Chemical Engineering (MS/Ph.D)

The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Akron (UA) offers a Master of Science (MS) in Chemical Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in engineering.

Areas of specialization for graduate students include catalysis, enzymatic synthesis, filtration, biocompatible materials, bio-reaction engineering, chemical vapor deposition, molecular simulation colloids and adhesion, chaos, and controls.

To earn an MS degree, students must complete 30 credit hours of study. This includes a minimum of 24 credit hours of course work and six credit hours of thesis work. An oral defense of the thesis is also required.

PhD students must complete a minimum of 96 credit hours including 36 hours of coursework beyond the bachelor of science level. Students must pass a departmental qualifying examination, a candidacy examination, and present and successfully defend their dissertation to a college-wide Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee of five faculty. The PhD degree has a residency requirement of one year full-time.

Admission Requirements

Applicants to the University of Akron Chemical Engineering Department must have an acceptable GRE score and a bachelor's degree with an academic record distinctly above average. Applicants whose native language is not English must have a minimum TOEFL score of 550 (pbt) or 213 (cbt). Conditional admission is offered to students who are academically acceptable but who have not yet reached the level of English proficiency required for full admission. Students may enroll in the English Language Institute (ELI) for one or more semesters until they are certified as English proficient. Students enrolled in the ELI may not take undergraduate courses at the same time. Applicants who have satisfactorily completed nine months of full-time academic course work at a US college or university and are in good standing academically may have the TOEFL requirement waived upon written request to the Office of International Programs.

Akron Advantage

UA's Chemical Engineering department offers students the use of all its labs, each well-equipped with the latest technology. These facilities include: the Applied Colloid and Surface Science Laboratory; the Biochemical and Environmental Bioengineering Laboratory, a satellite center of the Ohio Bioprocessing Research Consortium; the Biomaterials Laboratory, which is available for polymer synthesis; the Supercritical Fluid Research Laboratory; the Catalysis Research Laboratory, equipped with a high pressure and temperature IR reactor system; the Multiphase and Solids Processing Laboratory, for research in filtration and flows through porous media; the Nonlinear Control Laboratory, equipped with Unix based workstations and a variety of engineering software packages; the Supercritical Fluids Laboratory, a key lab in the Ohio Supercritical Fluid Technology Consortium; and the Thin Film Laboratory, which is equipped with plasma systems, thermal chemical vapor deposition and in situ microbalance.

Additional Information

An MS in Chemical Engineering typically requires two years to complete. The PhD typically requires an additional three years.

The department's major research apparatuses include gas chromatographs; gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry; BET; differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis; FT-IR, HPLC, XRF, and heat release equipment; laser and light scattering equipment; pilot scale bubble cap and packed towers; extruders; biochemical reactors; sterilizers. In addition, students have access to the extensive library and computer facilities at the university and to external supercomputer facilities.