizing drug manufacturing. Her advancements in biopharmaceutical modeling, including digital twins, have strengthened ties with regulatory agencies like the FDA, enhancing quality through design. She introduced feasibility analysis for design space determination, significantly improving operational efficiency. Her work on multi-objective optimization has quantified benefits of continuous production and process intensification technologies. In sustainability, she has developed frameworks to minimize resource use and emissions while promoting circular economy practices. Additionally, her supply chain optimization models have improved resilience and cost efficiency in dynamic industries.
Ierapetritou has excelled as a leader, serving as Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University before moving to University of Delaware. At Delaware, she led the first multimillion-dollar FDA grant to develop a digital twin for continuous monoclonal antibody production, addressing critical needs in the pharmaceutical industry. She also secured an additional multimillion-dollar NSF award focused on advancing future manufacturing technologies. She also plays an integral role in the University of Delaware’s Energy Institute, co-directing initiatives that promote systems thinking for economically and environmentally sustainable production systems, thus further advancing her holistic approach to engineering challenges.
As a mentor, Ierapetritou continues to make lasting contributions, having supervised 33 Ph.D. students, 40% of whom were women. Three of those women are now in academic positions (University of Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, University of Rochester), where they continue to look to Ierapetritou as a mentor.
Ierapetritou worked as a dedicated advocate for women in STEM through efforts at the Office of Women in STEM at Rutgers University, and she continues her support for women in STEM at the University of Delaware. At AIChE, Ierapetritou has participated in numerous initiatives targeting the enhanced recognition and participation of women in leadership roles.
From 2017–2020, Dr. Ierapetritou served as Director of the AIChE Board of Directors. In 2016, she was named an AIChE Fellow.
This fall, ChEnected is presenting a series that profiles all the 2025 Institute and Board of Directors’ Award recipients. Visit ChEnected regularly to meet the honorees.
