ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

To face the demands and challenges in modern industry, the Othmer-Jacobs Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Polytechnic University forms a single, multidisciplinary unit. We now offer educational and research programs that follow the current trends with novel molecules, advanced products and processes, as well as synthesis design and operation methodology.

A message from Professor Jovan Mijovic, Chairman of the Othmer-Jacobs Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE)

Dear friends,

I am writing you on behalf of the entire Othmer-Jacobs Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) to inform you of our history, mission and programs.

Chemical engineering at Polytechnic had its formal beginning in 1905 when the Department of Chemistry became the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. In 1925, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) began accrediting chemical engineering programs. Eighty programs sought accreditation that year; the programs at Polytechnic and MIT were the first two of only 14 programs to be accredited. The Chemical Engineering Department became a separate entity in 1931. Since then, more than 2700 BS, 1,000 MS and 350 PhD degrees have been awarded in chemical engineering. Among our graduates are alumni who have reached the highest levels in the corporate and academic worlds, including Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs, the founder of the global giant known - Jacobs Engineering, and Dr. Martin Perl, who received his BS in chemical engineering at Polytechnic and won the 1995 Nobel Prize in physics.

Chemical engineering came into being a little more than one hundred years ago with the emergence of petroleum processing and a commensurate expansion of the chemical industry. Chemistry was clearly the enabling science of this new industry but the skills and abilities needed to make the industry flourish demanded and helped shape chemical engineering as a separate discipline. Over the past 40 years, chemical engineering curricula have embraced an engineering science paradigm that spans from molecular level interactions and transformations to large-scale systems. Indeed, it is an appreciation of, and a willingness to work over, many decades of scale that is one of the unique traits of the chemical engineering discipline. This ability to adapt to work on many scales has allowed chemical engineers to have productive interactions with a wide range of other science and engineering disciplines and will be essential for the application of engineering principles to the increasingly popular biologically-based processes. Biological systems and bio-based processes are fertile ground for new engineering challenges. At one end of the spectrum are health related items, which can include new pharmaceuticals, new drug delivery systems and artificial tissue. At the other end of the spectrum are commodity chemicals. For commodities, the advantages of bio-based processes include the use of renewable resources, the potential to develop safer, more environmentally friendly processes and, ultimately, greater cost effectiveness. The shift from hydrocarbons to carbohydrates is real and is based on biology, and it is happening now. Dupont, for example, has set a goal of 20% bio-feedstock for their chemical production by 2010.

Interest in integrating biology and chemical engineering is exploding nationwide. For example, at the

2002 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting approximately 8% of the presentations were biologically oriented. Only two years later (2004) this had risen to over 40% and for 2005 exceeded 50%. Many chemical engineering departments across the country have changed the names of their departments to reflect a growing interest in and overlap with biology (for example, Johhs Hopkins, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin – Madison, RPI, Northwestern and many others). Many have started to require a biology course as part of their curriculum, but very few have made a full commitment to developing a curriculum in which biological systems and processes are fully integrated across the curriculum as we are doing.

Three years ago we undertook the goal of expanding our educational program in Chemical Engineering to include biology as an essential component and as a source of emerging applications for our discipline. The task that we face is to meld, as seamlessly as possible, systems and processes of biological relevance into our engineering curriculum. We regard the systems-oriented, multi-scale approach to problems that is the hallmark of chemical engineering as the primary strength that we have to offer. It is essential that our students remain strong in engineering. It is our belief that by exposing our students to biological and bio-process in addition to more conventional chemical processes, we will produce better, more versatile engineers. As part of our new curriculum, we have introduced required courses in biology and biochemistry and are revising virtually all of our engineering courses to include biological applications and examples. Technical electives in the junior and senior year provide opportunities for elective courses, particularly new electives focusing on engineering in biology such as system biology, protein engineering and drug delivery. Although these new elective courses will be primarily aimed at CBE students, they will be open to other engineering and science students.

Graduate Admission Information	Undergraduate Admission Information

Since then, the undergraduate program in Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) has experienced a phenomenal growth in enrollment and has met with great enthusiasm on and off campus. For example, during my tenure, in the past two years, the undergraduate enrollment in CBE has increased by over 150% and two outstanding young faculty were hired. CBE is by far the fastest growing engineering major not only at Polytechnic but throughout the United States as well. We are also attracting the highest quality students and have raised the minimum GPA requirements for CBE majors to 2.5. We are particularly proud because we have the highest % of students on the Dean’s List and over 50% of our students are female. We also have a strong participation of undergraduate students in research.

The CBE faculty continue to demonstrate excellence in both teaching and research. We recently added two new faculty to our department, Professors Rastislav Levicky (Othmer Chair) in the area of biointerfaces and sensing technologies and Jin Kim (Jacobs Chair) in protein and peptide design. It is my privilege to serve as Chairman of the Othmer-Jacobs Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.