Rate My Professor Carol Hall

Hall’s research centers on statistical thermodynamics and computer simulations to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the self-assembly of soft materials, including colloids, gels, lipids, and surfactants, and the aggregation of proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Her group also develops algorithms for designing short peptides that bind specific biomolecular targets such as RNA and proteins. This work has profoundly impacted the fields of chemical engineering, soft matter physics, and biophysics. Hall was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 for her applications of thermodynamic and simulation methods to macromolecules and complex fluids, and currently serves as its Home Secretary. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2001), American Physical Society Biophysics Division (2007), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019). Other major awards include the AIChE Founders Award (2015), FOMMS Medal (2015), and AIChE Margaret H. Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer (2020). She was listed among AIChE’s “One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era” (2008) and served on the AIChE Board of Directors (2009). Notable publications include “Amyloid oligomers: A joint experimental/computational perspective on Alzheimer’s disease...” (Chemical Reviews, 2021), “Molecular dynamics simulations of spontaneous fibril formation by random-coil peptides” (PNAS, 2004), “Polymer-induced phase separations in nonaqueous colloidal suspensions” (Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 1983), and “Equation of state for chain molecules: Continuous-space analog of Flory theory” (Journal of Chemical Physics, 1986).