Why ChBE for Graduate School?
Our goal is to prepare our students, through both innovative coursework and challenging research, to be leaders in the many emerging fields that demand chemical and biological engineers.
Top students + Top faculty = Top research
Compare us to other institutions nationwide.
• 2nd in new grants per faculty*
• 5th in total value of new grants per faculty*
• 8th in Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index*
• 10th in publications per faculty*
• 10th in citations per faculty*
• 10th in citations per paper*
• 10th among public graduate programs**
• 17th among all graduate programs**
• 2012 research expenditures per faculty = $620K
* Chronicle of Higher Education (2011)
** U.S. News & World Report (2012)
Graduate Student Profile
• Students: 117 (>95% are full-time PhD students)
• Average incoming grad student GPA=3.89/4.0
• Average incoming grad student GRE=769/800
• Undergraduate backgrounds:
• Biological Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Material Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Polymer Science
Graduate Student Excellence
• MRS Gold Graduate Student Award: 1
• Best PhD in AIChE Particle Technology Award: 2
• Society for Biomaterial's Outstanding Graduate Research Award: 1
• Innovation in Technology Award: 1
• NSF Graduate Fellows: 5
• NASA Graduate Researchers: 3
• NIH Fellows: 8
• Department of Education GAANN Fellows: 44
• Current alumni faculty members: 24
• PhD employment rate: 100%
• CU Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards: > 30
Faculty Profile
- Faculty (tenured or tenure-track): 24 (including 2 joint appointments with Chemistry)
- Number of peer-reviewed publications per faculty per year: 8
- Average sponsored research funding per faculty: $620,000/year
Faculty Excellence in Research
• 18/24 faculty have won ≥1 national research awards
• Major research awards:
• Elected member of National Academy of Engineering (1)
• Elected member of the Institute of Medicine (1)
• Elected member of National Academy of Sciences (1)
• AIChE Professional Progress Award (2)
• National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow (1)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator (1)
• AIChE Colburn Award (2)
• NSF Presidential Young Investigator (4)
• Department of Energy Early Career Award (1)
• NSF CAREER Award (5)
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (3)
• Camille-Dreyfus Teacher Scholar (3)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) FIRST Award (2)
• MRS Outstanding Young Investigator (2)
• Department of Energy's Early Career Research Program Award (1)
• ASEE Dow Lectureship (1)
New Facilities
- ChBE's facilities built in 2012: Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building
Opportunities for Collaboration
- Numerous Research Centers
- New facilities also house BioFrontiers Institute and Division of Biochemistry
- Close proximity to national labs (NREL, NIST, NCAR, NOAA)
- Successful start-up companies based on ChBE research
"The school is highly ranked, so I know that my degree will be looked at with respect when I leave here. The ChBE department cares about its graduate students' progression as scientists." - Nicholas Sandoval
"I like that the ChBE department is an open department. I wouldn't feel nervous about knocking on any professor's door with a question" - Stephanie Malone