Photos by Tom Cogill and courtesy of ChE
U.Va. Chemical Engineering faculty and alums celebrated their centennial in Charlottesville Sept. 26–27 and also during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual conference held Nov. 16–21 in Philadelphia. During the Charlottesville events, Elmer L. Gaden was recognized for his pioneering work in the field.
The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia is celebrating a 100-year history of accomplishments with an eye toward future growth and achievements.
A proposal to establish the department was made May 6, 1908, by Chemistry Professor Robert M. Bird. The first graduating class came five years later and consisted of three men. Those early efforts have grown over time into a diverse and nationally respected chemical engineering department. In 2008, the department’s undergraduate program broke the top 20 in national rankings published by “U.S. News & World Report,” and the graduate program came in at 33rd.
“Over the past hundred years we’ve established ourselves as one of the stronger chemical engineering programs in the country, both in education as well as research,” says Robert J. Davis, chair and professor in the department. “Thanks to the dedication of our faculty and students, we will continue working at the leading edge of chemical engineering in diverse fields such as sustainability, biotechnology and advanced materials.”
Late in September, the department invited alumni back to Grounds to share their memories and see the department’s current research and facilities firsthand. These events also offered an opportunity to recognize the pioneering work of Wills Johnson Professor Emeritus, Elmer L. Gaden, who is widely regarded as the “father of biochemical engineering” and of Brenton S. Halsey, distinguished alumnus and founder of James River Corporation. The department continued the celebration in Philadelphia at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual conference, held Nov. 16–21. The national organization is also celebrating its centennial this year.
One hundred years after its humble beginnings, the department now has approximately 150 undergraduate students, 60 graduate students and 14 faculty in research areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, alternative energy, environmental engineering and complex systems. While the department had been dominated by males until the 1970s, it now has one of the highest percentages of women students compared with other engineering departments; of the current fourth-year class, 47 percent are female.
Different eras have seen the field of chemical engineering shift focus on various applications, including textiles, energy and medicine. Regardless of the given application, the department’s curriculum always returns to three fundamental principles — thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and transport phenomena.
“Our curriculum has emphasized these fundamentals and we bring in applications as appropriate because they change,” says Donald J. Kirwan, a professor in the department since 1970. “We’ve been through three energy crises since the 1970s so sometimes there is a strong emphasis on energy, sometimes more so on medicine or other applications.”
Kirwan foresees chemical engineers continuing to play an essential role in the development of alternative energy sources and sustainability technologies. Faculty in the department are now fully engaged in prominent research projects that could change the way we power the world.
Davis and Matthew Neurock, the Alice M. and Guy A. Wilson professor in the chemical engineering department and in the Department of Chemistry, recently partnered with the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals at Iowa State University to help create technology that will allow the chemical industry to shift from its reliance on petroleum to biorenewable feedstocks.
Steven McIntosh, an assistant professor in the department, and fellow researchers are structuring multifunctional materials and composites at the nano-scale to develop highly efficient fuel cells that can directly utilize renewable fuels.
These researchers are also looking into similar nano-scale structures to generate hydrogen from solar energy.
On the sustainability front, Professor Roseanne M. Ford is researching bioremediation solutions that rely on a process known as bacterial chemotaxis. This process describes how motile bacteria migrate toward chemicals that are beneficial to them and away from substances that are detrimental to their survival. By exploiting chemotaxis, Ford and her team aim to improve the efficiency of microorganisms’ natural degradative processes used in bioremediation.
These environmentally focused projects are just a few examples of the department’s research activities, which annually garner an average of $2.4 million in external support. Each year, faculty members also are authoring about four papers each for refereed journals.
In addition to its dedication to research, the department prides itself on educating students who will further the field of chemical engineering or pursue a variety of professional careers.
More than half of chemical engineering undergraduate students land industrial jobs before graduation and about a quarter of the department’s students go on to graduate school in fields such as engineering, law, medicine, business and pharmacy. The graduates who pursue industrial employment are earning the highest annual starting salaries among Engineering School graduates, with an average of $63,000 per year.
Whatever career path they choose, the department is helping students incorporate business acumen with scientific knowledge through the Brenton Halsey Professorship, endowed in 1993 by a generous gift from the James River Corporation in recognition of co-founder Brenton S. Halsey (ChE,’51). Each year, a senior-level corporate executive typically serves as the visiting Brenton S. Halsey professor and teaches the Business and Technology Leadership course. These professors are able to share their experience-based insights on business and professional issues likely to be faced by engineers early in their careers. The course normally covers major business skills and lessons in career management, leadership, teamwork, problem solving and change management, as well as international issues facing global companies.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ recognition of the U.Va. student chapter as one of the 15 Outstanding Chapters for 2008 is another testament to the quality of the chemical engineering student experience. This annual award is presented to university student chapters based in part on program quality, professionalism and involvement in the university and community.
During his 30-plus years as a professor, Kirwan has noticed a trend among his students: Many of them follow the broad-based, distinctly Jeffersonian approach to engineering, and ultimately their careers.
“U.Va. students are very bright, and they also have a broad outlook and perspective,” Kirwan observes. “While some go on to work as engineers, many go on to advanced studies in medicine, business and law. Whatever field they decide to pursue, we know that their chemical engineering education will provide a solid foundation in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.” |
