Admission to the graduate program normally requires a baccalaureate degree in chemical engineering. Students with preparation in other fields (e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics, nuclear science) may be admitted to the graduate program in chemical engineering following removal of deficiencies and demonstration of academic ability in the engineering discipline.

Graduate studies in chemical engineering are highly diversified in order to accommodate the needs of students who have a good basic background in the physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Areas of expertise include optimization and process design, energy conversion, raw material resources, thermodynamics, chemical reaction engineering, transport phenomena, waste management, and pollution control. The Graduate Record Examination is not required, but is highly recommended.

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Degree Program

Master of Science. General M.S. requirements apply.

Master of Engineering. General University of Idaho M.Engr. requirements apply.

Doctor of Philosophy. Students interested in the Ph.D. program should refer to the General Requirement section of the graduate catalog which outlines the procedures and requirements to be followed for a doctoral degree. Further information on the university and general regulations may also be found in the University of Idaho General Catalog.

Admission to the Ph.D program is based on successful completion of the qualifying examination. The entire Chemical Engineering department faculty administer and grade the qualifying exam. Contact the program coordinator or department chair for more information regarding the qualifying exam.

The student's doctoral committee serves as a supervisory committee and is nominated by the major professor in consultation with the student.

The doctoral committee must include: (a) the major professor as chair; (b) an additional member from the major field; (c) one member from a supporting field; and (d) one member from outside the major and support fields. The appointment of the committee is made by the vice provost for research and graduate studies. The committee is responsible for the direction of the student's program.

The study plan coordinated by the major professor should be prepared within two semesters of the first registration.

The awarding of the degree is contingent upon completion of the study plan as approved by the doctoral committee and the vice provost for research and graduate studies. A tenta tive dissertation topic must be submitted to the committee with the study plan. Some modification of the study plan may be necessary and such changes should be conveyed to the doctoral committee and the vice provost for research and graduate studies for approval. The Ph.D. preliminary exami nation consists of preparation and presentation of a written research proposal. It is intended to assist the student in defining, organizing and presenting the research project. Moreover, it provides experience in presenting an idea in written form for critical review by others. The student is encouraged to start work on the proposal as early as possible in the Ph.D. program. The proposal should be written for outside reviewers who are expert in the subject matter covered by the research proposal.

The format for the proposal will vary somewhat depending on the nature of the research, but should correspond roughly to those submitted to a major funding agency such as the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, or NASA. These proposals should be typewritten using double spacing. The candidate should recognize that presentation of a project with well-defined objectives and procedures is the most important element of the proposal, not quantity.

The proposal is reviewed by the appointed doctoral committee. Upon satisfactory review by the doctoral com mittee, the committee is convened on the call from the major professor to consider final approval of the proposal. The student is here required to make an oral presentation to the committee and to answer questions for the committee. The doctoral committee may, at this time, consider other evaluative criteria and may wish to examine the student and certain aspects of his or her Ph.D. study program as stipulated earlier. Approval of such other criteria together with his or her research proposal by the Ph.D. committee constitutes approval of the preliminary examination.

The final examination is an oral examination in defense of the Ph.D. dissertation. Dissertation revision or modifications may be required by the doctoral committee. The oral presentation of the dissertation is open to the public.

Courses in Chemical Engineering

• ChE 223 Material and Energy Balances (3 cr) Conservation of mass and energy calculations in chemical process systems. Prereq: Chem 114, Math 190 or 191.
• ChE 321 Engineering Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer (3 cr) First and second laws of thermodynamics; thermodynamic processes; thermodynamic properties; flow processes; conversion of heat into work; conduction, convection, radiation, and heat exchangers. Prereq: CE 210; coreq: Math 310.
• ChE 330 Stagewise Operations (3 cr) Stagewise operations, including distillation, extraction, ion exchange, absorption. Prereq: ChE 223, ChE 321; coreq: Chem 305.
• ChE 404 (s) Special Topics (cr arr)
• Fluidization Engineering
• ChE 430 Transport and Rate Processes (3 cr). Transport phenomena involving momentum, energy, and mass with applications to process equipment design. Prereq: ChE 223 and 321, CE 320, Math 310.
• ChE 470/570 Hazardous Waste Management (3 cr) Credit not granted for both ChE 470/570 and ES 470. Principles and practices of management of hazardous and solid wastes with emphasis on CERCLA (Superfund) process for cleanup of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and RCRA process as it applies to industrial waste treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities. Additional assignments/projects reqd for grad cr. Prereq: Stat 301, sr or grad standing in science or engineering, and perm.
• ChE 475/575 Air Pollution Control (2-3 cr) Analysis and design of physical and chemical methods of air pollution control; particulate and gas emission control methods, standards for sources. Additional projects/assignments reqd for grad cr. Prereq: CE 320 or perm.
• ChE 480/580 Engineering Risk Assessment for Hazardous Waste Evaluations (3 cr) Quantitative and qualitative approaches to assessing risks to public health and environment from chemical contaminants; toxicology, exposure assessment, risk characterization, and environmental modeling; critical reviews of specific toxins and actual waste site studies; additional projects reqd for grad students. Prereq: senior or grad standing in science or engineering; Biol 201 or 100 and Stat 301 or perm; ChE 470/570 recommended.
• ChE 499 (s) Directed Study (cr arr) Prereq: perm.
• ChE 500 Master's Research and Thesis (cr arr)
• ChE 502 (s) Directed Study (cr arr) Prereq: perm.
• ChE 504 (s) Special Topics (cr arr)
• Nuclear Chem Engr
• Fluidization Engineering
• ChE 515 Transport Phenomena (3 cr) Same as ME 515. Advanced treatment of momentum, energy, and mass transport processes; solution techniques. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 525 Adv Heat Transfer (3 cr) Same as ME 525. Application of fundamentals of heat conduction, radiation, and convection; relationships to fluid dynamics and mass transfer; economics and design application. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 527 Thermodynamics (3 cr) Thermodynamic laws for design and optimization of thermodynamic system, equations of state, properties of ideal and real fluids and fluid mixtures, stability, phase equilibrium, chemical equilibrium, applica tions of thermodynamic principles. Prereq: ChE 321 or perm.
• ChE 529 Chem Engr Kinetics (3 cr) Interpretation of kinetic data and design of reactors for heterogeneous chemical reaction systems; heterogeneous catalysis, gas-solid reactions, gas-liquid reactions; packed bed reactors, fluidized bed reactors. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 537 Adv Fluid Mechanics (3 cr) Same as ME 537. Fluid systems used in industry; non- Newtonian behavior of particle and plastic systems; two- phase situations, including fluidization and film flow. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 541 Chem Engr Analysis I (3 cr) Same as ME 541. Math analysis of chemical engineering operations and processes; math modeling and computer applications. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 542 Chem Engr Analysis II (3 cr) Numerical and analytical methods in the solution of chemical engineering problems; partial differential equations, applica tion of approximate variational methods and integral trans forms. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 545-546 Mass Transfer Operations I-II (3 cr) Diffusional and equilibrium operations. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 560 Biochem Engr (3 cr) Application of chemical engineering to biological systems including fermentation processes and biochemical reactor design, transport phenomena in biological systems and biochemical technology.
• ChE 570 See ChE 470/570
• ChE 571 Advanced Plant Design (3 cr) Design of process plants for optimum costs and economic return; scale-up of pilot plants. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 578 Treatment of Hazardous Chemical Waste (3 cr) Design of alternative processes and operations for the treatment of hazardous chemicals. Prereq: Math 310, and ChE 432 or CE 331 or perm.
• ChE 579 Hazardous Waste Site Remediation Design (3 cr) Same as Hydro 579. Characterization of hazardous waste sites, identification of physical, chemical, and biological corrective action programs and site restoration; includes design problems and case studies to illustrate corrective action and site restoration in compliance with regulations. Prereq: Geol 409.
• ChE 580 See ChE 480
• ChE 581 Hazardous Waste Management Seminar (1 cr) Environmental engineering and science topics related to hazardous waste characterization, cleanup, and regulations; includes case histories, paper, and oral presentations. Prereq: perm.
• ChE 600 Doctoral Research and Dissertation (cr arr)