Undergraduate Program

Chemical Engineers have been in part responsible for the prosperity of the United States chemical industry which produces more than 30% of the national wealth and has recorded a trade surplus for over 40 consecutive years. Graduates of the Chemical Engineering Department are well suited for contributing to this success. Our graduates enjoy a wide range of careers in industries such as: 

ENERGY: Refining crude oil to gasoline and heating oil. Challenge: Solving the dependence of our nation on foreign oil. 

POLYMER MATERIALS: Manufacturing of light weight, high strength composite polymers for automobiles, construction, textiles, and building materials. Challenge: Improving our living standard by developing future products without side effects. 

ENVIRONMENT: Controlling toxic emissions from the automobile and manufacturing industries. Challenge: Developing new sustainable technology. 

BIOTECHNOLOGY: The use of microorganisms for manufacturing of high value chemicals, such as pharmaceutical drugs and the detoxification of hazardous waste sites. Challenge: Controlling the escalating health costs with the innovations of pharmaceutical drugs; improving our living environment. 

Why Choose Chemical Engineering?

Leads to professional and personal success by integrating knowledge in chemistry, mathematics, physics, and biology to solve the problems of national and global importance. Examples of successful chemical engineers: Chairman of Intel, CEO of eneral Electric, President of Chemstress, VP of Goodyear. 

Careers

• 75%-80% of our students become employed in industry and the government sector.
• 5%-10% go on to graduate school.
• 5% of others go on to medical school.
• 90% placement prior to graduation and 100% three months after graduating.

Scholarship Information

• Lubrizol
• Dow
• Jim and Vanita Oelschlager Leadership Awards
• Lisle M. Buckingham Scholarships
• Scholarships for Excellence
• University Honors Program
• College of Engineering
• Chemical Engineering Faculty Scholarship
• Larry G. Focht Scholarship Award
• NSF Undergraduate Research Supplemental
• Fellowship

What is special about the Department?

• Nationally recognized Co-op Program (fifth oldest in the nation)
• Extensive student-faculty interaction with individual student projects
• Unique teamwork experience through laboratory and design projects
• All instructors are members of the Faculty with PhD's in Chemical Engineering

Degrees Offered

• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Science with Co-op
• Bachelor of Science with Polymer Speicalization
• Bachelor of Science with Biotechnology Specialization
• Combined BS/MS Program
• Master of Science Degree

Student Organizations

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
• International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE)
• Tau Beta Pi
• Signma Xi

Experiments and Equipment

• Ion exchange for the recovery of heavy metal - Atomic absorption spectroscopy, ion exchange resin column
• Synthesis of nanomaterials - Autoclave reactor, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
• Biochemical process - High Performance liquid chromatograph, bioreactors
• Distillation Process - Gas Chromatography, 25 ft large scale distillation column, flow and liquid level control systems
• Chemical vapor deposition - Plasma reactor, optical spectroscopy, and optical pyrometer