University Times

Anna Balazs

Anna C. Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed the John A. Swanson Chair in Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering.

“Anna’s appointment to the John A. Swanson Chair in Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering recognizes and rewards the quality and impact of her work to date, which has earned deep and widespread respect,” said Chancellor Patrick Gallagher. “This designation is well-deserved — and one of the highest honors that any university can bestow upon a member of its faculty.”

“Anna’s award-winning contributions to her field have been tremendous, and she is one of the most valued and respected members of our faculty,” said Gerald Holder, U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering. “But most importantly, she has been and continues to be a mentor to so many students and post-doctoral researchers who have been impacted by her innovative research, creativity and wonderful personality.”

Balazs is noted for her contributions to the fields of chemical engineering and computational modeling. She received her bachelor’s in physics from Bryn Mawr College and doctorate in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She previously was the Robert v.d. Luft Professor at the Swanson School.

Her research involves developing theoretical and computational models to capture the behavior of polymeric materials, nanocomposites and multi-component fluids, with funding awarded by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation.

Balazs is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Materials Research Society. She was a Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, has served on a number of editorial boards and serves as an associate editor for the journal Science Advances. Among the awards she has received for her work in the field of engineering, most recently Balazs was the first woman to receive the prestigious American Physical Society Polymer Physics Prize.

Contact:
Paul Kovach, pkovach@pitt.edu, 412-624-0265