It has been a wonderful week for the CBEE department, celebrating both the achievements of our past and present graduates!
On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, we had the pleasure of welcoming back alumni Jincai (Jimmy) Li (PhD, 2001), who is now the CEO of WuXi XDC, a $10 billion subsidiary of WuXi Biologics. Jimmy's journey through CBEE is a remarkable one — arriving at UMBC in 1996, he began his graduate research under the late Janice Lumpkin, and following her tragic passing in 1997, transitioned to the research group of Govind Rao, where he completed his PhD in 2001. Jimmy went on to build an impressive career at Diversa, Tanox, and Genentech before returning to China to lead WuXi XDC to its current standing as a global powerhouse in the biochemical industry. During his visit, Jimmy sat down with Dr. Rao and Doug Frey — who served as departmental chair during Jimmy's time at UMBC — to reminisce about the past and discuss the exciting future of the biochemical and chemical engineering field. Learn more about Jimmy and his work here.
This visit comes on the heels of our 2026 graduation celebrations, where we proudly watched the next generation of CBEE engineers and scientists take their next steps. Jimmy's story is a powerful reminder of the incredible impact an engineering degree can have — and an inspiration to all of our current students as they begin their own journeys.
Congratulations to all of our 2026 graduates, and thank you to Jimmy for taking the time to visit and share his story with our community. We look forward to seeing what the next chapter holds for all of our alumni and graduating students!