Chemical Engineering

B.S., Chemical Engineering

The humble, ubiquitous aspirin - from good idea to commercial reality

In the 1890s, German chemist Felix Hoffmann invented aspirin to ease his father's arthritis. It worked. Over one hundred years later, it's the world's most widely used drug.

End of story? Hardly. It's one thing to come up with a gram of aspirin, and quite another to produce the world's supply.

Enter the chemical engineers who take the chemical formula of aspirin, other pharmaceuticals, solvents, polymers, synthetic fibers, abrasives - in fact, any laboratory invention - and turn it into a commercial reality. Chemical engineers create, develop, design, and process the necessary chemical and physical changes in specific materials, and then figure out how to make those changes consistent. From your Gore-Tex® windbreaker to the 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner you used this morning, chemical engineers touch our daily lives and play a significant role in our society and economy.

A world of opportunity

Chemical engineering graduates find jobs in both traditional chemical engineering industries as well as emerging technologies such as air and water pollution control, food processing, biochemical and biomedical operation, and others.

Chemical engineering majors also go on to graduate school at leading institutions and to careers in medicine. Many top corporations have welcomed our graduates into their work force, including General Electric, ARCO Chemical, Du Pont, ExxonMobil, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and many more.

What you'll study

As sophomores and juniors, chemical engineering majors study subjects like bioengineering, nanotechnology, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, process design, kinetics, energy conversion, and polymer science. Research conducted by faculty members with their undergraduate students is an important aspect of the chemical engineering curriculum. In fact, as seniors, chemical engineering majors spend up to two semesters in the lab, working in teams to perform experiments with such high-tech equipment as a computer-controlled continuous distillation column, an extruder, a blow molder, various chemical reactors, a drying system, and heat exchangers. Working under faculty supervision, students may also create independent study projects.

www.ecs.umass.edu/che

Alumna Profile

Marie P. Laplante

Chemical Engineering '87
Technology Sales Manager
Haldor Topsoe, Inc.

World, meet Marie Laplante. Some chemical engineers choose careers that let them travel, and Laplante is one of them. As the North America technology sales manager for Haldor Tops¿e, Inc., Laplante travels the continent serving major clients like Exxon and Shell with her specific expertise. "If you've got a problem," Laplante says, "I've got the process." Her expertise and her loyalty to both her profession and UMass have earned her a number of awards, from the Society of Women Engineers' national "Distinguished New Engineer" award to the UMass College of Engineering Alumna of the Year award.

"A catalyst," says Marie Laplante, chemical engineering '87, "is a substance that speeds up or assists reactions but is not consumed by those reactions." And although she is describing what her company produces, her definition is also an apt description of the effect Laplante herself has on the world around her.

Laplante is a technology sales manager at Haldor Topsoe, a Danish-based company in Houston, Texas, that produces catalysts and technology for the oil, chemical, and power industries. "We allow equipment to operate at lower temperatures, use less energy, and emit less CO2," says Laplante. "We're a good corporate citizen with real global reach."

A problem-solver from her earliest years, Laplante grew up in Ludlow, Mass., excelled in math and science, and was interested in a career that would put her abilities to practical use. When she chose the field of engineering, she and her parents looked slightly north to UMass: "an excellent school that was not too far from home - but far enough," Laplante recalls.

Laplante's loyalty to UMass is reflected on many levels, and includes financial support as well as mentoring a UMass engineering student, Meghan Reilly, through a program called MentorNet. Her husband Robert Laplante, Jr., also a chemical engineering alum from UMass, agrees. "We want to be sure that the opportunities we had are there for other people," she says about their support. "UMass is a quality education for a reasonable price. We want to make sure it endures and gets even more competitive."

Making things better is a definitive ability of the kinds of catalysts produced by Marie Laplante's company. And it also appears to be a guiding principle of her life.

Marie Laplante's first impression of UMass was positive, and it never faded over the four years she spent in the Chemical Engineering Department. "There is no education that provides better bang for the buck than the one you get at UMass," she says. A degree in her field, says Laplante, is an "excellent foundation for chemical engineering, or a great stepping stone to other disciplines."

Student Profile

Gretchen McAuliffe

Chemical Engineering
Turners Falls, Mass.

When she first enrolled in the College, Gretchen McAuliffe felt "iffy" about engineering. "It was kind of a fluke," she says. "I didn't know what I wanted to major in so I picked something hard that could get me into med school."

Fulfilling her credits while uncertain about her future, Gretchen stayed in engineering. Then, during her sophomore year, something happened that changed her attitude. "There was a special honors class where all of the professors gave a presentation on their research and you listed the top three you'd like to work with. That's when Professor Susan Roberts invited me to join her group."

Almost immediately, Gretchen threw herself into her new project, studying the relationship of cell cultures to the cancer drug paclitaxel so thoroughly that she won a Hamilton Sundstrand fellowship before the end of the year. Continuing her work through the summer, her junior year, and the summer after that, Gretchen became so well informed in the subject that by spring semester of her senior year she presented a paper on it at the regional conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). There, Gretchen won second place and the opportunity to present her work at the AIChE's annual meeting in Reno - a moment she considers the high point of her academic career.

While Gretchen notes her involvement in academic societies such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers as also being pivotal to her experience, ultimately she can't stress the importance of Dr. Roberts enough. "She's put an incredible amount of faith in me and my work," Gretchen says. "She's let me order all my own supplies, design experiments, and have access to some pretty top-notch equipment - and this while I'm still an undergrad! I've completely changed my mind about what I want to do with my life. I now want to go on to grad school as a chemical engineer and get more experience doing research. Dr. Roberts has been completely encouraging all along, and I feel so lucky to have been able to work with her."