Graduate Student Overview
Prospective students are encouraged to explore these WebPages to learn more about our many vigorous research programs in a variety of exciting scientific and technological areas, our graduate and undergraduate educational programs, student life both on and off campus in Boulder and the admissions process.
Our goals are 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, including:
• Biomaterials
• Biopharmaceuticals
• Complex fluids and particle technology
• Metabolic engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Renewable energy
• Polymer chemistry and physics
• Tissue engineering
We are a relatively large department with diverse research interests and expertise; however, we maintain a small department environment that values collegiality and personal interactions.
Faculty Profile
• Faculty (tenured or tenure-track): 23 (including 2 joint
appointments with Chemistry)
• Number of peer-reviewed publications per faculty per year: 6
• Number of research presentations per faculty per year: 15
• Average sponsored research funding per faculty: $500,000/year
Graduate Student Profile
• Students: 85 (more than 95% are full-time PhD students)
• Undergraduate backgrounds:
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Material Science
• Nutrition
• Physics
• Polymer Science
Faculty Excellence in Research
• 18/21 research faculty have won one+ major national research awards
• Major research awards:
• AIChE Professional Progress Award (1)
• National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow (1)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator (1)
• AIChE Colburn Award (2)
• NSF Presidential Young Investigator (4)
• 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)
• Guggen Fellow (2)
• ASEE Dow Lectureship (1)
Faculty Excellence in Teaching
• 12/23 faculty have won one or more teaching awards
• Major teaching awards:
• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar (3)
• CU President’s Teaching Scholars (1)
• Rocky Mountain ASEE Outstanding Faculty Award (7)
Graduate Student Excellence
• Stephanie Sorenson is awarded the Best XRD Poster Award at the 2009 Denver X-Ray Conference
• Luis Hakim receives Best PhD in Particle Technology Award
(2009)
• Janine Galvin recieves the 2008 AIChE Particle Technology Forum Best PhD in Particle Technology
• April Kloxin, American Chemical Societys Graduate Student Symposium Awardee (2007)
• Danielle Benoit Receives the Society for Biomaterial's Outstanding Graduate Research Award
(2007)
• Xinhua Liang receives the Best Poster at AIChE Annual Meeting (2007)
• 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
