Published: May 14, 2019 By

Charles MusgraveOne thing we learn as chemical engineers is that change is constant. At CU, that’s especially true and we’ve endeavored to ensure that these changes are positive, from expanding facilities for our students, to hiring world-class faculty and rising in the rankings.

Our department rose from 17th to 15th in US New and World Reports’ rankings of chemical engineering graduate programs. This corroborates our 11th ranking in the world by the Shanghai Rankings and reflects of our recent efforts to recruit and retain some of the best faculty in the world, which has been supported by our alumni through the 1904 Society and alumni donations.

But we’re just getting started.

We continue to actively recruit new faculty to add to our incredible team. While we still have offers out, I can tell you that we already have four new faculty coming next year who will conduct exciting research and then bring their expertise into the classroom. Our goal is to bring skilled and dynamic instructors who will engage and teach our students in the classroom and lab to prepare them for the challenges to come. Keep an eye on our website in the months ahead to stay up to date.

We’re also continuing our focus on undergraduate students. We recently instituted new online “booster” classes that help students refresh their knowledge of prerequisite materials on their own schedules, priming them for success in our core classes that rely on the foundation of previously taught concepts.

The department is also moving forward on creating a new space in our building exclusively for our undergraduates. We are consulting with an architect on plans for a study, project and computer lab space that would seat up to 80 undergraduate students. This new space simply wouldn’t be possible without the ongoing support of our 1904 Society members — alumni and friends of the department who give back to our students and enable us to provide the best education and environment we can. If you’re not already a member, please consider supporting the 1904 Society.

While a lot of the changes happening at our department are positive, some are bittersweet. This semester marks the retirements of Professor John Falconer and Teaching Professor Janet deGrazia. John and Janet have both made an immeasurable impact on generations of students and researchers. If you had the pleasure of knowing them, I would encourage you to send them an email congratulating them on their retirement. If you ever particularly miss them and their outstanding teaching, you can always listen to one of their many LearnChemE Screencasts on YouTube.

Maintaining our pace of positive change is an ongoing effort, one that requires our whole team — our students, staff, faculty and alumni — to work together to continue to help CU Chemical and Biological Engineering to move forward.

Thank you for your support of our department and especially our students. We’ve got some great things — great changes — ahead of us yet.