Welcome to Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU-Boulder

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Top Research

What makes ChBE one of the top research institutes in the country?

Compare us to other depts 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**
 • 18th among all graduate programs**
 • 2012 research expenditures
   per faculty = $620K

Research Centers

 • Biorefining and biofuels (C2B2)
 • Renewable and sustainable
   energy (RASEI)
 • Pharmaceutical biotechnology
 • Membrane separations (MAST)
 • Photopolymerization
 • BioFrontiers Institute

Parlayance of research to industry

 • 10 successful start-up companies
   based on ChBE research

Award-winning faculty

 • 15/24 research faculty have won
   ≥1 national research awards

Student excellence

 • Average incoming grad student
   GPA=3.89/4.0, GRE=769/800

New facilities

 • ChBE's facilities built in 2012:
   Jennie Smoly Caruthers
   Biotechnology Building

* Chronicle of Higher Education (2011)
** U.S. News & World Report (2014)

Top Education

ChBE teaching

How does ChBE provide a first-rate education?

Innovative teaching

 • Screencasts (over 1.5 million views)
 • ConcepTests and peer instruction
 • Thinking aloud pair problem solving
 • Flipped classrooms
 • Interactions with industry
 • In-class worksheets + recitations

Strong emphasis on undergrad research

 • 70% of ChBE undergrads
   participate
 • Indep Study, Senior Thesis,
   Discovery Learn, UROP

Special programs

 • Co-op
 • Study Abroad
 • Honors Program
 • BS/MS program
 • Earn-Learn

Award-winning educators

 • 15/28 faculty have won ≥1
   teaching awards

Variety of options

 • 2 degrees (Chem Eng and
   Chem & Bio Eng)
 • 6 options (Biotechnology, Energy,
   Materials, Environmental,
   Microelectronics, Computers)
 • Pre-med curriculum

Active student groups

 • AIChE, OXE, SWE, BMES

JSCBB

CU-Boulder’s Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building this week received recognition for its sustainability features.

Catch up on the department in our Summer 2013 Newsletter.

Professor John Falconer working on the learncheme.com website.

ChBE has been on the forefront of innovative teaching for years. The department was an early adopter of student response systems (clickers), which have been used in some ChBE courses with ConcepTests and peer instruction for almost a decade.

Phillips 66 CEO Greg Garland presents a $3.5M check to CU. From left, Leeds School of Business Dean David Ikenberry, Chancellor Phil DiStefano, Phillips 66 Vice President of HR Chantal Veevaete, Phillips 66 CEO Greg Garland, and College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Robert Davis.

Phillips 66 takes investment in the future seriously.  For years, the company has partnered with ChBE, supporting the department’s students, facilities and events along with other CU departments and programs. 

Co-op participant John Thilenius at Chevron

The ChBE co-op program is a professional development education program that allows undergraduate students to alternate professional work experiences with

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Rich Noble

Congratulations to Professor Rich Noble, who was chosen to receive the 2013 National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Engineering Education Excellence Award!

Christine Hrenya

The past several months have been exciting for Professor Christine Hrenya.

Janet de Grazia

Associate Chair and Senior Instructor Janet de Grazia received the 2013 Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) award for Excellence in Service. Janet has now won the BFA awards for both Teaching (2010) and Service.

Christine Hrenya

Professor Christine Hrenya was the recipient of the 2013 Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) Excellence in Teaching Award.

Chris Bowman

Professor Chris Bowman and his group received both a new NIH grant and a new tech transfer grant to work on artificial nucleic acids.

Professor Steve George

In November of 2012, Professor Steve George was elected President-Elect of the American Vacuum Society for 2013.   

Professor Chris Bowman was one of six University of Colorado faculty members to be named a Distinguished Professor, the most prestigious honor for faculty at the university. 

Doug Gin was named Ind. & Eng. (I&EC) Division Fellow by the Americal Chemical Society (2013)

Jia Chew

Congratulations to Dr. Jia Chew, who was awarded the 2013 AIChE Best Ph.D. Thesis in Particle Technology for her experimental research on the impact of polydispersity on multiphase flows. 

Fairview High School student Michael Chen, 16, has had a busy spring award season.

Tyler Martin and Matt McBride

Congratulations to graduate students Tyler Martin and Matt McBride, both of whom have received prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships.

Katie Lewis

Katie Lewis, a graduate student in the Anseth lab, received a 2013 Whitaker International Program Summer Grant to work for two months this summer with Prof.

Congratulations to ChBE undergraduates Taylor Kennedy, Anna McLeland and Kayla Weston who won awards at the Discovery Learning Research Symposium in April. 

Congratulations to ChBE undergraduates Benjamin Mead and Brandon Lin, who were chosen by the department to be recognized at the April 26 Awards Banquet as Distinguished Seniors.

Brittany Earle and Jeni Sorli

Undergraduate students Brittany Earle and Jeni Sorli have been selected to receive prestigious national Goldwater Scholarships.

Justine Roberts

Congratulations to graduate student Justine Roberts, who received post-doctoral funding as a Whitaker Scholar to develop and investigate controlled release of biologics (drugs) from hydrogels for chronic wound healing with Laura Poole-Warren and P

Torrie Aston

Congratulations to Torrie Aston, who took 1st Place in the AIChE Chemical Reaction Engineering Division Graduate Student Poster Competition held in Pittsburgh, PA in November, 2012.

Saikripa Radhakrishnan

Congratulations to ChBE undergraduate junior Saikripa Radhakrishnan, who won the 2012-13 Genentech Outstanding Student Award. This award includes both a cash prize and an optional summer internship.