Founding the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

In 2006, President Robert J. Zimmer and then-Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum convened an Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Molecular Engineering to explore the potential of adding an applied science program to the University of Chicago to supplement and expand its eminence in the sciences and technology.

Recognizing that today’s research blurred the boundaries between science and engineering, the committee, chaired by Prof. Steven J. Sibener, enthusiastically endorsed the creation of a molecular engineering program in reports filed in 2007 and 2009. An external committee, chaired by Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also fully supported the proposal.

After securing the vote of the faculty Council of the Senate and endorsement of the University’s Board of Trustees in March 2010, the University moved forward with the creation of the Institute for Molecular Engineering.

The Pritzker Foundation provided a generous gift to support the founding of the Institute. This gift added to the Pritzker family’s long history of supporting the sciences and the University of Chicago. Thomas J. Pritzker is a Trustee of the University.

The program takes shape

Matthew Tirrell, a pioneering researcher in the fields of biomolecular engineering and nanotechnology, was appointed founding Pritzker Director of the Institute in July 2011.

Unburdened by the constraints of a traditional engineering program, the Institute would have a distinct organizational structure focused on societal problems primed for new solutions, including the search for sustainable energy, immunotherapy-based approaches to cancer, and “unhackable” communications networks.

It would also pioneer new ways to train scientists and engineers in the emerging field of molecular engineering, which builds on advances in basic science to design technology from the molecular level up.

Built in partnership with Argonne National Labs, it would help strengthen the relationship between the University and the national lab through shared resources and joint appointments.

Transformational gift accelerates growth

In May 2019, the Pritzker Foundation made an additional transformational gift in support of the Institute, for a total commitment of $100 million.

In recognition of its success, impact, and the ongoing and planned major expansion of its research and education programs, and the Pritzker Foundation’s increased support, the University elevated the Institute to the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME).

Pritzker Molecular Engineering is the first school in the nation dedicated to this emerging, fast-growing field, and was the first new school at the University in three decades.

Making an impact

PME retains the Institute’s distinctive organizational structure, with interdisciplinary research programs in quantum engineering, biotechnology and immunoengineering, advanced materials, energy storage, and ensuring a clean global water supply.

Its cutting-edge degree programs give students the ability to incorporate scientific advances and molecular building blocks into tomorrow’s advanced products, materials, and processes.

The School plans to expand to address additional fundamental problems and promote new collaborations among leading researchers from diverse science and engineering disciplines, further enabling the University to contribute to the sciences, engineering, and technology development in a highly distinctive way.