Nanette Boyle has been appointed as department head for Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Boyle, who joined the Mines faculty in 2013, is an associate professor and has been serving as interim chair of the department since August 2023. Her permanent appointment took effect in December 2024.
“I’m excited to lead the department in new directions,” Boyle said. “Chemical engineers are going to be important in the energy transition because a lot of our traditional strengths lie in systems optimization. With all the new technologies being developed, we’re going to need chemical engineers to design and optimize these new processes. We are looking to innovate the curriculum to ready our students to meet the needs of future industries.”
Undergraduate students in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering engage in a curriculum that emphasizes fundamentals of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. Students can also pursue optional specialty tracks in biological engineering, process engineering, or honors research. The department grants PhDs and master’s degrees as well.
As department head, Boyle has outlined three major goals: to be recognized as a leader in innovative chemical engineering pedagogy, to enhance visibility of the department’s research and graduate programs, and to improve overall well-being for students, faculty and staff.
“The department needs more brand recognition and visibility,” Boyle said. “We’re leaders in research and should be recognized more for the work we’re doing in a variety of industries. We want to let people know all the things that chemical engineers can do.”
Boyle holds a PhD from Purdue University and a Bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University. Her research focuses on utilizing genome engineering approaches to design photosynthetic organisms that can sustainably produce fuels, feedstocks, and fine chemicals. In 2021, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to conduct research at the University of Amsterdam on plant/microbe interactions, and in 2018, she received the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Award.
