Welcome to The Penn State Department Chemical Engineering

Welcome

Housed in Fenske Laboratory, the department is home to an undergraduate program, which is one of the best and largest in the country. Recently, the senior classes have been on the order of 120 students. The graduate program offers both the MS and PhD degrees and operates at a steady state level of approximately 60-70 students. There are experimental and theoretical, single and multi-investigator research programs in diffusion and thermodynamics within polymeric materials, heterogeneous catalysis, kinetics and reaction engineering, colloids and complex fluids, bioengineering, both bio-medical and bio-processing, and computation, which spans a full range of length scales from the atomistic issues of reaction and transport at surfaces to problems in multiphase flows and turbulence. The bio-medical research is affiliated with the Hershey Medical School, while the bio-process engineering group possesses its own $5MM laboratory and pilot plant facility within Fenske. Both bioengineering groups are affiliated with and each has a strong presence in the University's Life Science Consortium.

Research

Penn State is a "Research I" campus, with outstanding affiliated departments in the basic sciences, including:

The other engineering disciplines, especially:

These departments are equally excellent and there is ample ongoing collaboration between our faculty and students in Chemical Engineering and those in the other departments. Furthermore, to encourage and facilitate campus-wide interactions, Penn State has established consortia devoted to the Life Sciences, the Environment, Informatics and Materials.

Alumni Support

Thanks to the generosity of our alumni this is an exceptional time to be a part of Chemical Engineering at Penn State. The endowment funds, which they have given to us, are being put to good use in all aspects of our mission from support for undergraduate and graduate students scholars to Professorships and Chairs for faculty members. Our mission is to be among the best comprehensive departments of chemical engineering in the country.

The Area

Central Pennsylvania with its hills and valleys is a wonderful place to live. The region is well known for all types of outdoor sports in each season from hiking, rock climbing and skiing to mountain biking, canoeing and even sail-plane piloting. For the person who loves the out-of-doors this is an unbeatable locale.

To an active outdoor life, the University adds outstanding programs and events each year, and not just in Beaver Stadium - home to the nationally recognized Nittany Lions football program. In fact there is much more here and that includes active programs in other spectator sports, but also in both the fine arts and the performing arts. State College is a "real" college town, with plenty of great restaurants and clubs. This, taken along with the University's activities, makes cultural life in this community truly rich. Penn State is a superb place to lead a healthy life of scholarship, so come and join us!