UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Dean Nadya Mason opened her Fall 2025 Town Hall by sharing a recent national poll showing rising confidence in higher education.
“If you ask people how important higher college education is, people still really believe in the work that we're doing,” she told the audience online and in the Eckhardt Research Center. “What we do is critically important, and what all of you do in service of that mission is essential. I want to note that first, because this is what sustains the school and what helps us grow within the university, build within higher education, and have an impact on the world.”
Her talk shared recent research breakthroughs in Immunoengineering, Materials for Sustainability and Quantum Science and Engineering – the three interdisciplinary themes that compose UChicago PME, and also about the school’s student successes, community outreach, new initiatives and valued industry partnerships.
As one example, Mason noted that more than a billion dollars of new investment has been made in the Chicagoland region due to UChicago PME’s leadership. The university also has been named the top U.S. university for quantum science and engineering, and number six globally by Nature Index, and the school continues to work to innovate and develop bold collaborations.
UChicago PME continues to advance science on the national and global level, through such collaborations as a Capitol Hill briefing updating legislators on quantum technologies, global workshops on material design, and partnerships with overseas universities and agencies.
At a time of uncertainty regarding research funding, Mason also highlighted diversified funding accomplishments, both from the federal government but also from private foundations and individuals, including a $21 million gift from philanthropist Thea Berggren to establish the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine.
“The fact that we're highly funded to do all of this work says automatically that we're really top in the nation – in the world – in all of these important areas,” Mason said.
Through UChicago PME's connections, the school’s alumni have gone on to work for global thought leaders including Apple, Google, Medtronic, Merck, Pfizer, Applied Materials, PsiQuantum, Genentech, and Intel.
Others have taken their education to 15 startups and counting, with 373 invention disclosures resulting in 156 patents licensed.
“You are here for an education, but also to start your careers and research lives,” she told the PhD, Master of Engineering (MEng) and undergraduate engineering students in the audience. “It’s important that our alums are now at some of the most important research companies in the world.”
Despite challenging times for higher education, UChicago PME’s commitment to sharing the joy of science and engineering remains constant. Mason’s talk highlighted collaborative outreach programs including Battery Day and the STEM Showcase at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the South Side Science Festival, Junior Science Cafés in South Side middle schools, the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair, After School Matters and more.
Since Mason took the reins of UChicago PME in 2023, she has held Town Halls twice a year – once in the spring and once in the fall. These open conversations with students, postdocs, staff, and faculty outline the challenges, successes, and ongoing priorities of the school.
“A core mission of UChicago PME is to look outward,” Mason said. “We look outward in terms of the impact of our research on the world. We look outwards in terms of education. We look outwards in terms of innovation and entrepreneurial activity, and we look outwards in terms of engaging our community.”