CBE Centennial Seminar Series: Tonya Peeples (Penn State)
October 25 @ 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Leading with GRACE: Lessons in Adaptation
Dean Peeples will describe her career efforts in biochemical engineering, broadening participation and engineering leadership. A significant portion of this story is from inspirational experiences at N.C. State as an undergraduate student, and encounters with N. C. state as a graduate student and mid-career faculty member. Being inspired to apply chemical engineering principles to understand how organisms respond to environmental changes has provided a career of lessons that inform how higher education can respond to changing demographics and economic pressures.
In technical efforts the Peeples group has pursued deeper understanding of adaptation and stability of natural systems. Microbial physiology and characterization activities in applying fungal, bacterial, and archaeal systems have informed many projects for graduate and undergraduates to develop more robust, efficient, sustainable bio-based conversions as alternatives to traditional catalysis. The Peeples research group has combined bioreactor design and analysis for the cultivation of fastidious organisms with parametric analysis of bioconversions. Group members have been able to enhance yields and rates in oxidative reactions including the conversion of steroids sulfur-containing substrates, to selective chemoenzymatic reaction systems and to expand understanding of biofilm systems significant in pollutant degradation. The Peeples lab is currently developing engineered living materials.
As the landscape for broadening participation shifts, Dean Peeples’ activities have evolved beyond biochemical engineering studies to collaborative efforts to develop a national faculty that will educate new generations of college-going students who represent the “missing millions” from the STEM workforce. This includes management of graduate training and mentoring programs, serving in state-level task forces to advance K-12 STEM access, and addressing the role of faculty as levers for change in higher education. This work has involved multiple NSF Programs, including EBJ INCLUDES, ADVANCE, S-STEM, and BPE projects to address institutional, college, and departmental cultures, access and affordability for low-income students and affinity networks for women of color. Dean Peeples has led teams across the U.S. in developing action plans that address policies and practices that change the way institutions of higher education “look,” “feel” and “act.”
Dean Peeples has helped departments, research teams, colleges and universities create environments that leverage the creative power brought by the richness of community. Lessons learned both in the lab and in life demonstrate the value of systems approaches to identify the pressures that align with transformational success. At Penn State she is now helping faculty, staff, and students to demonstrate the advance their careers through a focus on the impact they will make locally, regionally, nationally and globally. This is done by encouraging curiosity, helping people make connections among diverse sets of ideas and disciplines, and challenging them to create value in their work to impact others.
Biography
As Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State, Tonya Peeples oversees all aspects of Penn State’s largest academic college. College of engineering constituents include over 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 1000 faculty and staff. Dean Peeples drives the college of engineering’s pursuit of excellence and innovation in engineering education and research; initiatives to attract students, faculty and staff and support their development; an ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; stewardship of the college’s financial resources; and the continuation of a major campus facilities modernization. From 2018 – 2023, Dr Peeples moved from Inaugural Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion to Senior Associate Dean of Engineering. She worked with institutional offices, academic departments, and colleges to advance the college strategic plan and to develop inclusive faculty hiring and graduate recruitment processes.
Before joining Penn State in 2018, Dr. Peeples served as Associate Dean for Diversity and Outreach, Associate Director of the University of Iowa Center for Bioctalysis and Bioprocessing, and Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Iowa. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University.
The Peeples research group engineers microbial systems and enzymes for industrial reactions and produces materials from living systems. Expanding knowledge of the structure, chemical composition, and activity of biofilm materials enables expanded application for environmental, pharmaceutical and medical use. In these efforts, Dr. Peeples has mentored a diverse group of research trainees including high school, undergraduate, and graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers. She has led several training programs for graduate and undergraduate students across STEM disciplines.
Dean Peeples an Advisory Board Member for The American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Open Forum on Broadening Participation in STEM. She has been an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). She has received several awards including the Outstanding Service Award and Pioneers of Diversity Awards from the AIChE Minority Affairs Committee. She received a Million Women Mentors Trailblazer Award from STEM Connector, and in 2020 was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows.
