Lectures

Each year, a leading scientist in the field of materials science comes to UMass Lowell to present a lecture in memory of Sukant K. Tripathy.

The late UMass Lowell professor of chemistry was an internationally recognized leader and researcher in the area of thin polymer films in electronics and optics, publishing more than 200 refereed papers and holding two dozen patents. He founded the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) and was formerly the University’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

• 2026: "Drugs and Their Delivery: Implications for Billions of Patients and Trillions of Dollars in Healthcare Costs" - Samir Mitragotri, School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Wyss Institute

Past distinguished lecturers include:

• 2025: "From Supramolecular Polymers to Functional Materials and Systems" - E.W. “Bert” Meijer, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology - CANCELED
• 2023: Julia A. Kornfield Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology , From Disaster to Discovery
• 2022: David L. Kaplan, Tufts University, The Future of Silk-Based Biomaterials
• 2019, Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson, Professor of Materials Science, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Director, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology; Founding Core Faculty and Platfom Leader, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
  • Read more about Joanna Aizenberg's lecture "New Bio-Inspired Materials: When Chemistry Meets Optics and Surface Science"
    
    
• 2018, Shuji Nakamura, Nobel Laureate, Physics, Solid State Lighting and Energy Center, University of California Santa Barbar
  
  
• 2016, Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy, School of Medicine at Stanford University
  • Read more about Steven Chu's "Climate Change and a Path to Clean Energy" lecture
  • UML News: Climate Change Is Real, Says Nobel Prize Winner
    
    
• 2015, Yang Yang, UCLA
• 2014, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Carnegie Mellon University
• 2013, Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2012, Fred Wudl, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.
• 2011, David A. Tirrell, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
• 2010, Timothy Swager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
• 2009, Sir Richard Friend, University of Cambridge, U.K.
• 2008, Craig C. Mello, Nobel Laureate, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• 2007, Robert Grubbs, Nobel Laureate, California Institute Technology
• 2006, Edwin L. Thomas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2005, Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Laureate, University of California
• 2004, George Whitesides, Harvard University
• 2003, Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2002, Alan G. MacDiarmid, Nobel Laureate, University of Pennsylvania