Elizabeth J. Podlaha-Murphy joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as Department Chair and Professor in August, 2017. She has held positions as Professor of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, and Associate/Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University in the Department of Chemical Engineering. She have served on numerous department and university committees, and was the past Chair of the Electrodeposition Division of The Electrochemical Society and member of the Board of Directors of The Electrochemical Society. Podlaha-Murphy has made research contributions in the area of electrodeposition and electrochemistry, forwarding research on the understanding of kinetic-transport phenomena inherent to plating, creating more environmentally friendly electrodeposition processes, and in generating novel nanoscale structures of alloys and metal matrix composites for components in micro- and nano-size devices. She has been funded by a prestigious NSF CAREER award, and both single and multi-investigator NSF, NIH, DARPA, DOE and industrial grants. Outcomes of this research have been presented in over 90 peer-reviewed journals and proceeding papers including Nano Letters, Journal of The Electrochemical Society and Electrochimica Acta, as well as 130 scientific conference presentations, and 3 patents.

She is a member of The Electrochemical Society (ECS), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Materials Research Society (MRS), American Chemical Society (ACS), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).