Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Faculty and students are reimagining engineering to solve the most urgent challenges of our time.
Where Chicago minds are engineering the future
At the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), breakthroughs begin with the building blocks of matter. Faculty and students bring together the tools of quantum information science, immunobiology, materials, and computation to engineer solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges.
From quantum technologies to revolutionary new immunotherapies to energy storage technologies that surpass the state of the art, UChicago PME accelerates discovery and its real-world impact. Collaborations with UChicago Medicine, Argonne National Laboratory, and industry partners move ideas quickly from concept to application. In the past three years, more than $1 billion has been invested in the Chicagoland region through PME’s leadership and influence. UChicago’s engineering faculty are leading the University in translational output, accounting for 37 percent of provisional patents filed since 2024 while representing 2 percent of faculty.
In the 15 years since its founding, UChicago’s revolutionary model of interdisciplinary engineering has been amply validated. As the school seeks to scale up, philanthropic support will expand faculty, advance high-risk research, and build the facilities and partnerships that position Chicago as a global hub for engineering innovation.
Priorities
Your giving can support the following areas:
- Endowed professorships and faculty recruitment funds to attract and retain pioneering researchers working at the intersection of engineering, biology, computation, materials science, and quantum science
- Quantum engineering to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum computing, sensing, and communications
- lmmunoengineering and molecular therapeutics research to advance new approaches to cancer treatment, inflammation, biomaterials, biomedical devices, and precision medicine
- Materials for energy and sustainability to propel next-generation technologies for low-cost energy storage, pluripotent plastics, membranes for extracting valuable chemicals and contaminants from water, and self-driving labs for accelerated discovery
- Graduate student fellowships and interdisciplinary training to prepare the next generation of engineers and scientists to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries
- Translational research and innovation partnerships to move discoveries from the laboratory toward real-world applications through collaboration with industry partners, national laboratories, startups, and medical researchers
- Laboratory infrastructure and advanced research facilities to provide the specialized instrumentation, clean rooms, fabrication environments, and collaborative spaces required for next-generation molecular engineering research
- Flexible funds for high-risk, high-reward discovery to support bold new ideas and emerging fields that have the potential to reshape technology, medicine, energy, and the physical sciences
Contact
Heather Upshaw
773.834.4818
hupshaw@uchicago.edu