Prof. Milad Abolhasani, ALCOA Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Allan P. Colburn Award for Excellence in Publications by a Young Member of the Institute, one of the most prestigious honors of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

The Colburn Award, established in 1945, is the second oldest Institute Award in AIChE and recognizes outstanding contributions to chemical engineering literature by an early-career researcher. Abolhasani received this honor “for contributions to flow chemistry and data-driven microreaction engineering, accelerating discovery and smart manufacturing of functional materials through process intensification with self-driving labs.”

This recognition marks a historic milestone for NC State, Prof. Abolhasani is the first faculty member of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering to receive the Colburn Award.

Prof. Abolhasani has authored more than 105 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Synthesis, Nature Catalysis, Nature Chemical Engineering, Nature Communications, Advanced Energy Materials, and Advanced Materials. His research advances the frontiers of autonomous experimentation, developing self-driving laboratories (SDLs), which are AI-powered robotic platforms that accelerate discovery, optimization, and scale-up of functional materials and molecules.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized with the Colburn Award,” said Abolhasani. “This award has previously been received by amazing chemical engineers who have been foundational in shaping the chemical engineering profession. I am thrilled to join such an inspiring list of Colburn awardees. This recognition reflects the creativity and dedication of my students, postdocs, and collaborators as we work to reinvent how science and engineering are performed in the era of autonomy and AI.”

At NC State, Prof. Abolhasani directs the Self-Driving Fluidic Lab, pioneering SDL applications in quantum dot discovery, catalytic process intensification, and sustainable manufacturing. He also served as Director of the Graduate Program in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2023-2025) and currently serves as Director of Accelerated Technologies within NC State’s Integrative Sciences Initiative.

Abolhasani’s prior honors include the NSF CAREER Award, the Dreyfus Award for Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences & Engineering, the AIChE Catalysis & Reaction Engineering Early Career Investigator Award, AIChE NSEF Young Investigator Award, 2025 ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Lectureship Award, I &EC Research 2021 Class of Influential Researchers, and recognition in AIChE’s 35 Under 35.

The Colburn Award will be presented at the 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting, honoring Prof. Abolhasani’s pioneering contributions to the advancement of chemical engineering science and practice.