Anne Skaja Robinson
Trustee Professor, Chemical Engineering
Courtesy Appointment, Biomedical Engineering
Anne Skaja Robinson is Trustee Professor of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where she served as Department Head from 2018-2023. She started her academic career at the University of Delaware, where she ultimately became a full professor and associate chair in chemical engineering prior to being Boh Professor and Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane from 2012-2018.
Having received both her B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Robinson has earned many honors, including a DuPont Young Professor Award, a National Science Foundation Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, and the 2022 Marvin Johnson Award from the BIOT division of the American Chemical Society. She has graduated more than 30 Ph.D. students and published over 100 journal articles on protein expression and protein refolding. Robinson is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
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
Three Ph.D. students recognized by American Chemical Society
ChemE Ph.D. students Andrew Ashmar, Carolina Colombo Tedesco, and Sarah Sonbati were selected as recipients of the 2025 ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Recognition Program. Ashmar works with ChemE’s Daphne Chan. Colombo Tedesco works with ChemE’s John Kitchin and Carl Laird. Sonbati works with ChemE’s Anne Skaja Robinson.
CMU Engineering
A glowing biosensor for high-throughput drug screening
Researchers develop a bioluminescent sensor to test protein activation, speeding up a lengthy step in drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease.
Two undergraduates honored at AIChE research poster competition
ChemE Fifth Year Scholar Gabriel Mendez-Sanders (BS '24) and ChemE student Juhee Park won awards in their sections of the undergraduate research poster competition at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Student Conference.
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.
Pettersen wins Colorado Protein Stability Conference poster competition
ChemE Ph.D. student John Pettersen was selected as the winner of the Student Poster Competition at the 2024 Colorado Protein Stability Conference. Pettersen works with ChemE's Anne Skaja Robinson.
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.