Prof. Alex Prybutok named to AIChE’s 35 under 35

Prybutok, front row and fifth from the right, celebrates the last day of Process Controls class with her students in 2025.

As a 12-year-old, Dr. Alex Prybutok discovered her love of teaching while working as an assistant at a science summer camp.  

Now an assistant teaching professor in Chemical Engineering, Prybutok is being recognized with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 35 under 35 award in Education & Outreach.  

Though Prybutok knew for years that she wanted a career in education, early on she lacked a model for what her dream career looked like. She wanted to teach at the university level, but working as a university professor — where more than half of the position traditionally centers on research — did not appeal to her.  

Her career path was illuminated when she connected with teaching faculty outside her undergraduate institution of University of Texas–Austin. Prybutok credits Drs. Jennifer Cole of Northwestern University and Joshua Enszer at the University of Delaware with introducing her to the career of a teaching faculty and inspiring her to pursue this path. She joined the faculty at UW ChemE in the fall of 2022, after earning her doctorate from Northwestern.  

Dr. Cole, alongside Dr. Christopher Barr of the University of Michigan, co-wrote one of Prybutok’s letters of nomination for the award. Dr. Elizabeth Nance, chair of UW Chemical Engineering, wrote the second letter.  

As a professor, Prybutok has brought “creativity, innovation, and intentionality” to the department, Dr. Elizabeth Nance wrote in Prybutok’s AIChE nomination letter. She has updated the ChemE curriculum to reflect a modern and diverse workforce; supported faculty across the department in adopting inclusive teaching practices; and helped lead the effort to modernize the department’s Unit Operations Lab, where students learn to use the fundamental equipment of chemical engineering.  

Outside of the department, Prybutok is a co-lead of the UW’s Chehalis Summer STEM Camp, which introduces high school students to engineering concepts through hands-on, team-based activities. She continues to shape the national conversation about engineering education through leadership with AIChE, conference presentations and other outreach activities. She is dedicated to fostering inclusivity and social justice through her work, and training students to do the same.  

“Students should understand how to include communities at all levels of the process, from ideation to production and dispersion,” Prybutok says. “They should think critically about who benefits from the technology they create, and who doesn’t.”  

Prybutok says she has witnessed an increased interest in integrating social justice with engineering in the last decade and says she hopes that trend continues. “I think engineering is political and I hope people recognize that, actively start talking about it, and using it for the better,” she says.  

Prybutok also cares deeply about her students. Students knock on her door regularly for everything from heartfelt conversations to career advice and pep-talks.  

“She appreciates that every conversation can have a significant impact on a student’s experience or trajectory, and she puts the energy, time, and effort into being accessible, vulnerable, and thoughtful in each of these interactions,” Nance writes.  

Vulnerability and authenticity are hallmarks of Prybutok’s character and teaching style. She is especially transparent with her students about her struggles with anxiety, and finds many of her students can relate. “I really don’t have a lot to hide, and I am not capable of doing so,” she says. “I’m the same person with my students as I am with my friends and family, and I think that's what helps me form relationships with them.”  

Prybutok’s office – made colorful and vibrant by the dozens of students’ cards and gifts on the walls and shelves – are a testament to those relationships.  

Some of her favorite gifts include custom PEZ dispensers made by the recent class of graduating seniors; a giant card signed by the entire graduating cohort in her first year of teaching; and a caricature of herself drawn by a students’ parent.  

“I keep all of this stuff because it makes me happy,” she says. “It confronts me with the fact that students appreciate me, and the lengths they go to show that.”