The Department of Chemical Engineering was approved and degrees authorized under the auspices of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 1907. In 1946, the newly created Department of Chemical Engineering hired its first Chairman, and in 1950, the Department became a nationally accredited program. Since that time, the Department has seen a continuous rise in undergraduate and graduate enrollment, the addition of new faculty, more laboratory and teaching classrooms, the addition of a computer design graphics laboratory, as well as gained the respect and admiration of the international community.

Chemical engineering combines the science of chemistry with the discipline of engineering in order to solve problems and to increase process efficiency. More precisely, chemical engineering is a blend of physics, chemistry, and mathematics; thus, a chemical engineer possesses a versatility that gives him or her many opportunities for employment in fields such as pulp and paper, environmental engineering, food processing, nuclear power, petroleum and petrochemicals, synthetic fuels, plastics and polymers, pharmaceuticals, education, biomedical engineering, computer applications, and alternate energy sources to name just a few.

The mission of the Department of Chemical Engineering is to provide quality educational programs firmly based in fundamental concepts and to perform and publish outstanding chemical engineering research. The goals of the Department of Chemical Engineering are:

(1) To prepare students with a broad-based education grounded in chemical engineering fundamentals.

(2) To maintain an environment that promotes effective student/faculty involvement in teaching, research and mentoring.

(3) To promote an active interaction with regional industries.

(4)  To graduate students capable of independent learning.
 

In addition, the educational objectives of the Department of Chemical Engineering are to prepare students who are:

(1) well-grounded in the fundamentals of chemical engineering;

(2)  can understand, analyze, and design efficient processes;

(3) are proficient in the oral and written communication of their work and ideas;

(4)  are able to work in multi-disciplinary teams in conjunction with their design, formulation of problems, and conducting of experiments;

(5) understanding the safety, health, and environmental consequences of their work; and

(6) are instilled with a sense of social responsibility, ethics, and a commitment to life-long learning.

Progress towards these goals and objectives is assessed by student performance on the nationally administered Fundamentals in Engineering Exam, exit interviews with graduating students, and surveys of graduated students and their employers.
 

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