Chemical Engineering Department

Mission

The Department of Chemical Engineering at WPI is dedicated to providing excellent education to undergraduate and graduate students in chemical engineering, and to vigorously pursuing discovery, creation, and dissemination of knowledge at the frontiers of chemical engineering. Chemical engineers are uniquely positioned to continue to contribute to the betterment of society through advancements in new materials, biomedicine, alternative energy, transportation, environmental pollution abatement, resource conservation, and sustainable development. The Department aspires to contribute to this vision by achieving national distinction in selected areas of scholarly inquiry and by educating men and women to become leaders in industrial practice, civil service, education, and research. The Department strives to produce technically competent and socially aware chemical engineers through project-based, innovative, and rigorous educational programs that promote global and societal awareness, innovative thinking, and life-long learning skills.

Objectives

The Chemical Engineering Department has established the following objectives of the undergraduate program in support of our mission and that of the Institute.

  1. To educate in students in the fundamental principles of chemical engineering.
  2. To help students develop the ability to use chemical engineering principles to solve problems of practical importance to society.
  3. To help prepare students, through broad education, for a lifetime of success as productive and informed members of society as well as of their professional community.
  4. To help students become effective communicators.

Outcomes

The Chemical Engineering Department has established fifteen educational outcomes in support of our objectives. The outcomes are grouped under the objectives that they support.

Objective 1

1.1 Chemical engineering graduates will possess a working knowledge of the fundamentals of chemistry, physics, and mathematics, including knowledge of advanced elective science subjects such as organic and inorganic chemistry, material science, and biochemistry, etc.

1.2 Chemical engineering graduates will possess a working knowledge of conservation principles and their applications, physical and chemical equilibria, transport and rate processes, separation processes, chemical process control, and reaction engineering.

Objective 2

2.1 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to formulate, analyze, and solve practical chemical engineering problems.

2.2 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to design experiments, safely gather and analyze data, and apply the results to address practical chemical engineering problems.

2.3 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to use appropriate mathematical concepts and methods to solve chemical engineering problems.

2.4 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to design a chemical system, process, or component with consideration of realistic constraints including practical, economic, environmental, safety, ethical, social, and political implications.

2.5 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to use computers effectively for solving chemical engineering problems.

Objective 3

3.1 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to function and work effectively alone and in a team environment, including multidisciplinary teams.

3.2 Chemical engineering graduates will posses an appreciation of professional, ethical, and contemporary issues, and the societal and global impact of chemical engineering processes.

3.3 Chemical engineering graduates will possess self-learning skills to ensure life-long learning.

3.4 Chemical engineering graduates will possess an appreciation for the humanities and social sciences.

3.5 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to use their chemical engineering education to serve the chemical engineering profession or a related profession or pursue advanced studies.

3.6 Chemical engineering graduates will have selected technical elective courses, concentrations, projects, and minors that satisfy their professional interest or career goals.

Objective 4

4.1 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to write coherent, concise, and accurate technical reports.

4.2 Chemical engineering graduates will be able to make concise and effective oral presentations.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: October 22, 2007 11:30:43