Program Overview

Chemical Engineering (ENCH)

The Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department offers educational opportunities leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree or Masters of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. Both degrees require a written thesis and an oral examination on the thesis. Our faculty research interests cover a wide array of subject matter and is well-equipped for graduate research in:

• aerosol science and engineering
• biochemical engineering
• computational modeling
• fluid mechanics and mixing
• fuel cell technology
• metabolic engineering and systems biology
• nanoparticle technology
• polymer processing and characterization
• polymer reaction engineering
• process control
• thermodynamics and transport phenomena
• systems research

Abstract

The Department maintains a distributed computing network consisting of research laboratories and a PC laboratory. Major research facilities including electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and NMR are coordinated through a variety of laboratories.

Financial Assistance

Graduate research assistantships typically support qualified Ph.D. students. Graduate fellowships are available on a competitive basis to both entering and continuing Ph.D. students. Typically only those Ph.D. students who enter the program in the Fall semester are eligible for fellowships. We are unable to provide financial support to students in our masters degree program.

General Requirements

• Statement of Purpose
• Transcript(s)
• TOEFL/IELTS/PTE (international graduate students)

Program-Specific Requirements

• Letters of Recommendation (3)
• Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (optional)
• CV/Resume
• Writing Sample (optional)
• Description of Research/Work Experience (optional for M.S., required for Ph.D.)

Application Deadlines

Graduate Application Deadlines:

• Type of Applicant | Fall Deadline | Spring Deadline | Summer Deadline
  • Domestic Applicants | January 6, 2026 | October 3, 2025 | N/A
  • International Applicants | January 6, 2026 | September 26, 2025 | N/A

Facilities and Resources

A number of special facilities are available for graduate study and research and are coordinated through the Polymer Reaction Engineering Laboratory, the Chemical Process Systems Laboratory, the Laboratory for Mixing Studies, the Thermophysical Properties Laboratory, the Laboratory for Biochemical Engineering and the Biochemical Reactor Scale Up Facility. These laboratories contain advanced process control computers, polymer processing equipment and polymerization reactors, polymer characterization instrumentation, fermentors, a laser Doppler anemometry facility, and an aerosol characterization facility.

Faculty

The faculty members are:

• Adomaitis, Raymond A. | Full Member | B.S., Illinois Institute of Technology, 1984; Ph.D., 1988. | Professor, Systems Engineering, Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Al-Sheikhly, Mohamad I. | Full Member | B.Sc., University of Baghdad, 1974; Ph.D., University of Newcastle, 1981. | Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Albertus, Paul | Full Member | Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2009 | Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Anisimov, Mikhail A. | Full Member | Ph.D., Moscow State University, 1968. | Professor, Chemical Engineering, Professor, Chemical Physics
• Asa-Awuku, Akua | Full Member | B.S., M.I.T., 2003; M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006; Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008 | Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Bentley, William E. | Full Member | B.S., Cornell University, 1982; M.Eng., 1983; Ph.D., University of Colorado-Boulder, 1989. | Distinguished University Professor, Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation, Distinguished University Professor, Bioengineering, Affiliate Professor, Biological Sciences, Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Chen, Po-Yen | Full Member | B.S., Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University (NTU), Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Choi, Kyu Yong | Full Member | B.S., Seoul National University, 1976; M.S., 1978; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984. | Professor, Chemical Engineering
• DeVoe, Don | Full Member | | Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Dimitrakopoulos, Panagiotis | Full Member | Diploma, National Technical University of Athens, 1991; M.S., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1996; Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1998. | Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, Associate Professor, Chemical Physics
• Fisher, John P. | Full Member | B.S., The Johns Hopkins University, 1995; M.S., University of Cincinnati, 1998; Ph.D., Rice University, 2002 | Chair, Bioengineering, Professor, Bioengineering, Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Karlsson, Amy | Full Member | PhD, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 2009, BS, Iowa State University, 2003 | Associate Professor, Biophysics, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, Affiliate Associate Professor, Bioengineering, Graduate Director, Chemical Engineering
• Klauda, Jeffery | Full Member | Ph.D. University of Delaware | Co-Director, Biophysics, Professor, Biophysics, Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Kofinas, Peter | Full Member | B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1989; M.S., 1989; Ph.D., 1994. | Chair, Chemical Engineering, Professor, Chemical Engineering, Professor, Chemical Physics, Affiliate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Affiliate Professor, Bioengineering
• Lee, Sang Bok | Full Member | | Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Molinari, Sara | Full Member | | Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, Affiliate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Raghavan, Srinivasa R. | Full Member | B.Tech., IIT Madras, 1992; Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 1998. | Professor, Chemical Engineering, Professor, Chemical Physics
• Sriram, Ganesh | Full Member | B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, 1997; M. Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, 1999; Ph.D., Iowa State University, 2004. | Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Vega-Vila, Juan Carlos | Full Member | B.S., Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, Ph.D., Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University | Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Wachsman, Eric | Full Member | B.S., University of California, Berkeley, 1982; M.S., Stanford University, 1986; Ph.D. Stanford University, 1990. | Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Wang, Chunsheng | Full Member | Ph.D., Zhejiang University, 1995 | Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Wang, Nam Sun | Full Member | Ph.D., Caltech, 1989 | Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Woehl, Taylor | Full Member | Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis, 2013, B.S., Ceramic Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009 | Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Zhang, Chen | Full Member | Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology | Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
• Zierden, Hannah | Full Member | Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University; B.S. Ohio State University | Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Bioengineering

Degrees Offered

• Chemical Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
• Chemical Engineering, Master of Science (M.S.)