1/31/22, 12:58 PM History of Women in Chemical Engineering: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau | AIChE

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A Chemical Engineering Pioneer and Some of

Her Descendants

1/5   in the series AIChE Observes Women's History Month

Photo credit: Walter P. Reuther Library

To celebrate Women’s History Month, ChEnected is featuring stories about some of the women
who have shaped chemical engineering as a profession and who have worked to make AIChE a
more diverse and equitable community. 

During chemical engineering’s first half-century, the profession was dominated by men. As
recently as the early 1970s, only one in every 200 AIChE members was a woman. 

Rousseau’s
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1/31/22, 12:58 PM History of Women in Chemical Engineering: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau | AIChE

Stepping into that environment, Margaret Hutchinson

by Gordon Ellis Rousseau (1910–2000) was a true chemical engineering
trailblazer. Born in Houston, Texas, Rousseau began her
engineering studies at Rice University before moving on to
MIT, where in 1937 she became the first woman to earn a
doctorate in chemical engineering. Soon thereafter, Rousseau
MAR 2, 2021

COMMENTS (2) would make her mark on the profession and the world.

AICHE
While working at Pfizer in the early years of World War II,
Rousseau drew on process design experience she had acquired
while producing synthetic rubber and distilling oil into high
Topics: 
octane fuel, and designed the first process for producing
Awards penicillin on a commercial scale. Her deep-tank fermentation
process enabled large scale production of the miracle drug,
Societal Impact
which saved countless lives during World War II and became a
Equity, Diversity and turning point in human history as the first real defense against
Inclusion bacterial infection.
Women's Initiatives
As part of AIChE’s history, Rousseau would record other firsts.
In 1945, she became the first woman member the Institute, and
she later became the first woman elected as an AIChE Fellow.
In 1983, Rousseau was the first woman to receive AIChE’s
Share This Post: Founders Award, the Institute’s highest honor.
7
The Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau
Pioneer Award 
In 2017, AIChE honored Rousseau once again with the creation
of a new Institute-level award: The Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime
Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer. Sponsored by Pfizer, the prize honors a woman
member of AIChE who has made significant contributions to chemical engineering research or
practice. The honoree’s accomplishments also include a component of service, mentorship, or
leadership in helping to raise the visibility of women engineers and paving the way for women
to have a greater impact in chemical engineering.

Rousseau Award recipients

To date, four AIChE members have received the Rousseau Pioneer Award.

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2017: Frances
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1/31/22, 12:58 PM History of Women in Chemical Engineering: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau | AIChE

Frances Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, and
Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. Her work focuses on protein
engineering by directed evolution, an approach that has generated important developments in
the bio-based economy, including applications in energy, chemicals, and medicine. In 2018,
Arnold’s work in the directed evolution of enzymes garnered the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

2018: Elsa Reichmanis

Elsa Reichmanis is Professor and Carl Robert Anderson Chair in the Department of Chemical
and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. Her research is at the interface of chemical
engineering, chemistry, and materials science. Reichmanis was recognized for her contributions
to the design and development of robust polymer processes for the fabrication of optoelectronic
devices, leadership, and service to the engineering community.

2019: Paula T. Hammond

Paula T. Hammond is the Koch Professor and Head of Chemical Engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is also a member of the Koch Institute for
Integrative Cancer Research. Her work in nanomedicine encompasses new biomaterials that
enable targeted nanoparticle drug and gene delivery. Hammond was honored for her
professional leadership and pioneering scientific and engineering contributions to thin film
layer-by-layer polymeric structures with broad applications in energy and medicine.

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1/31/22, 12:58 PM History of Women in Chemical Engineering: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau | AIChE

2020: Carol K. Hall

Carol K. Hall is the Camille Dreyfus Distinguished University Professor of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. Her work has impacted areas as
diverse as the stabilization of colloidal suspensions, the manufacturing of engineering plastics,
and the identification of possible molecular mechanisms for Alzheimer’s disease. She is also
recognized for her mentorship of young faculty and women. Hall is the second woman — after
Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau — to receive AIChE’s Founders Award (2015).

The Institute’s 2021 Rousseau Pioneer Award recipient will be announced during the 2021 AIChE
Annual Meeting, November 7–12, in Boston, Massachusetts.

All for Good Campaign

This initiative is supported by the AIChE Foundation's Doing a World of Good Campaign.

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1/31/22, 12:58 PM History of Women in Chemical Engineering: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau | AIChE

Thank you for this excellent write-up! I've been trying to do

some research on Rousseau and have been trying to get in
touch with you. Can you check your inbox?
Laura Jarboe
MAR 3, 2021

ERROR in above story, which I found most interesting. I was the

first woman elected Fellow of AIChE. My certificate is dated 10
July 1980. In fact, I have two certificates: one acknowledges me
Patsy Chappelear for "his" contributions. After the second woman (Margaret)
APR 1, 2021 objected to the format, I received my second certificate for
"her" contributions.
My current activity in the field is with my
daughter, another female engineer. She is a member of the
engineering faculty of Houston Community College. I assist
her and other professors as a panelist for their beginning
engineering classes. I have also established a scholarship for
the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in Houston
honoring my daughter's work with the Student Chapter at
HCC. I am still at age almost 90 a dues paying member of
AIChE. Patsy Stallings Chappelear

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