Chemical Engineering (CHEG)

Graduate Studies

570-577-1114
www.bucknell.edu/ChemicalEngineering

Professors: Jeffery Csernica (chair), Ph.D. M.I.T. Michael E. Hanyak Jr., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania. William E. King Jr., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania. Michael J. Prince, Ph.D. California at Berkeley. William J. Snyder,Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University.

Associate Professors: Daniel P. Cavanagh, Ph.D. Northwestern. James E.Maneval, Ph.D. California at Davis. Margot A.S. Vigeant, Ph.D. University of Virginia.

Assistant Professors: Michael Gross, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania. Erin Jablonski, Ph.D. Iowa State. Timothy Raymond, Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon. Katsuyuki Wakabayashi, Ph.D. Princeton University.

Program of Study
Candidates for a master’s degree in chemical engineering must complete a program of study which consists of three required core courses in chemical engineering, four elective courses, and a graduate thesis credit. The program normally requires 20 to 24 months of full-time study. The three required courses for a graduate degree consist of CHEG 682, CHEG 685, and either CHEG 681 or CHEG 683. Electives may be chosen from the list of graduate courses offered by the chemical engineering department. In addition, graduate-level courses offered by other departments may be taken as electives with the approval of the chemical engineering department.

Areas of Concentration
Faculty research interests include the following areas: atmospheric chemistry and physics; computer-aided design; multimedia courseware development; biomedical engineering; polymer science; immersion lithography; surface spectroscopy; process design and manufacturing; separation science; NMR methods:biochemical and bioprocesses engineering; environmental engineering; mathematical modeling; solid-oxide fuel cells; nanotechnology.

Thesis
A written master’s thesis is considered a primary contribution to the education of the candidate. Candidates are expected to write a proposal describing their intended thesis work prior to the end of their first year of study. Thesis requirements may be satisfied by:

A) solving a practical engineering or design problem involving novel features, with or without an experiment;
B) developing experimental, computational, and/or mathematical modeling expertise while conducting an original scientific inquiry. An oral thesis defense must be passed at least two weeks before the degree is received.

Facilities and Courses
The department maintains state-of-the-art laboratory and computing facilities, enabling master’s degree candidates to effectively pursue a variety of research/thesis activities. In addition to extensive analytical facilities, laboratories devoted to specific areas include fluid transport, biomedical engineering, reactor engineering, polymer and materials science, biochemical engineering, environmental science, and computer-aided design.

Courses Offered
600. Process Engineering (I; 4, 2)
Applications of engineering, economic, environmental, and ethical principles in preliminary process design. Problem definition, literature survey, flowsheet development, material and energy balances, equipment design and profitability analysis. Open only to students without previous process design course work.

610. Advanced Process Engineering (II; 4, 2)
Applying principles of process synthesis and analysis to evaluate the economic potential of alternate flowsheets using sophisticated computer-aided design tools, such as process simulators. Tasks include HAZOP analysis, separation sequence selection, energy integration, parametric and continuous-variable optimization, and technical report writing. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

640 and 642. Chemical Engineering Projects (I and II; R; 1, 8) Half to two courses
Individual research, development, or design projects. Problem analysis involving collection, correlation, and interpretation of experimental data, or a mathematical modeling study. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

644. Green Engineering (II; 4, 0)
Economic design of processes and products that reduce the generation of pollution as well as risk to human health and the environment. Risk assessment, evaluation and prediction of toxicity and fate of chemicals, and environmental performance analysis applied to chemical products and processes. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

650. Polymer Science (I or II; 3, 3)
The chemistry and kinetics of polymerization. Polymerization processes and polymer processing. Properties and application of polymers.

651. Applied Process Analysis (II; 3, 2)
Exploration of computer-assisted solutions of chemical processing problems in fluid flow, thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, reaction kinetics, engineering design and economics. Application of software systems, such as spreadsheet, symbolic processor, numeric computation and visualization environment, optimizer, and process simulator.

652. Applied Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Biochemical Engineering (I or II; 4, 0)
Survey course in biochemical engineering. Introduction to microbiology, biochemistry, cell metabolism and genetic control. Enzyme structure and function; enzyme kinetic mechanisms. Emphasis on the design of biochemical reactors and separation processes utilizing fundamental principles of kinetics, thermodynamics
and heat, mass and momentum transfer. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

653. Product and Process Chemistry (II; 4, 0)
Examination of the internal structure of the chemical industry. The roles of key chemicals and intermediates in modern chemical synthesis will be emphasized to provide an overview of current industrial product methods. Process history, design and improvement will be covered through discussions, simulations and case studies. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

657. Applied Colloid, Surface, and Nanoscience (I; 4, 0)
Exploration of the ways in which surfaces are different from bulk substances, and how this impacts processes such as illness, chemical processing, contaminant transport, and enzymatic activity. The topics discussed will be shaped by student interest. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor

670 and 672. Special Topics in Chemical Engineering (I and II; R; 4, 0)
Advanced in-depth courses developed from areas of chemical engineering science or technology. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

680. Graduate Research and Thesis (I or II; 1, 6-12)
Individual graduate-level investigations culminating in a thesis. Required for the master of science in chemical engineering degree.

681. Topics in Reaction Engineering (I or II; 4, 0)
Reactor design and analysis applied to specific systems. Complex chemical reaction networks with emphasis on nonideal flow and transport effects on heterogenous reactors. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

682. Topics in Chemical Engineering Applied Mathematics (I or II; 4, 0)
Analytical and numerical methods for ordinary and partial differential equations with problems drawn from chemical engineering. Topics include transform methods, matrix methods, weighted-residual methods, and finite differences. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

683. Topics in Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (I or II; 4, 0)
Advanced study of thermodynamics applied to fluid flow, heat transfer, gas compression, air conditioning, refrigeration, and chemical equilibria.

685. Topics in Transport Theory (I or II; 4, 0)
Mass, energy, and momentum transfer in continuous media. General equations of transfer developed and used to analyze real systems.

686. Advanced Transport Theory (II; 4, 0)
Turbulent momentum, energy and mass transport. Interphase transport phenomena. Transport of heat, mass, and momentum in lumped systems. Radiant energy transport. Prerequisite: CHEG 685.

687 and 688. Advanced Study in Chemical Engineering (I and II; R; 4, 0)
Courses in chemical engineering theory designed to meet the needs of graduate students in residence.