The faculty in the Department of Chemical, Bio, and Materials Engineering offer graduate programs leading to the M.S., Master of Science in Engineering, and the Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering. Areas of concentration include biomedical and clinical engineering, chemical process engineering, chemical reactor engineering, energy and materials conversion, environmental control, solid-state processing, and transport phenomena. For students interested in the Bioengineering major, see “Bioengineering” for program description. Within the Engineering Science major, students may select materials science and engineering as the area of study (see “Engineering Science” for program description).
The faculty also participate in offering the interdisciplinary program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in Science and Engineering of Materials (see “Science and Engineering of Materials” for program description). A Graduate Student Handbook, detailing information on graduate studies in Chemical Engineering, is available to admitted students. Students should contact the department.
Graduate Record Examination. Graduate Record Examination scores are required from all students.
MASTER OF SCIENCE
See “Master’s Degrees” for information on the M.S. degree.
Transition Program. Students applying for the program leading to a master’s degree with a major in Chemical Engineering, or in the area of study of materials science and engineering under the Engineering Science major, may have an undergraduate B.S. degree in a major field other than chemical engineering or materials science. The qualifications of transition students are reviewed by the department graduate committee, and a special program is designed for successful applicants. In general, applicants should have had, or should be prepared to take, calculus through differential equations and physics. Transition students are expected to complete the essential courses in their area of study from the undergraduate program in order to be prepared for the graduate courses. Other course work from the undergraduate program may be required depending upon the area of study selected by the student.
Transition students should contact the graduate coordinator for an evaluation of the undergraduate transcript.
Program of Study. All candidates for the Master of Science in Engineering or M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, or in the area of study of materials science and engineering under the Engineering Science major, are required to complete an approved program of study consisting of the minimum required semester hours, including research report (M.S.E.) or thesis (M.S.). Special course requirements for the different areas of study are established by the faculty and are available from the departmental graduate coordinator. In addition to the course/thesis requirements, all full-time graduate students must successfully complete the seminar course during each semester of attendance; part-time students must enroll in the seminar course at least three times during the course of study. Candidates whose undergraduate degree was in a field other than chemical engineering or materials science may be required to complete more than 30 semester hours.
Thesis Requirements. A thesis or equivalent is required.
Final Examinations. A final oral examination is required in defense of the thesis or equivalent.
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING
See “Master of Science in Engineering” for information on the Master of Science in Engineering degree.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
The Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering, or in the area of study of materials science and engineering under the Engineering Science major, is conferred upon evidence of excellence in research resulting in a scholarly dissertation that is a contribution to existing knowledge.
See “Doctor of Philosophy” for general requirements.
Doctoral Program. Upon successful completion of the qualifying examination, a research supervisory committee is formed and the doctoral student is required to submit a research proposal. Following the acceptance of the research proposal, the student is given a comprehensive examination to determine initiative, originality, breadth, and high level of professional commitment to the problem selected for investigation. Upon successful completion of the comprehensive examination, the student applies for admission to candidacy.
Master’s Degree in Passing. Students who are enrolled in the Ph.D. degree program in Chemical Engineering, but who do not hold a previously earned master’s degree in chemical engineering, can obtain the M.S.E. degree (the “Master’s in Passing”) upon completion of course requirements, the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination, the Dissertation, Prospectus, and the Comprehensive Examination.
As this degree is only available to students who are enrolled as regular students in the Ph.D. program in Chemical Engineering, all of the above requirements (including course work) can be applied toward the Ph.D. requirements.
Foreign Language Requirements. Candidates in the program leading to the Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering, or in the area of study materials science and engineering under the Engineering Science major, normally are not required to pass an examination showing reading competency of a foreign language. However, the supervisory committee may establish such a requirement in special cases depending upon the research interests of the candidate. If the foreign language is required, the student must successfully fulfill the requirement before taking the comprehensive examination.
Dissertation Requirements. A dissertation based on original work demonstrating creativity in research and scholarly proficiency in the subject area is required.
Final Examinations. A final oral examination in defense of the dissertation is required.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Biochemical Engineering. Biochemical separations, biomaterials engineering, scanning probe microscopy, and affinity chromatography.
Biomedical Engineering. Body processes, wearable artificial kidneys, improved blood oxygenators, noninvasive techniques, biophysical property correlations, cardiovascular prosthesis and biomaterials, computer analysis of clinical data, optimization of health delivery systems, biomechanics, biocontrol, analysis of human motion, bioelectronics, medical imaging, and development of physiological sensors.
Chemical Process Control. Advanced process identification and control, continuous process diagnostics, batch supervisory control, statistical process control, expert systems, neural networks, and artificial intelligence. Applications to industrial processes.
Chemical Process Engineering. Chemical process design fundamentals, chemical instrumentation for process control, optimization techniques and applications, process modeling, simulation, dynamics and control, and applied statistics.
Chemical Reactor Engineering. Reactor analysis and design, high temperature reaction kinetics, atmospheric reactions, catalysis, biochemical processes, and semiconductor materials processing.
Energy and Materials Conversion and Conservation. Materials and resource recovery from urban, forest and agricultural wastes, biomass conversion to transportable and conveniently useful fuels, energy storage, coal gasification, and separation and purification system.
Environmental Analysis and Control. Energy and environmental design considerations, purification of exhaust streams, reduction of emissions from storage tanks, analysis of air and water pollution, modeling of pollution systems, and recycling for pollution control.
Materials Science and Engineering. Semiconductor processing and characterization, polymeric and ceramic composites, materials for high critical temperature superconductor applications, ferritic thin films for capacitor and memory applications, high temperature materials for space applications, mechanical behavior of high strength Al-Li alloys, environmentally influenced mechanical effects, and microbiologically influenced corrosion reactions.
Solid-state Chemistry Concentration. Adsorption, catalysis, solid-state materials processing for control of properties, semiconductor materials processing, chemical vapor deposition, surface reactions, electrochemical reactions, optimization of electroplating processing, and surface analyses.
Transport Processes. Fluid mechanics of small particles, applications of laser Doppler velocimeter, interfacial transport and membrane separations, phase equilibria, and incorporation in process design.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
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