 Sitemap > About > Message from the Chair |
Dear friend, We live in interesting times! To many this realization seems like a curse; to us, at the UCLA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, it suggests the presence of an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of the chemical engineering profession. Chemical engineers have the most diverse, interdisciplinary educational background of all engineers, with strong foundations in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and increasingly in the life sciences. These skills have helped build the chemical and petroleum industries, and have more recently been employed in the energy and environmental businesses. As other industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, and nanoengineering begin to appreciate the chemical engineers' strengths, and as problems of an increasingly interdisciplinary nature come to the fore of engineering endeavors, the future of chemical engineering appears bright. UCLA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is a young Department that has been established only in 1983. Capitalizing on its young age, the department has aligned its research and teaching programs to the major engines of growth for the chemical engineering profession. This philosophy has led us to pursue excellence in three research focus areas and two general research themes. Molecular/cellular bioengineering, process systems engineering, and semiconductor manufacturing are specialization areas, which contribute to the growth of both established and emerging industries that employ chemical engineers, and in which UCLA Chemical Engineering has established itself as a destination of choice. Energy and the environment, and nanoengineering are ubiquitous research themes that are the subject of department-wide research and teaching efforts. In the area of the environment the department has already established a rich and proud tradition. Among the contributions of its faculty are: the invention of rhodium based catalysts for catalytic converters of automobiles; the establishment of the scientific base for air pollution engineering; and more recently the introduction of mass integration as a scientific methodology for pollution prevention and environmentally benign chemical plant design. UCLA's reputation as a chemical engineering force continues to rise and its programs are flourishing. In twenty short years, the department has transformed its minute graduating class of fourteen B.S. students in 1984, to today's graduating class of sixty-five B.S. chemical engineers; the largest in Southern California. At the same time, the department's Master of Science oriented graduate program has evolved to a Ph.D. oriented graduate program with sixty-five Ph.D. students and a number of alumni in U.S. faculty positions that rivals the best chemical engineering departments in the country. We are confident and excited about the future and hope that you decide to get to know us better. We look forward to hearing from you. On behalf of UCLA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yours truly, Vasilios Manousiouthakis, Professor and Chair |
| UCLA Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department 420 Westwood Plaza 5531 Boelter Hall Los Angeles, California 90095 Tel. +1 (310) 825-2046 Fax. +1 (310) 206-4107 |