Graduate Students
Graduate Research
Current areas of Ph.D. research in the Department of Chemical Engineering receive support at a level of over $4 million per year through external research grants. Examples of research areas include, but are not limited to, the following:
Bioengineering: cellular engineering; metabolic engineering ; targeted bacteriolytic cancer therapy; assembly of biochemical pathways for synthesis of small molecules; systems biology; genetic circuit design...
Biofuels and Sustainable Energy: catalysis, catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass; catalytic microwave engineering; fuel cells; energy engineering.
Fluid Mechanics and Transport Phenomena: biofluid dynamics and blood flow; hydrodynamics of microencapsulation; mechanics of cells, capsules, and suspensions; modeling microscale flows and transport phenomena; hydrodynamic stability and pattern formation; interfacial flows; gas-particle flows.
Materials Science and Engineering: design and characterization of new catalytic materials; thin film and nanostructured materials for microelectronics and photonics; colloids and biomaterials; rheology and phase behavior of associative polymer solutions; polymeric materials processing.
Molecular and Multi-scale Modeling & Simulation: computational quantum chemistry and kinetics; molecular modeling for nanotechnology; molecular- level behavior of fluids confined in porous materials; molecular-to-reactor scale modeling of transport and reaction processes in materials synthesis; atomistic-to-continuum scale modeling of thin films and nanostructured materials; systems-level analysis using deterministic and stochastic atomic-scale simulators; modeling and control of biochemical reactors; nonlinear process control theory.
Facilities
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The Department occupies instructional, research and administrative space in three buildings in close proximity: the Goessmann Laboratory, the Conte National Center for Polymer Research, and the 57,000 sqf Engineering Laboratory II (Elab II). In addition, the Chemical Engineering Alumni Classroom in the Lederle Graduate Research Tower is a state-of-the-art computer classroom of major importance to teaching and research. |
How to Apply
The Department welcomes applications from prospective graduate students for Fall admission only. The deadline for applications is January 15.
An online application form can be found by visiting the website of the Graduate School: http://www.umass.edu/gradschool/
Additional Information and Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions
The focus of our Graduate Program is on training Ph.D. students. All admitted Ph.D. candidates receive full financial support that includes a tuition scholarship and a competitive stipend that covers living expenses. Outstanding Masters applicants may be admitted to our program on rare occasions, but PhD candidates will have priority for receiving financial support. Students do not need to complete a Masters degree before pursuing a PhD degree in our Department. Admission to our Graduate Program is competitive and decisions are made by the Graduate Committee of the Department. Students select a research advisor during the first two months of their studies after attending research presentations by the faculty. Individual faculty members cannot admit students to our Graduate Program and may not respond to such inquiries.
