About the department

Our combined department in the fields of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering consists of world-class faculty and committed students interested in developing and understanding the technology of the 21st century.

Chemical engineering emphasizes chemistry, mathematics and creativity to solve important societal problems, from developing new pharmaceuticals safely and efficiently to creating clean and inexpensive fuels for energy conservation and pollution prevention. Materials science and engineering is a broad discipline, ranging from the extracting of valuable minerals and metals to the development and fabrication of pure metals, alloys, ceramics, electronic materials and biomaterials. 

Where will your degree take you?

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineers can have exciting careers as designers, troubleshooters, and technical leaders in fields such as pharmaceuticals, advanced materials, fine and specialty chemicals, food protection, environmental protection, biotechnology, clean energy technology, semiconductor fabrication, paper manufacturing, computer systems, and plastics manufacturing.

Materials science engineering

Materials science and engineering is a broad discipline, ranging from the extracting of valuable minerals and metals to the development and fabrication of pure metals, alloys, ceramics, electronic materials and biomaterials. Most fields in science and engineering are involved in the development of materials, but only a materials engineer is an expert in the connections between the structure, processing, properties and performance of materials.

Our vision

The vision of the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department is to advance our programs to achieve national and international recognition. This will result in the department being in the top 100 Chemical and Materials Science Engineering programs in the nation in five to ten years and the top 70 departments in the nation in ten to fifteen years

Our mission

Our undergraduate degree programs offer students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge in the chemical engineering and materials sciences.

Our mission is to educate students at a nationally competitive level in the fundamentals of the field and to provide an opportunity to conduct small scale, independent research projects.

We aim to educate students so that they can successfully enter academia or take leadership positions in industry.

In either case, our goal is to provide them with a knowledge base and skill set above that of bachelor's level chemical and materials engineers.

At the graduate level, our mission is to provide a quality education that prepares students for the challenges and opportunities presented by our modern technical society. Rigorous classroom instruction and laboratory experiences using modern equipment and computers provide broad insight into natural phenomena, technology, chemical and biological process-engineering equipment, and systems engineering. Classroom and research projects provide students with hands-on experience in problem solving.

We seek to provide meaningful research opportunities for graduate students, and to address state and national priorities in competitive, funded research programs. Our goal is to provide our graduating doctoral students with the necessary experiences and education to qualify them to work in academia, in industry and in government laboratories.

The mission and goal of our graduate program relates to the land grant mission of the University. It does so by contributing in the areas of energy, the environment, biomedical and materials engineering, and other chemically related engineering fields.

Are you ready to make a world of difference?

Join the College of Engineering students, faculty and alumni who are developing the ideas, techniques and technologies that change the world.

Learn more today!