About the Department
Ultimately, the role of chemical engineers is to apply chemistry, especially biological, organic, and inorganic chemistry. Applying chemistry provides the gasoline, safe drugs, shampoo, textiles, plastics, computer chips, paints, and so many things that make up our everyday lives. To make all these things, chemical engineers combine chemistry, mathematics, physics, biology, economics, management, and computer science. These elements are used together to analyze and design systems, including chemical processes and products. At UMass Amherst, undergraduate and graduate students learn how to apply sciences to manufacture this "stuff of life" while building the analytical and innovation skills needed to create new solutions. Lectures, computer use, problem-solving in and out of class, laboratory experiences, and intense discussion are all parts of this challenging major. Going beyond the traditional educational environment, our students hone their skills in a model computer classroom and in research supervised by the faculty. Throughout the world, UMass Chemical Engineering is particularly known for four areas: - Multiscale systems analysis and design
- Materials science and engineering, including polymers
- Molecular and materials modeling
- Cellular and metabolic bioengineering
In this website, you will find key information about all aspects of the department, including our faculty and their research interests as well as our teaching programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. For prospective students, links are provided to detailed information about our undergraduate/graduate programs and admissions procedures. Come to UMass and see! Location: 159 Goessmann Laboratory
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-3110
(413) 545-2507 |
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Upcoming Events
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Distinguished Lecture Series 2007-2008
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News
 Upgrading the Safety and Performance of Rocket Fuel Two researchers in the College of Engineering have received a prestigious $1-million Department of Defense (DoD) grant to boost the safety and performance of fuel used in thousands of satellites, space vehicles, rockets, and missiles. Their task will be to study the spray and combustion of gelled hypergolic propellants. A hypergolic propellant system is formed from a fuel and an oxidizer that ignite spontaneously when mixed so there is no need of an ignition mechanism in order to bring about combustion. David Schmidt of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department and Phillip R. Westmoreland of the Chemical Engineering Department will focus on fluid flow and chemistry, respectively. Read more
 Huber Maps a Pathway for Sustainable Liquid Fuels George Huber, the John and Elizabeth Armstrong Professional Development Professor from the Chemical Engineering Department, has produced a 187-page roadmap for making hydrocarbon biofuel – liquid fuel derived from plant biomass – into a viable and sustainable alternative to fossil fuel in this country. The roadmap publication, recently distributed to the press, combines the expertise of some 70 top scientists and engineers in the field of biofuels and is entitled "Breaking the Chemical and Engineering Barriers to Lignocellulosic Biofuels: Next Generation Hydrocarbon Biorefineries." This venture has been covered in many important media outlets around the world, including ABC News, NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, CBC Radio, United Press International, CCNews, WESH TV-2 [Orlando, Fla], CNET News.com, Thaindian.com, Greenfield Recorder, Themoneytimes.com [India], Springfield Republican, WFCR, Eponline.com, The Industry Standard, and ScienCentral News. Read more
 Using Salmonella Bacteria As Tiny Terminators To Kill Tumors Neil Forbes of the Chemical Engineering Department at UMass Amherst has received a four-year grant of more than $1 million to work on groundbreaking research into killing cancer tumors with salmonella bacteria. His technique turns them into tiny Terminator robots that can use their own flagella to venture deep into parts of tumors that conventional chemotherapy can’t reach. Once in place, the bacteria then manufacture drugs that trigger cancer cells to kill themselves. Read more
 Sun Receives College's 20th CAREER Award Lianhong Sun of the Chemical Engineering Department has received a five-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. Sun’s research reconfigures the E. Coli bacterium, better known for causing distress in the human gut, so that it can act as a tiny protein factory for making such drugs as insulin, human growth hormone, and antibiotics. Read more
ChE Newsletter Archive
2006 > Spring | Fall
2007 > Spring | Fall
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