The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has well established programs at both undergraduate (B.S.) and graduate (M.S./Ph.D.) levels. External research support totals about $1.5 million annually of which about $1 million comes directly from industrial sources. The remaining funds (about $500,000 annually) are from various government funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Petroleum Research Fund, the Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Research projects cover a wide area of chemical engineering and include both fundamental and applied topics. The Department has established a close working relationship with industry which, in addition to general funding provided from the Pulp and Paper Foundation, supports sponsored research programs in Paper Surface Science a consortia of participating companies. Other major research areas include pulping technology (including collaborative projects with Chemistry and Wood Science), advanced materials, surface chemistry, sensors and adsorption.
The Department has well equipped laboratories including some specialized facilities such as an environmental scanning electron microscope, and a fully equipped pilot plant for paper making studies with both coating and recycle facilities. The Department has developed a comprehensive internal computer network which includes about 60 PCs and two work stations with links to the University network and the internet.
For students who enter the program with a recognized B.S. degree in chemical engineering the M.S. degree requires 30 semester hours of graduate work which must include two seminars and six term courses in addition to the thesis. Students holding a B.S. degree in science or other engineering disciplines are also eligible for admission to the M.S. program, although additional make-up courses may be required. The Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 45 semester hours, beyond the B.S. level, comprising four seminars and at least eight graduate courses (24 credits) in addition to a research thesis. Ph.D. candidates are also required to pass a qualifying examination on chemical engineering fundamentals and to present and successfully defend a thesis proposal. Students who enter the program with a recognized Master’s degree may be allowed up to 30 course credits towards the Ph.D., subject to approval by the Graduate Committee of the Department. Required core courses for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are CHE 510, CHE 540, CHE 561 and CHE 580.
Financial assistance is available in the form of graduate assistantships which provide free tuition and annual stipends which range from $15,000 to $18,000/year. Application for admission should be submitted as soon as possible and at least three months in advance of the proposed starting date. Further details of the program and current research projects can be obtained from the Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, on request.
Douglas W. Bousfield, Ph.D. (California at Berkeley, 1986), University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation Professor. Fluid mechanics, rheology, numerical methods, coating processes, modeling of coating and absorption processes.
Albert Co, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, 1979), Associate Professor. Transport phenomena, fluid mechanics, polymeric fluid dynamics, rheology, applied numerical methods.
William J. DeSisto, Ph.D., (Brown, 1989), Assistant Professor. Advanced material, sensors.
Darrell Donahue, Ph.D. (North Carolina State Univ., 1992), Associate Professor and undergraduate program coordinator. Food engineering, process engineering, biosensors for liquid food systems, statistical process control, industrial simulation and control, quantitative risk assessment modeling.
Joseph M. Genco, Ph.D. (Ohio State, 1965), Calder Professor. Process engineering applied to pulp and paper technology and science.
John J. Hwalek, Ph.D. (Illinois, 1982), Associate Professor. Process information systems, heat transfer.
Paul J. Millard, Ph.D., (University of Maryland, 1984), Assistant Professor. Microbial biosensors, physiological genomics systems, fluorescence technology.
David J. Neivandt, Ph.D. (Melbourne, 1998), Assistant Professor. Conformation of interfacial species, surface spectroscopies/microscopies, binary polymer/surfactant solutions and lipid membrane structures.
Hemant P. Pendse, Ph.D. (Syracuse, 1980), Professor and Chair. Colloidal phenomena, paper manufacture, fluid particle systems, and instrument/sensor development.
Douglas M. Ruthven, Ph.D., Sc.D. (University of Cambridge, 1966, 1988), Professor. Fundamentals of adsorption and adsorption processes.
Adriaan Van Heiningen, Ph.D. (McGill, 1982), J. Larcom Ober Professor of Chemical Engineering. Chemical reaction engineering in wood pulping and pulp bleaching, char bed modeling, black liquor gasification and direct causticization with titanate, paper wetting and forest products refinery.
M. Clayton Wheeler, Ph.D.(Austin, 1997), Assistant Professor. Chemical Sensors, fundamental catalysis, surface science, and selective sensor materials.
Stephen M. Shaler, Ph.D. (Penn State, 1986), Professor of Wood Sciences. Composites, coating layer mechanical properties.
Barry S. Goodell, Ph.D. (Oregon State, 1983). Professor of Wood Science and Technology. Control of decay in wood, wood microbiology, wood preservation, wood biotechnology.
Barbara J. W. Cole, Ph.D. (Washington, 1986), Professor of Chemistry. Wood chemistry.
Nick Triantafillopollous, Ph.D. (IPST, 1988). Professor of Chemical Engineering. Fluid mechanics of coating systems, printing sciences, film formation.
Graduate School
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