Dear All, At a recent "Conversations with the Head" meeting, some graduate students requested to be informed when a new faculty member joins our School. I am delighted to inform that Dr. Jeffrey Varner, currently at Cornell University, will join our School as Professor this fall. Dr. Varner received his PhD degree in 1997 from our School, under the direction of Prof. Ramkrishna. Following a postdoctoral appointment at ETH-Zurich, he was first with Genencor, then joined Cornell University as an Assistant Professor in 2005 and has been a tenured Associate Professor since 2011. His research interests are in modeling and analysis of signal transduction and metabolic networks, where he has developed computational tools to automate model generation, identification and analysis. His recognitions include an NSF CAREER award (2009), a Cornell College of Engineering Teaching Excellence award (2010), NAE Frontiers of Engineering invitee (2005), and two College-level undergraduate research mentorship awards (2012, 2014). He has held a variety of leadership service positions at Cornell, including Director of both Masters of Science and Masters of Engineering programs in their School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. You may recall his graduate seminar in our School on March 5, 2015. Dr. Varner will add significantly to our strengths in the areas of biological research. With best wishes for a productive and enjoyable summer! Arvind Varma R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering Purdue University